Sprite’s classic ‘Obey Your Thirst’ tagline returns—behind the campaign

Sprite is taking a second shot at its iconic “Obey Your Thirst” campaign, beginning with a remake of the ad that started it all 30 years ago. The commercial, which uses Sprite’s famous tagline for the first time since 2019, is more than just a nostalgia play, said A.P. Chaney, senior creative director for Coca-Cola Co.-owned Sprite in North America. It comes as Sprite seeks to make itself into a lifestyle brand while emphasizing the old tagline’s message of embracing individuality, which the brand believes is relevant again, especially for young consumers or others who may have missed it the first time around. See all of Ad Age’s 2024 Creativity Award winners here “I think the way that we’re doing it now is familiar, but yet, new,” Chaney said in an interview. “We want our new consumers and Gen Z consumers to really understand what Obey Your Thirst means.” Part of that meaning is to poke fun at traditional ad tactics, such as celebrity endorsements. (Of course, Sprite uses celebrities in its ads to make that point.) The Creative The new ad is a shot-for-shot homage to the 1994 commercial where a young admirer of Grant Hill crashes to the floor when attempting to dunk like him. The new ad places Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards in Hill’s role, and includes a cameo by Hill. It was developed by Majority and supported by WPP Open X, including EssenceMediacom, Ogilvy New York and VML, alongside Momentum Worldwide. The original ad was created by Lowe & Partners. One difference between the two is that Sprite is no longer the official NBA sponsor. That role belongs now to Starry, the PepsiCo-owned rival of Sprite. Sprite intends to follow the Edwards ad with others that take a more contemporary look at “Obey Your Thirst,” including one that will feature the brand’s first female athlete partner, the Olympic sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson. Also new for the brand is Sprite Chill, a cherry-lime drink with a “cooling effect” meant to make the beverage colder as it’s consumed. Media Strategy Sprite’s new “Obey Your Thirst” campaign will appear across connected TV, online video, out-of-home, audio and social, according to the brand, and will be backed up with limited-time packaging, social and digital activations, strategic partnerships and a capsule collection of limited-edition merchandise. The Insight Young people are as distrustful of advertising today as they were in 1994, if for different reasons. Back then, the grunge movement, burgeoning hip-hop culture and streetwear helped to foster an anti-marketing attitude; today, said Chaney, social media and tech fatigue are doing the trick. “I think Gen Z, like the anti-marketing in the ’90s, are very jaded by what they see,” Chaney said. “Hashtag-ad, hashtag-partner, deepfakes and lots of AI. Sprite is really coming back and refreshing the advertising landscape for Gen Z in a way that is authentic and has a little bit of edge and energy to it.” Sprite is rewinding the clock itself, readopting the “challenger” mindset it had in the 1990s, Chaney said. Back then, the brand was looking up at competitors such as 7Up before “Obey Your Thirst” catapulted the brand to the top of the lemon-lime soda category. “We stopped being a beverage brand and became a consumer brand,” Chaney said. “By the end of my tenure, hopefully we have transcended into a lifestyle brand more than just being your favorite lemon-lime soda.” Sprite moved away from the returning slogan on several occasions over the years. It shelved “Obey Your Thirst” in 2019 as the brand moved to “Thirst for Yours,” a positioning that execs said better aligned to hip-hop’s growing role in culture. The brand’s ties to music remain strong, including through global campaigns and its support last year for hip-hop’s 50th anniversary. Business climate Sprite was the fifth-best-selling carbonated soft drink in 2023 based on retail dollar sales and first among lemon-lime sodas, according to Beverage Digest. Price increases helped the brand post a 4.7% gain in total dollars, while dollar share dipped by 0.2 to 6.7%, according to the publication. Sales volume at retail fell by 6.2%. Pepsi’s new Sprite fighter, Starry, may have had a small effect on Sprite’s sales, said Duane Stanford, Beverage Digest editor. “I’d say Starry is having an impact on Sprite initially as the massive launch last year drove trial,” Stanford said. “However, it takes a couple of years to know for sure whether a new challenger like Starry can attract repeat purchases and take a bite out of Sprite.” Read more about Starry’s marketing approach Chaney said Starry had not impacted Sprite’s business but that the brand is keeping an eye on its young rival. “It hasn’t impacted the business,” she said. But Sprite is “definitely watching Starry like we watch a Nike, like we watch Apple. At this point, everybody is a competitor, particularly with this challenger mindset and wanting to lean into eventually being a lifestyle brand.” Backstory Turning back toward “Obey Your Thirst” was the ultimate result of a challenge from Shakir Moin, chief marketing officer for Coca-Cola North America, Chaney said. “He really challenged me and the brand lead, and the brand VP to think differently about Sprite.” “We went through rounds and rounds and rounds of different articulations—who our consumer target should be? Should we move from a demographic to a psychographic? We went for probably over a year and a half, maybe two years to really get this right with a lot of consumer testing, social listening, lots of creative revisions, different agencies, lots of inputs.” Tastemakers assembled for a Sprite summit and were polled by the brand about what they wanted to see from Sprite. “We thought a lot about how we could approach marketing differently, at the speed of culture,” Chaney said. Tactics Sprite will introduce limited-edition packaging that features four unique designs, including a QR code that leads to “Obey Days,” which the brand described as a digital hub of inspiration on fashion, arts, music, entertainment and sports. “Obey Days” will include weekly content releases, including content from Edwards and Richardson. Sprite is also partnering with Joe Freshgoods, a Chicago designer known for streetwear designs. In June, Sprite and Joe Freshgoods will launch a custom capsule collection inspired by Obey Your Thirst, including limited-edition designed cans and bottles, and wearable goods. The collection will be previewed during the NBA Playoffs and through Sprite’s partnership with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Ad Age Marketer’s Brief podcast Listen here or subscribe via Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music or Audible Click here

Sprite’s classic ‘Obey Your Thirst’ tagline returns—behind the campaign

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