Chin Up! Ribena helps people laugh through life's little stumbles in new £7 million campaign
Ribena is launching a new brand positioning introducing the tagline ‘Chin Up’ with two entertaining films and OOH that will be highly relatable for anyone who’s struggled to parallel park a car, had an awkward handshake moment, or been harshly judged by a cat.
Representing a major shift in direction for Ribena, ‘Chin Up’ is rooted in those awkward, banana skin moments (like calling your boss ‘mum’), which might make you cringe in the moment, but once shared with friends, gives everyone a good laugh. The campaign is devised by the brand’s newly appointed agency BBH who won the creative pitch in 2021.
Ribena is an icon mainstay of the soft drinks category – in fact, we’ve been bringing our incredible taste to consumers in the UK for over eight decades now! With the brand in strong growth of +15%*, now is the perfect time to launch our new campaign. ‘Chin Up’ puts our brand’s cheeky irreverent personality at its heart by encouraging the nation to reach for a Ribena to help them laugh through life’s awkward little stumbles. This new positioning will drive reappraisal of the drink to help retailers to grow their sales of the brand in store across our ever-popular ready-to-drink and squash ranges and give their category sales a lift. BBH’s clear direction about where the brand must head makes a huge amount of sense, and the creative way they’ve brought it to life with ‘Chin Up’ is a joy.
‘Chin Up’ was devised to be a long-term brand platform that can be activated day to day in entertaining ways and aims to help people laugh through life’s little stumbles. The campaign has a £7M investment to reach a significant 91% of adults in the UK, and is set to make a splash this summer, during Ribena’s key soft drink selling season and beyond.
Centred around two films, the campaign will also run across online video, OOH, social media and in-store marketing, prompting shoppers to reach for the drink “when it’s Ri-bena bit awkward”.
In the first ‘Chin Up’ film we see a man attempting to parallel park. Even before he begins, he feels under pressure thanks to the very tight spot’s proximity to Nosey’s Cafe, Gawpers Supermarket and a bus stop – plus a lorry driver offering some less-than-helpful advice as he waits to pass. As attempt after attempt goes wrong, various animatronic cats – nature’s most judgemental animal – chime in with a disappointed head shake and a chorus of ‘Maaaaate’ in a fictional skit created to highlight the relatable pressure of trying to parallel park.
Finally with the car parked, the man reaches for his Ribena, and after taking a sip, the tables are turned – he’s now relaxing in the role of onlooker, and one of the cats is in the driver’s seat (doing an even worse job). The voiceover says: “When it’s Ribena high-pressure parking palaver… Chin up, my friend. Chin up.”
Another film shows a woman checking her reflection in a tinted car window, only for a man to roll the window down with a hilarious deadpan look. These awkward altercations follow her throughout her day whenever she comes into contact with a reflective surface, until she pulls out her bottle of Ribena and takes a refreshing sip.
John Nolan Studio, famous for its animatronics on films like Jurassic Park Dominion and Mary Poppins Returns, created the clowder of cats featured in the two films. The OOH activity has been illustrated by Rob Flowers.
It’s not every day you get the chance to take an iconic, beloved British brand and reimagine it to the world. We took this task very seriously whilst having a lot of fun along the way. Animatronic cats are just the start. This is a brand platform with endless possibilities to get Ribena talked about in culture and beyond, one awkward moment at a time.
The campaign breaks on June 1, running on TV in the UK and Ireland, including ITV, Channel 4, Finecast and Sky.
*Nielsen L52 weeks ending Feb