A campaign was needed to prompt brand reappraisal and emotional connection with a new audience for Diet Coke: young men in their 20s. The communication needed to broaden the brand's appeal and relevance to fully engage them.
In the UK the sugar-free benefit of Diet Coke has historically been more relevant to women, so Diet Coke had become a female-biased brand. The marketing reflected this - especially the advertising. The brand has a heritage of 1980's iconic advertising with broader appeal, but more recent advertising had a clear female bias, and was failing to engage a wider audience.
However, with the increasing consumer trend towards balance in diet for men as well as women, the Diet Coke product has become a more motivating proposition for men. Changes in the Diet Coke consumption profile are reflecting this with more than 40% volume now coming from men. This is an audience who is now buying into the rational product benefits of Diet Coke, but still seeing the brand as being for women and not for them.