Bronze, Best Use of Games/Contests/Sweepstakes 2015

Given that Capri Sun’s Kids vs. Pros: Playground Throwdown in 2013 led to a year-over-year sales increase of 11.3%, it’s not surprising that the beverage brand was eager to revisit the campaign in 2014. It faced a significant challenge, however: an appreciably smaller budget. Then again, it also had one potential advantage: 2014 was the year of the World Cup in Brazil, resulting in heightened enthusiasm for soccer among its target audience of 6- to 12-year-olds and their moms.

Capri Sun and agency Catapult took advantage of World Cup fever by making the 2014 throwdown a soccer-theme sweepstakes. The four grand prizes were a trip to Orlando, FL, where the kids would play soccer pros in a live competition designed to give the youngsters the winning edge. Major League Soccer stars were displayed on 150 million promo cartons and1.5 billion promo drink pouches, which also featured codes for smaller instant-win prizes such as balls and beverage holders. Promo tags ran on Nickelodeon, Disney XD, and other cable networks targeting kids, while targeted digital and social media directed kids and moms to the Kids vs. Pros website. Social posts from the soccer pros also boosted awareness.

The 146 million media impressions contributed to more than 670,000 visits to the dedicated website. The number of sweepstakes entries exceeded those for the 2013 contest by 256%. And the thought of beating the pros at their own game apparently created quite a thirst among kids: Year-over-year sales jumped 10.5%. Capri Sun surely got a kick out of that.