V is a powerhouse brand in NZ. It is the only country in the world where Red Bull (RB) is not the #1 Energy Drink of choice.

But as we headed into 2015, there were storm clouds gathering on the horizon.

Socially, the category was coming under increasing scrutiny. Energy drinks were attracting greater criticism due to their ingredients & were seen as an extremely unhealthy energy option particularly amongst young Kiwi males (the main consumers of energy drinks) who are increasingly concerned about diet, exercise & appearance.

Adding to that, was RB’s aggressive pricing strategy designed to buy back share from V. Now heading into its third year, this was not viewed by us as a sustainable long term strategy to grow the category.

When combined with RB being the pre-eminent “brand-as-content-publisher”, the competition to win the hearts & minds of young male energy drinkers is that much tougher

J&B went through all stages of product development, including a factory visit with V’s R&D team, where video and audio content was captured for their TV and radio shows.

A fully integrated approach was launched, as the boys set about rallying the nation to buy their product:

• On pack designs and copy

• POS artwork featuring images of the boys, crucially providing cut through against price positioning of rival brands

• Branded TVCs for both, explaining why their flavour was better

• Weekly in-show TV segments

Once launched, J&B’s social media pages went nuts. The campaign quickly moved from paid to earned media, with the public taking up the challenge of photographing their favourite flavour. The story continued with bespoke content for TV, radio, digital.

The winner and loser was announced on the TV show with the loser being forced to listen to the same Justin Bieber song on repeat for three days.