OPEN, a creative agency in Tel-Aviv recently finished working on a very exciting brand design for Cranergy, a new energy drink by CBC and Ocean Spray. “OPEN approached a new target audience by applying a clean visual language in order to emphasise the innovative wholsome nature this all-natural-ingredients product offers”
Background
“The category of energy drinks, which in its early days used to be identified mainly with a young audience, nightlife, parties and alcohol, has evolved in recent years to include additional types of consumption. The category has expanded and now reaches new audiences such as students, soldiers and working people, who consume energy drinks throughout the day, without alcohol. However, the players in the energy drink market have all stuck to the “me too” strategy. They all focus on price, and continue to direct their marketing efforts towards a young audience of party-goers.
The main barrier that prevents this category from appealing to new audiences is the health issue: energy drinks are not perceived as ‘healthy’ products, and therefore in most cases, the general public avoids consuming energy drinks frequently or on a daily basis. The Central Bottling Company (CBC) recognized the huge potential in creating a new category within the energy drink market and decided to launch Cranergy, an energy drink which contains only natural ingredients, providing the solution to the health barrier.”
The Challenge
” In a saturated market, without clear differentiation between the various players, “hard and fast” rules for branding and the brand experience develop, and the entire market toes the line in keeping with these rules. In our case, the main concern was that launching a product with natural ingredients in a market of “aggressive” products, containing various synthetic and chemical ingredients, would come at the expense of the concept of “energy” the product is meant to provide (in terms of its power and aggressiveness).
In order to overcome this, we knew we had to build a brand that would first and foremost be perceived as an energy drink, one that provides a strong boost of energy and would be relevant to the category’s immediate audience. At the same time, the new brand had to offer a unique experience, to leverage the product’s differentiation and expand its appeal to new target audiences
The Solution
“The brand concept we constructed emphasizes the essence that sets Cranergy apart from “conventional” energy drinks. While energy drink brands make unrealistic promises to their audience (such as granting the ability to fly…), Cranergy offers its audience the same energy kick, without all the false promises. This goes along with the product itself, which is made from natural ingredients only. We also defined a brand essence and an unequivocal, powerful and direct brand statement, which is relevant to the category and places the brand’s differentiation at center stage: 100% pure energy.
The creative concept creates a cleaner, more tailored, exact and natural brand experience, while expressing power and a lot of self confidence. The brand language has been implemented on the cans, marketing aids, at the selling points and in the advertising concept.”
Designed by OPEN, Tel-Aviv, Israel.