Coca-Cola holds pitch for global Sprite relaunch

Coca-Cola has called a pan-European advertising pitch for Sprite, ahead of a global relaunch of the brand. Kamarama, M&C Saatchi Berlin and O&M Frankfurt have been shortlisted.

The UK Sprite account is held by Lowe London, but activity has been largely dormant since the “Only one Sprite is right” campaign that began in 2002.

The pitch is being run out of the soft drink giant’s Brussels office. The winning agency will produce campaigns for the lemon-and-lime drinks brand across countries including the UK, France and Spain.

To promote the brand in the US and China, Coca-Cola has launched the Sprite Yard social networking website.

Its closest competitor, Pepsi-owned 7UP, grew its share of the UK lemon-and-lime carbonates category by 5.5% to 37.1% in the year to September 2007. Sprite fell from 59% to 58.5% over the same period after Coca-Cola cut ad spend on the brand.