Welch’s tries juicing sales by splattering men with grapes
E.J. Schultz
Welch’s, whose ads have long portrayed smiling kids and docile grape farmers, is about to get gritty as it zeros in on a new marketing target: Gen X men.
The star of one new ad is a hulking metal machine that pulverizes grapes into smithereens. Another darkly-lit spot touts the juice as containing “the world’s toughest antioxidants” by showing a man whose face is splattered in juice.
The campaign, called “Tough as Grapes,” is messy—and a far cry from the brand’s most recent advertising, which featured sunshine, soft music and farmers quietly talking about the health benefits of grape juice along with footage of happy families. The old ads mirrored the marketing conventions juice brands have followed for decades.
“We call it the ‘chirping birds and smiling kids strategy’ that women have been seeing for 50 years,” says Lesya Lysyj, Welch’s U.S. president. But as more moms abandon juice because of sugar concerns, the old ad approach no longer works.
Welch’s shelf stable juice sales fell 5.6 percent on a dollar basis for the 52 weeks ending Sept. 8, according to a report from Wells Fargo, which tracks the brand’s sales by its parent company, the National Grape Cooperative Association, the farmers’ organization that harvests the brand’s grapes.
Welch’s and its new agency, Barton F. Graf, are going after Gen X men because they are proven to be more loyal to juice. According to Welch’s research, 73% of Gen X men still drink juice with breakfast. And they buy 17 bottles of juice a year, compared with 10 bottles for the average buyer.
“We felt like in order to make people notice and reconsider us, especially this guy consumer, we had to speak to him in the way he wants to be talked to,” Lysyj says.
The grape-crushing machine in the ads, nicknamed “el diablo,” which is Spanish for devil, is from a Welch’s plant in Yakima Valley, Washington. The brand uses Concord grapes and crushes the entirety of each one, including the skin and seed. That ensures the juice contains more antioxidants, according to Lysyj. Antioxidants are said to help fight diseases.
The male-targeted creative approach is supported with a new media-buying strategy that includes buys during National Football League coverage and in Howard Stern’s satellite radio show. Previously, Welch’s bought ads in family/parenting and women’s lifestyle programming.
Credits:
- Date
- Oct 15, 2018
- Client:
- Welch’s
- Agency:
- Barton F. Graf-New York
- Chief Creative Officer:
- Gerry Graf
- Chief Executive Officer:
- Caroline Winterton
- Chief Operating Officer:
- Sara Kastner
- Chief Strategy Officer:
- Laura Janness
- Executive Creative Director:
- Jeff Benjamin
- Creative Director:
- Avinash Baliga
- Creative Director:
- Zoe Kessler
- Senior Copywriter:
- Lucas Tristao
- Senior Art Director:
- Mike Lomanto
- Copywriter:
- Nick Bynum
- Art Director:
- Gage Young
- Art Director:
- James Clunie
- Strategy Director:
- Helene Dick
- Account Director:
- Hayley Zelina
- Account Supervisor:
- Julia Davis
- Designer:
- Elena Woznick
- Designer:
- Corey Thomas
- Designer:
- Dan Kane
- Project Manager:
- Sarah Scardillo
- Head of Integrated Production:
- David Cardinali
- Executive Producer:
- Cameron Farrell
- BTS Production/Stills Photographer:
- Saul Metnick
- Head of Business Affairs:
- Jennifer Pannent
- Production Company:
- Pulse
- Director:
- Ryan Booth
- Executive Producer:
- Hillary Rogers
- Producer:
- Kevin Clark
- Production Supervisor:
- Elisabeth Compton
- Director of Photography:
- Isaac Bauman
- Production Designer:
- Luis Diaz
- Wardrobe Stylist:
- Ron Leamon
- Editorial:
- Whitehouse Post
- Lead Editor:
- Tobias Suhm
- Co-Editor:
- Ray Frech
- Head of Production:
- Melanie Klein
- Executive Producer:
- Caitlin Grady
- Finishing:
- Carbon
- Executive Producer:
- Frank Devlin
- Creative Director:
- Kieran Walsh
- VFX Producer:
- Joe Nash
- Flame Artist:
- Brian Benson
- Telecine:
- The Mill
- Colorist:
- Mikey Rossiter
- Color Producer:
- Evan Bauer
- Sound Design:
- Trinitite Studios
- Sound Designer:
- Brian Emrich
- Audio Engineering:
- Wave
- Executive Producer:
- Vicky Ferraro
- Mixer:
- Chris Afzal
- Music:
- Andrew Sherman
- Music:
- Butter Music + Sound
- Music:
- Mozart