The Brief

Samurai is a late entrant in the highly competitive energy drink category. Target market is the middle to lower working class. At the onset, consumers would already have their preferred brand. With a very limited budget, we needed to make consumers take notice of Samurai and consider it worthy of replacing their current brand.

Creative Execution

Protest marches are a way of life in the Philippines. The Filipino working class has utilized them to denounce everything from unfair labor practices to high prices to dictators. We put a creative spin to protest marches, giving the consumers a vicarious experience of what they ache to do: cry out against the daily toll of the daily grind. They get to sample the product under conditions most appropriate: in the streets and under the blazing sun.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

For consumers to notice and immediately interact with the product, we mounted an aggressive, high-impact sampling event right in the busy streets of Manila. We utilized a labor rally – beginning with a march and culminating with a protest program. Spectators and passersby where given free Samurai drinks.

Results

Consumer response was excellent. The intrusive sampling effort literally stopped traffic. Onlookers and passersby paid attention to the “cause”, generating trial among targeted consumers. Media took notice and provided unsolicited buzz for the product. After the sampling, YTD volume was up by 29% vs. target.