Ribena attempts to wake ‘sleeping giant’ and target health conscious consumers with Ribena Light push

Ribena is launching a £6m marketing campaign for its Ribena Light variants aimed at young adults after responding to consumer needs for healthier products “without compromising on taste”.

According to Ribena’s marketing director Georgina Thomas, the brand has been sitting on a “sleeping giant” due to the products’ positive taste test results. However, the brand still has some way to go in terms of raising awareness among consumers.

She told Marketing Week: “In all of our blind testing, Ribena Light blackcurrant scored higher than the original. While 60% of consumers know about Ribena Light, only 30% of people have tasted it. So we want to get more people familiar with the product.”

“Sales have also been growing at 15.5% ahead of the category, so we have a bit of a sleeping giant. As a result, we wanted to come back on air and get the conversation going with young adults,” she said.

The campaign will launch in April and run for six weeks. It will be supported with a television ad, OOH, VOD, in-store sampling as well as a “heavy weight” social media campaign.

The ad features the ‘You can’t get any more Ribenary’ slogan and will continue in the style of last year’s animated TV advertisement, which aims brings to life the taste and feeling of drinking Ribena Light blackcurrant. The new ad will also be promoting Ribena Light pineapple and passion fruit.

Health conscious consumers

The brand is eager to capitalise on current consumer trends for healthier products. Ribena’s parent company Lucozade Ribena Suntory is currently aiming to reduce calories by 20% across its portfolio by 2025.

She commented: “We are aiming [this campaign] at a young audience, who are striving to make a healthier choice but without compromising on taste. We are bang on trend but want to heavily focus on taste, as no matter how much you push a health message it has to taste good too.”

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