In 1992, Talking Rain Beverage Company™ introduced its flagship beverage, Sparkling Ice ®, to the world. Since then, it’s been redefining sparkling water, proving that natural flavor and fun need not be mutually exclusive. Sparkling Ice was the first beverage to trade sugar for sucralose, kicking off the no-sugar beverage craze and earning a host of loyal customers. Almost two decades later, Sparkling Ice remains a strong contender in the sparkling water category, with over $650 million in annual sales.
In Q3 2020, Sparkling Ice and its creative agencies, Hawkeye and Viva Partnership, hoped to expand its market share and edge out competitors like La Croix, Vitamin Water, and Bai. The brand had reached a plateau among mainstream consumers, so the marketing team commissioned research to help uncover a new niche. Through this research, they hoped to glean a better understanding of which markets may have untapped potential and how best to reach those consumers. An ambitious study was kicked off to determine areas of opportunity for the Sparkling Ice brand. The study suggested that Sparkling Ice had not achieved equal household penetration among the Hispanic community. Moreover, the research proved that Hispanic people are more invested in mobile gaming than other groups: They over-index by 26% in playing video games by streaming media. They are also 1.2 times more likely to use a gaming category website on their smartphone. These factors contributed to the brand’s decision to target the Hispanic market via the mobile gaming space.
3 million
Video completes
+94%
Video completion rate
+18.4%
Engagement rate
+95%
Game completion rate
28s & 10s
Avg. time spent in game
Scaling Brand Awareness Outside of Mainstream Growth Channels
Viva Partnership undertook an ambitious study to determine areas of opportunity for the Sparkling Ice brand. The study suggested that Sparkling Ice had not achieved equal household penetration among Hispanics. Moreover, the research proved that Hispanics are more invested in mobile gaming than other groups: They over-index by 26% in playing video games by streaming media. They are also 1.2 times more likely to use a gaming category website on their smartphone. These factors contributed to the brand’s decision to target the Hispanic market via the mobile gaming space.
Reaching new markets requires more than precision targeting — when the audience is small, brands need to invest in the right media channels to achieve scale. The year prior, Sparkling Ice had dipped its toe into the mobile gaming space through a partnership with Tapjoy. The rewarded mobile ad network had demonstrated considerable reach among Hispanic gamers. Unlike mainstream growth channels, Tapjoy also offered performance pricing. This would allow Sparkling Ice to tie hard metrics to performance and make the most of its ad budget.
The brand had two core objectives for the campaign: to boost brand awareness, through completed video views; and to solicit engagement, through interactive creative. Tapjoy’s rewarded model would ensure a high volume of completed video views and provide the functionality for a playable end card.
From the offset, we understood that the Sparkling Ice brand would be best-served by a customized creative execution. To complement the fun, joyful character of the brand, we proposed two playable Video to Interactive End Card executions.
- Alex Rosenthal, Visual Designer at Tapjoy
