These yetis aren’t hiding in the Himalayas, they’re ice skating on the local pond and caroling through the neighborhood in a new campaign for alternative soda brand Olipop.
While the goal in this scenario is to spread cheer, the giant lumbering beasts manage only to terrorize the townsfolk. It’s not until they shed the costumes they’re hiding behind, showing their true (lovable) selves, that they are accepted into the fold.
All together now: awww.
The 30-second ad—a stop-motion animation film inspired by classics in the genre like Wallace & Gromit, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and the Rankin/Bass catalog—is the first holiday campaign from Olipop, a fast-growing, better-for-you beverage maker with $500 million in sales.
“There’s a powerful lesson here: be your authentic self,” Matt Bruhn, Olipop’s newly named chief marketing officer, told ADWEEK. “It’s wrapped in fun, but we think it’s an interesting narrative about connection and bonding and finding your sense of community.”
The nostalgic work comes from indie agency Callen based on the fully furry, slightly goofy characters that Olipop’s in-house team created for limited-time seasonal packaging and in-store promotions.
In developing a narrative around the first brand mascots, nicknamed Oli and Pop, the partners aimed to draw a parallel between yetis and soda that may not be immediately obvious. Namely, both have been vilified historically, yet they’ve had 21st century makeovers.
“Yetis have been reimagined by pop culture as a symbol for good—they’re these amazing mythical, mystical characters from folklore,” Bruhn said, pointing to the success of all-family movies from Warner Bros.’ (Smallfoot) and Dreamworks (Abominable). “They capture the spirit of the brand because there’s a certain mystery around converting soda from bad to good.”
Amped up marketing
The holiday campaign follows a stepped-up level of marketing activity from Olipop that includes professional sports sponsorships, an Olympics-pegged ad this past summer, and the recent intro of a Mountain Dew challenger called Ridge Rush, with commercials from comedy duo Fatal Farm.