Simply replaces Donald Sutherland with new spokesman—see the campaign

Coca-Cola’s Simply brand—which has used the smooth voice of Donald Sutherland in ads for two decades—has a new spokesman, Eugene Cordero. The actor, known for roles in “Loki” and “Star Trek: Lower Deck,” appears in new ads that add a humorous tone to the orange juice brand’s longtime no-frills positioning. The campaign, called “Say Yes to Simple,” includes a 30-second ad that co-stars “Ghostbusters” actor Neil Casey. Cordero reinforces the message, “At Simply, we like to do things the simple way,” adding “unlike those who like to unnecessarily complicate things,” referring to a scene in which Casey struggles with a “smart door.” The ad includes a familiar orange grove that often appeared in the Sutherland-voiced ads. But putting Cordero in the ads represents new terrain for Simply, which says it has not previously used an on-screen spokesperson. In some digital ads, Cordero’s face is not shown, but his voice can still be heard echoing “Say Yes to Simple '' over juice products. “While Simply has had phenomenal success leveraging the dulcet tones of Donald Sutherland’s voice for the last 20 years, it was time to bring an actual face to the brand, and leverage our combined voices to bring more humanity to the Simply brand,” Alex Ames, creative director of nutrition for Coca Cola, said in a statement to Ad Age. “Eugene Cordero was the perfect choice for the campaign because of his strong awareness with younger consumers, his reputation as a charismatic straight shooter in the world of improv, and his continued focus on what matters to him.” The new campaign, which comes from WPP-backed Cartwright, features Simply’s expanded portfolio of over 30 beverages, from smoothies to low-calorie options like Simply Light. That is a new approach for the brand, which had previously focused on individual products in ads, said Tiphanie Maronta, group director of Simply. The campaign launch also features a Beta shoppable QR code, viewable on Amazon streaming TV ads, in which shoppers will be directed to Whole Foods Market or Amazon fresh to purchase Simply products. The campaign includes media buys on TV, social media and digital. The investment marks an increase in spending from recent years, according to Coca-Cola, while also amounting to the first year that the Simply brand media investment will be over 50% digitally focused. Coca-Cola’s measured media spending in the U.S. on Simply was about $20 million in 2021, down 9.3% from the previous year, according to Kantar. Orange juice sales declined about 2.6% by dollars in the last year, according to Beverage Digest. Simply had 9% dollar market share of the category last year, just behind Tropicana, which had 9.8% share, according to Beverage Digest. In August, PepsiCo sold Tropicana to a private-equity firm called PAI Partners, in an effort to focus on other beverage products. Duane Stanford, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, says PepsiCo's sale represents an opportunity for Simply in the short term. But “longer term, they will need to be cognizant that a more focused Tropicana will be a stronger competitor looking to win back share,” he said “Tropicana won’t have to compete for marketing and advertising spending with those other major [PepsiCo] product lines.” Below, an example of how Sutherland pitched the brand.

Simply replaces Donald Sutherland with new spokesman—see the campaign

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