BIONADE A DECADE BEHIND

Generally, I bear no grudge against the Bionade brand and its products. On the contrary, their business case is one of those success stories we love hearing about.

It tells the tale of a company set up from scratch with the only start up capital being a good and modern product idea – sustainable organic lemonade based on natural regional produce – for a morally and qualitatively good product.

And, yes, I belonged to those who cheered every time they fended off take over approaches from evil big guns, i.e. Coca-Cola.

We all found it amusing that a company based in rural German Ostheim in Unterfranken could actually cause the mega brand from Atlanta serious headaches as Bionade has cost conventional soft drink brands consumers and purchases. GOOD FOR THEM!

But, let’s face it: Bionade has grown so quickly and to such an extent that you have to acknowledge the brand has lost its niche status bit by bit – but very definitely – and has ultimately established itself in the mainstream today selling almost 300 million units per annum.

So, their new campaign, which plays with their former underdog and moralizer status is a bit cheeky if you take a closer look. They are pretending to be what they once were and desperate to preserve their status as an ethical alternative to immoral global brands and products, realizing that this once was the brand’s strongest muscle.

It seems as if Bionade has been hibernating for a couple of years and upon awakening forgot to re-assess the development of its market.

Or how else can you explain slogans like the one pictured above where they ask presumably relevant social and moral questions to open a dialogue with a maybe more conscious and concerned consumer as it is becoming trendy to adopt certain aspects of an alternative mindset: “Can you drink against conventions?” or “Can you bottle and sell an attitude?” Bionade asks, for example. PLEASE!?! WAKE UP!!! You’re available in every second f****** soft drink outlet nationwide and have become a standard yourself!

What also caught my attention – and led me down memory lane – is the mechanic of the campaign, which reminds me of the early years of the internet, when brands used ATL campaigns as a mechanism to open up “dialogue” and guide the consumer to brand owned websites in the web: use a poster campaign to pose questions potentially relevant to the consumer and invite him online to find or debate answers. Isn’t that soooo naughties?

I could go on to comment on all the other slogans of this multi-motif campaign, but I think you’ll get my point. It just seems clear that once again tons of dosh has been wasted on an environment polluting poster campaign. A more sustainable, communicative campaign would have felt more like the good old Bionade, if you ask me, and would also have been more in line with the campaign strategy.

To be fair: I like the visual style of the campaign and the letter figures seemingly hanging in to the picture on individual threads…

But, does this campaign bring me closer to drinking “an attitude”?

Guess!

Hm, I wonder if Bionade’s heyday decade was the one that just ended…

Yours,

Brian B. Ashes