When it comes to ready-to-drink category, consumers especially the young ones always seek newness and trendy flavors. Whilst the latest popular flavor in Thai market was Smirnoff Ice Umeshu, it was launched almost four years earlier, in October 2018. With no new flavors for a while, the sales started to stagnate.

In order to recruit young local drinkers, the brand needed to bring a new, exciting, and trending flavor to the market. Therefore, the Pink Lemonade flavor already famous in the United States, with its sweet and sour profile and a vibrant color, was brought to Thailand, confident that it would perfectly fit the young consumers.

To lift the sales back, it was fundamental to rebuild Smirnoff ICE brand association with the national young generation in Thailand for the new ready-to-drink product: Pink Lemonade.

Objectives 

Recruit young local ready-to-drink (RTD) drinkers  

Generate 3.7% market share in RTD category (Mar-Jun’22)

The product launch campaign was planned for February to April 2022. This was perfect timing as it coincided with the end of the long multiple lockdown waves in the country.  

Our mission was to rebuild brand association with the young generation, who spent their entire academic year locked down and missed out on all social occasions and fun in general by taking Smirnoff Ice Pink Lemonade’s carefree and fun personality to be the symbol of youth, enjoyment, and party that invites the young to get together again and have fun. 

We were brought to think of other meaningful cultural and societal symbols related to the fun, party and get together. Therefore, we saw an opportunity to work with influencers that the young generation today can relate to. They needed to be fun and liberating, without fear to assume their personalities while being respectful and respectable in society.

73% of the young Thai audience (aged 20-30) from Global Web Index preferred in-person “fun” activities, “fun” appeared to be the natural magnet for attracting the young as it was a general common taste that included an expansive public, but “fun” was locked down for a while and needed to be unlocked. 

The selected influencers including LGBTQ+, a fast-growing community in Thailand and bold feminine figures were relatable for the young and they were known for their self-confidence, inclusivity, and their joviality. Therefor they were a good match for our product promotion as messages carried by them would become more meaningful and impactful, “Fun for All”.   

Contents were planned to appear on different placements on social media including short form formats such as reels and short videos, mostly appreciated by young gens to capture current trends. 

The hero of the campaign launch was the unboxing of the Super Pink Party in the biggest container boxes ever produced by Smirnoff. Before the pandemic, having fun meant going out, but with the new-normal, the party could be brought to you by Smirnoff ICE Pink Lemonade. 

After the Thai Health announced its regulation lift early February 2022, mysterious pink trucks carrying big containers were driven around jamming streets in Bangkok raising people’s curiosity as they delivered the pink party experience to our selected influencers.

Joined by their friends, the influencers were filmed ‘unboxing’ the Smirnoff’s pink containers opening onto a super fun pink party setting. Game activities were organized, and the nearby audience were invited to join the parties. 

The videos were posted afterwards on the influencers’ video platforms including YouTube, Facebook and IG Reels and other channels like influencer page partners and Smirnoff’s owned social channels.

Grow market share to 6.8%

Regarding the campaign, contents shared on social media especially the influencers’ unboxing videos gained positive public opinion considering the product and experience as fun and unseen. Thai social media was in pink during then. 

Media performance +100% vs. previous campaigns with similar budget

Brand’s social media: Impression 18M / Unique Reach 11M / View 3.6M / Engagement 3.7M / Engagement rate 8%

“Pink Lemonade was able to turn around market share since launched and still going strong until today”, Smirnoff's Product Manager.

“this Pink Lemonade box really reminded how fun we’ve been and kick my ‘second-half’ life off” - a consumer social post.