360° Guide to Marketing Strategy of Sprite – With Campaigns

In a previous article, we learned about the detailed SWOT analysis of Sprite. In this blog, we are going to further elaborate on the Marketing Strategy of Sprite – as the biggest lemon & lime flavoured soft drink competing against 7UP.

The ultimate key purpose is to gain insights into the Sprite brand and how it came about. It is currently the sixth best-selling soft drink brand worldwide and is aiming to become the world’s largest lemon & lime soda producer across the world with the help of its extensive marketing efforts as Coca-Cola’s second best-selling product.

It’s not a surprise that everything has become digital since Covid hit and most businesses are going online.

As lockdowns became the new reality, businesses and consumers went digital which resulted in an increase in e-commerce from 14% to 17% in a period of a year. Providing and purchasing more goods and services urged a cry for digital marketing. 

Marketing is now more crucial than ever and is the backbone of many online businesses.

If you are interested in learning new-age digital marketing, then you should definitely take a look at IIDE’s Free MasterClass on Digital Marketing 101 by our CEO and Founder, Karan Shah.

In this blog, we will investigate the full marketing strategy of Sprite. But first and foremost, let us begin by getting to know the company and the brand a little better.

About Sprite – Company Overview

Source – 1000 logos

The Sprite drink began as a Fanta drink that was first developed in West Germany in 1959 as Fanta Klare Zitrone (“Clear Lemon Fanta”). It was then thoroughly tested in the United States before it was officially released.

Thereafter it was introduced in the United States under the Sprite name in 1961 as a competitor to 7 Up of Keurig Dr Pepper which was a big lemon-lime drink in the market.

The infamous Sprite brand name was first originated by a Houston-based bottler,  T. C. Evans, who distributed Coca-Cola products, and the rights to the name were attained by The Coca-Cola Company in 1960.

By 1967, the American beverage was being distributed in 37 countries and is now presently being sold in more than 190 countries worldwide and is also being produced in various flavours.

This sure success was a result of the in-trend and relatable marketing campaigns done over the years such as partnering with Missy Elliot, Lebron James and Drake. Hence Sprite’s financial status is in good health. 

In addition to its original lemon-lime flavour, Sprite has added a variety of flavours of sprite such as cherry, cranberry,  ginger, grape, orange, tropical, cucumber, vanilla and many more.

There’s also Sprite without sugar which is called Sprite Zero Sugar which was first named Sugar Free Sprite in 1974 in the US and further renamed into Diet Sprite and Sprite light before ultimately sticking to Sprite Zero Sugar to align with Coca-Cola Zero Sugar.

QUICK STATS

 

Marketing Strategy of Sprite –

Let’s take a dive into the marketing strategy outline of Sprite with more information about the company.

Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning

Sprite competes with other products based on its market segmentation in four key areas: Demographic, Geographic, Psychographic and Behavioural. Variables include age, gender, family size, income, education and lifestyle to name a few.

Sprite’s target audience is the youth with an age range of 12 years old to 35 years old because research revealed that people within this range are one of the major consumer groups of the drink. But marketing will also be carried out to target elder people with the main aim to make Sprite a product for all.

As of today, Sprite is now known to have positioned itself as a carbonated instant energy and nutrition drink. It has also loudly and effectively positioned its product as a collision of lemon and lime that conveys a crisp, clean taste. The eco-friendly bottles still maintain their ‘dimpled’ look that is said to represent the carbonated quality of the drink, thus building brand equity.

Marketing Campaigns

‘LET’S BE CLEAR’ is the first-ever global marketing campaign. The current campaign was set up to resemble the change from Sprite green plastic to clear plastic bottles, making them easier to recycle. As a result of the positioning, there has been a boost in sales.

The ‘Spark’ Campaign was a partnership between Drake & Sprite. It was aimed at giving teens a platform to express their creativity through music & film, which increased sales by 19%. 

‘Obey Your Thirst’ was a revolutionary campaign put in place to change the image of sprite soda, as a result, sales increased by roughly 9% since its introduction, especially in the younger age groups.

Social Media Marketing

• Facebook: 21M+ followers
• Instagram: 870K+ Followers,
• LinkedIn: N/A
• Twitter: 300K+Followers

They are most active on Instagram, where they frequently post and participate in holiday-based challenges and have an active series of promoting hip-hop artists.

Their content is mostly informational as they are deeply integrated within the hip-hop community as well as promotions for their product launches.

SEO Strategies

Source – UberSuggest

According to SEO rankings, a number of keywords above 1000 are considered good and as we can see above, Sprite has 8678 organic keywords, which is a great number. Meaning Sprite takes digital marketing as a crucial and important task.

Also, the monthly traffic is above 200K+ visits which is a good sign. Sprite’s SEO strategies are doing great and helping them to achieve better

Influencer Marketing

Sprite has worked with a number of celebrities, especially in the music and sports industry, for example, Drake, LL Cool J and Missy Elliott as well as Lebron James.

Their ads also feature influencers in India such as Yashaswini Dayama, Rohan Shah and Viraj Ghelani.

There are many more influencers, artists, celebrities and sports personalities that are partnered with Sprite across the globe.

E-commerce Strategies

The Sprite website has a ‘BUY NOW’ feature that redirects you to e-commerce sites of stores in your region where Sprite could be purchased.

Coca-Cola also has come up with ‘freestyle dispensers’ which involves the brand working with its retail and restaurant customers to find more ways to sell more drinks, for example through Amazon Echo.

Mobile Apps

Sprite is featured on the parental company, Coca-Cola’s mobile app which is available in app stores. The Coca-Cola app allows users to get location-based offers,  earn rewards, learn about the latest product news & participate in fun games.

This way the lemon and lime-flavoured drink can be accessed through virtual means. Sprite is also available on store apps such as Amazon where they can be accessed by consumers and have the product shipped or delivered to them.

Content Marketing Strategies

Sprite is active in advertising its products as the growth of the company is fully dependent on the advertising & marketing sector, especially in revisiting the brand’s look.

Sprite has had its ups and downs over the years and its marketing strategies have always saved the brand and resulted in an increase in sales, each time.

A multichannel strategy has been Sprite’s weapon for its growth as Coca-Cola’s second-best-selling soda. Their content is deeply rooted in the hip-hop world & the basketball scenes.

This ends our elaborative and detailed marketing strategy for Sprite. We now conclude what we’ve learnt about the Sprite company.

Conclusion – What’s Unique in Sprite’s Marketing?

Within five decades, Sprite has become a globally famous brand, developed by one of the biggest beverage manufacturers in the whole world, Coca-Cola.

It is now ranked as the sixth best-selling soda in the world and the second best-selling Coca-Cola product due to its strong marketing efforts and remains a strong competitor against 7UP. The lemon and lime-flavoured soda maintain its crispy clean taste amongst its youthful audience. 

Their marketing strategy efforts go unnoticed, from their marketing campaigns, marketing channels used and marketing tools and techniques.

Brand image, brand equity and brand visibility are one of the key aspects Sprite is always re-imagining and improving keeping the youth in mind by inducting young fresh ideas.

Companies such as Sprite are heavily reliant on their success through marketing and are always looking for talented marketers.

If this intrigues you, you should learn how to create impactful and targeted digital marketing campaigns and enrol in IIDE’s Online Digital Marketing Course which upskills you in all aspects of the looming digital marketing field.

We hope this blog on the marketing strategy of Sprite has given you a massive insight into the company’s marketing schemes. If you like such an in-depth analysis of companies, find more on our IIDE Knowledge portal. 

Thank you for reaching this far, do share your thoughts in the comment section down below!