Brisk touts first new product in 5 years with social push, merch sweepstakes

Dive Brief:

Brisk, the ready-to-drink tea marketed by a PepsiCo-Unilever partnership, is promoting its first new product in five years with a social media campaign and giveaway of branded merchandise. The rollout for Brisk Zero Sugar Lemon Iced Tea includes a 60-second spot on the brand's YouTube channel and website that shows how several creators find inspiration, and features the tagline "All Great Things Start from Zero," per an announcement.
The "Unlock Your Zero Drop" promotion gives consumers a chance to win one of more than 2,600 prizes by buying the new sugar-free lemon iced tea or other participating Brisk product, and entering a code found under the bottle cap at the DrinkBrisk.com/ZeroDrop websites. Brisk will give a prize every hour for 56 consecutive days. In addition, all entries have a chance to win one of five grand prizes that include Brisk merchandise and a pair of customized shoes made by sneaker artist Dan "Mache" Gamache, who is featured in the 60-second spot.
Brisk's social media effort to promote the product drops includes an "All Great Things Start From Zero" influencer campaign on Instagram, the #JustAddBrisk challenge on TikTok and a custom emoji that people can see when they use the hashtags #UnlockYourZeroDrop and #BriskZeroSugar on Twitter, per the announcement.

Dive Insight:

Brisk aims to raise awareness for its zero-sugar, lemon-flavored tea while engaging younger consumers with a broad digital media effort and sweepstakes that doles out branded merchandise and other prizes. The theme of its "All Great Things Start from Zero" tagline runs throughout the campaign, which highlights the artistic efforts of a variety of creators, including Mache, photographer Mark Elzey, graffiti artist Epic Uno and multimedia artists Riiisa Boogie and Rezones.

The campaign comes amid steady growth for the ready-to-drink tea category, which expanded as much as 5% to $6.45 billion last year despite competition from other health-oriented drinks, according to the Tea Association of the USA.

Brisk is giving consumers an incentive to try the new flavor with the sweepstakes that offers a chance to win branded merchandise like a skateboard, bucket hat, T-shirt, bomber jacket and boom box, among other items. Branded merchandise has become more popular in promotions for a variety of brands that aim to remain relevant among younger consumers. Among the more recent examples, Avocados From Mexico this month began offering members of its new loyalty rewards program a way to receive branded swag from its web store. Dunkin' offered wedding-themed merchandise on its website for Valentine's Day, while McDonald's has used the strategy for years with a variety of products, including the capsule collection for last month's launch of the Crispy Chicken Sandwich.

The grand prize that includes custom sneakers made by Mache is another sign of how sneakerhead culture has become more mainstream, and is more pronounced in campaigns from brands outside the sportswear and apparel industries. Luxury car brand Lexus this month created a video documentary titled "Rubber & Sole" that showed how a group of designers created a customized sneaker inspired by the luxury car brand's 2021 IS sedan. Mondelez's Chips Ahoy last month began asking sneakerheads to vote on their favorite shoe design for brand mascot Chip. Yum Brands' Pizza Hut chain has run sneaker-themed campaigns, including the introduction of its "Pie Tops" connected sneakers for ordering pizza.