Situation:

Sprite is the world’s largest selling lemon lime soda. But beyond summer, sales plummet. We had to give people reason to think of Sprite all year long. Enter “HEAT HAPPENS”: a platform that focuses on both, physical and mental heat.

Brief:

‘Heat Happens’ has been our global platform for Sprite that launched successfully in 200 markets worldwide – an acknowledgement that physical, emotional, mental heat is inevitable in our daily lives. Although there’s nothing you can do to avoid ‘heat’, what you can do is not lose your cool. Having successfully established the persistent platform in year 1, it was time to take HEAT HAPPENS to the next level in year 2.

Objective:

To double our number of weekly drinkers by increasing consumption of Sprite away from home and at the end of the day at home.

Our Sprite ‘Heat Happens’ films feature our protagonist getting heated and about to lose their cool.

In that moment, we go into their head, quite literally. Visually, this red-mist world telegraphs the mental heat that they’re feeling from within. Here people do things before they think of things like, consequences. To bring this exaggerated heated world to life from a sound and audio perspective, it was essential to get the tone right. We decided to go with Heavy Metal as our genre to accentuate that heat. And worked with hardcore metal band “Streets of Rage” from Hong Kong. The lyrics in all the songs reiterate the pent-up frustration our protagonist is feeling and take the heat to the next level.

Link: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2S5DTFCcM3HNw8ZN2abw4n?si=_h_a2pHkQ_q6S5N_Wi91ww

The Sprite ‘Heat Happens’ campaign is in its second year running. After an incredible global success last year, it’s become the long-term persistent platform that’s working for the brand: both creatively and commercially. This year, we have upped the ante and turned up the heat in tone and humour, that’s inimitably Sprite. Going beyond the obvious physical heat moments and getting into the more interesting mental heat that gives the brand more occasions to own and be relevant with its Gen Z audience.