As part of our foundational brand work with Ocean Spray, we had repositioned them from a juice company to a cranberry company, showing cranberries as an essential source of disruptive power and flavor.

Thanksgiving is a big moment for the brand culturally, and the most crucial time of year for the company’s sales.

And the brand was losing ground with millennials, right as millennials were taking over holiday hosting duties in their extended families. We needed to make the brand relevant with this audience and lift sales during this critical time of year.

We chose to focus on the product that made Ocean Spray famous 90+ years ago: the canned cranberry jelly, which many people viewed as a vestige of a different time and an antiquated way of eating. We wanted to create disruptive entertainment that built love for this inherently weird product.

The creative idea was simple: cranberry jelly is weird. Its strangeness makes it a very interesting party guest.

Our creative campaign launched with a film about the jelly transforming a boring Thanksgiving but we needed an idea to take it through Christmas.

So we invited our cranberry jelly into another American holiday tradition: the televised yule log.

Our version of the classic yule log had three wiggling cranberry jelly logs in front of a fireplace, scored by loungey holiday piano music, the sounds of a crackling fire, and muttering alien voices telling you to “wiggle” and “jiggle.”

Millennials were taking over the duties of Thanksgiving hosting, but weren't including cranberry jelly on their tables. In fact, 55% of millennials hadn’t grown up with cranberry jelly on the Thanksgiving table, and 40% of them didn't consider it an important part of Thanksgiving. We needed to bring the brand and its flagship 90+ year old product to the forefront of the holidays.

The simplest business challenge was driving sales in the highest-volume part of the year, as a recession loomed. But the more complex problem was compelling a new generation to see Ocean Spray as an essential part of the holidays.

If millennials could fall in love with the brand, they would then bring it into their emerging holiday traditions. And this would give Ocean Spray traction with a new generation and secure the brand’s place on the Thanksgiving table for years to come.

The overall campaign received over 4.5 billion PR impressions, with 103k+ coming from the Yule Log alone, making cranberry jelly the most talked-about product in pop culture for the holidays.

From TikTok to Twitter, Ocean Spray saw over 236k engagements for the entire campaign. Brand mentions were up 77% YoY, with positive mentions up +399%, and all mentions staying 94% positive/neutral.

Sales for cranberry jelly increased 27% YoY. Sales increased cross-portfolio too: Juice was up +6% vs YA and Dried Fruit +11%.

Ocean Spray experienced unprecedented lifts across nearly all aspects of the brand, and the industry and public reacted intensely to the work. From ranking on top ad lists to reactions from the public, there was a consistent theme. As one critic said, “If this is the future of advertising in a world of too many things fighting for your attention, I’m all for it.”