Dr. Pepper goes for more

Who: Keurig Dr. Pepper Inc., with lg2 for strategy and creative, Craft PR for influencer and Havas for media.

What: “More is more,” a digital awareness campaign, the first concerted ad push for the brand in Canada in several years.

When & Where: The campaign launched April 12 with three 15-second digital video ads on the main platforms—YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Influencer / creator activations are launching soon, along with significant in-store and POS presence. The campaign will run for the next 10 months (40 weeks).

Why: Keurig Dr. Pepper has “renewed focus and commitment on the brand,” at a time when interest in flavoured colas has been on the rise, said Parul Verma, brand manager for Dr. Pepper at Keurig Dr. Pepper.

To leverage that interest, Keurig Dr. Pepper wanted a campaign that would increase relevance and awareness among the core target group of young millennials that is more male than female, a well-defined buyer persona they call Andrew.

Who is Andrew? “He’s a fan of almost an outlandish, flamboyant, over-the-top style of humour,” said Verma. “He has a competitive side to his personality and he enjoys gaming and e-sports as well as extreme sports. He loves music that gets him pumped up, and he watches content online versus linear TV.”

How: The 15-second video ads show over-the-top demonstrations of “more is more”: a woman on a dog sled pulled by dinosaurs (velociraptors, we think) and propelled by a jet engine; a five-handed rock star playing a three-neck guitar, (four hands to play the guitar, one to drink Dr. Pepper); and a giant wrestler who opens his can of Dr. Pepper by squeezing it between his enormous pectoral muscles.

“For Andrew less isn’t more. Sometimes it’s just less,” said Verma. “Andrew is looking for more silliness, more fun and more flavour.” More flavour connects directly to the Dr. Pepper brand attribute of being made from a blend of 23 different flavours.

In each spot, a narrator delivers the same sell line: “Dr. Pepper, a unique blend of 23 flavours, because more is more.”

Media: “It is a high reach [media] plan,” said Verma. “We are targeting the audience and creating look alike audiences, as well as retargeting with the six-second [cutdowns] to ensure the media plan is high reach, but at the same time efficient and can be measured on very clear objectives that have been set for the campaign.”

Quote: “’More is more’—or as we call it in French, ‘Jamais trop’—is this brand platform that celebrates Andrew’s love for, passion, and zest for life and flavour in a big way, which Dr. Pepper can offer and meet in a way no other soda can with its unique blend of 23 flavours.”

David Brown