SodaStream attacks soft drinks industry in £11m campaign

SodaStream is taking aim at the soft drinks industry in its first global TV ad campaign that claims the plastic waste it creates makes it “not fit for purpose”.

SodaStream
SodaStream takes on fizzy drinks industry with global campaign.

It is investing £11m in the global campaign which introduces the strapline: “If you love bubbles set them free”. It shows two-litre fizzy drinks bottles exploding in warehouses and shops as the bubbles are “set free”.

The campaign claims consumers can save up to 2,000 plastic bottles every year by using SodaStream to make soft drinks from tap water at home.

Fiona Hope, UK MD of SodaStream says the existing soft drinks industry model is “not fit for the 21st century”.

She told Marketing Week: “In the beverage industry there are fantastic brands but their functional delivery process is not fit for 21st century. The products are great, brands are great but we need to stop using all this plastic. They [soft drinks manufactures] all talk about how much recycling they do but to us recycling is overrated and the world could live with an awful lot less plastic in the first place. If you were to invent the soft drinks industry now this is how you would design it – not trucking around loads of flavoured water in trucks.”

The British Soft Drinks Association says: “The nation’s favourite brands need the best quality packaging to ensure that they delight their consumers every time. Soft drinks packaging is recyclable and recycling rates are growing fast. This packaging makes up only a small proportion of all packaging used by households, and we don’t think that asking our consumers to recycle their empty bottles and cans is too much to ask.

“Recycling is an easy way for people to keep the environmental impact of their drinks low without compromising on quality or taste.”

SodaStream is preparing to partner with a number of soft drinks brands to develop SodaStream variants for the UK. It is working with Kraft brands Country Time and Kool Aid and Campbells V8 juice in the UK.

Hope admits that SodaStream has a perception issue with its taste but adds that its flavours are “infinitely” better than they were in the 80s. It now has more than 50 varieties including better for you low sugar versions, those made with Stevia and energy drinks.

SodaStream has grown from around 12 markets to being available in 45 countries in the past three years. The brand has only been available in the US for around six years, but was invented in the UK in 1903 and came to prominence here in the 1970s which means there is a different marketing challenge in each region.

Hope says: “The brand has lived with different characteristics depending on when consumers came to the brand. In the US they are coming to the idea of making fizzy drinks out of tap water in the 21st century so of course it makes absolute sense whereas in the UK our marketing challenge is different. Theres a lot of nostalgia around the brand and it was famous for fun.”

“We don’t want to go hardcore with the sustainability message we also make drinks that taste fantastic and the brand is a lot of fun. We need to bring back the contemporary relevance because people need different reasons than they did in the 70s.”

The TV ads, created by Alex Bogusky break in the UK tonight (22 November). It will be the first TV activity the brand has ever run in the US.

The global activity follows a UK relaunch two years ago which aimed to remind people about SodaStream in preparation for the global push.

SodaStream’s campaign coincides with the launch of its latest machine ‘The Source’ created by italian designer Yves Behar, which aims to make SodaStream “more stylish”.

Recommended