Johnsonville is addressing the decline of local in-person social interactions with the nationwide launch of Johnsonville Dr Pepper Inspired Sausage. This collaboration aims to leverage the shared heritage of both brands in barbecue culture to encourage American consumers to gather around the grill.
The campaign centers on the spot titled “No Rules” :15, which utilizes attention-grabbing creativity to highlight the novelty of the product.
Here’s what iSpot’s Creative Assessment platform revealed on actual viewer response to the spot.
The Details:
- As expected, response to the unexpected sausage and soda collaboration across the full gen pop audience averaged into a below-norm creative response vs the one-year meat norm. A collab designed to divide opinion will structurally deflate aggregate scores — the bottom portion of the audience was never going to buy Dr Pepper sausage regardless of creative quality; however, the :15 “No Rules” achieved four key objectives:
- The :15 spot grabbed Attention successfully, ranking in the 71st percentile in this regard. Breaking through is the primary creative job for a known polarizing concept. In a 15-second format, the strong Attention indicates that the concept held viewers even among skeptics.
- “No Rules” delivered Information on the new collaboration to viewers, being perceived as more informative than the average meat ad.
- The creative reminded viewers of at least one of the tie-in brands, with 65% recalling Johnsonville and 27% responding with Dr. Pepper (unaided) indicating clear concept communication.
- Moreover, the creative performed appropriately for a polarizing product, showing evidence of successful disruption (Surreal, Incredulous, Thirsty emotions).
- The :15 spot grabbed Attention successfully, ranking in the 71st percentile in this regard. Breaking through is the primary creative job for a known polarizing concept. In a 15-second format, the strong Attention indicates that the concept held viewers even among skeptics.
- Incredulity and surrealism generate social media sharing, earned media, and trial Curiosity in ways that Value or Wholesome response never would for a Dr Pepper brat:
- Evaluated on a split-audience model, viewers indicating the ad made them more/much more likely to consider a purchase (50% of respondents) found the concept Prodtastic, a bit Funny, and Authentic. 13% of all respondents reported being turned off by the concept and another 32% reported no change in their intent – emotional response here was more varied in negativity and disbelief with Gross and Incredulous leading.
All Viewers
- Viewer sentiment was similarly – and expectedly – skewed, but the Top 2 Box sentiment cloud was very positive, suggesting the persuadable segment was genuinely engaged and connected:
- Overall reaction to the creative suggested the execution matched the bold positioning and effectively communicated the product for most viewers.
- Comments indicate that the product intrigued and had inherent appeal to those open to it while Dr. Pepper references also sparked thirst.
- The vending machine novelty contributed to Surreal references and helped grab initial Attention (while also underscoring the drink aspect). For some, this muddled the sausage concept a bit (drinks are sold in vending machines, not sausage).
- Of course, some viewers were simply repelled by the idea of a soda-flavored sausage.
- The brand might consider adding a clear purchase path (retailer, QR code, or vending machine location) to convert the 50% who were intrigued.
- Overall reaction to the creative suggested the execution matched the bold positioning and effectively communicated the product for most viewers.
Sample comments on the “No Rules” :15
“Seriously? Is this real? A sausage that tastes like Dr Pepper. I love the commercial. I have never seen anything like it. I’ve never seen a product like this. I think a lot of people will try it (including me) and I hope it’s as good as it sounds. The commercial is outstanding and gets your attention, and keeps your attention. This is unique and I think will keep people’s attention, and have people talk about it.”
Male 50+
“I liked the ad. I remember those old square pop machines. I haven’t seen one in forever. Nice nostalgia bait. And the Dr Pepper sausage seems like a good idea. Dr Pepper is mostly cherry, which we all know works very well with pork products.”
Male 18-35
“At first, I loved it because I LOVE Dr Pepper, my favorite soda. But then, when it went to sausage, I was grossed out. I don’t think those two things go together and I never wanted to try that when at first I wanted to get Dr Pepper. By the end of the commercial, I was grossed out and no longer wanted anything.”
Female 50+
“The fact that you assume it is a Dr Pepper ad and then there’s a bratwurst button is getting very attention. I don’t know if I would like that, but I am willing to give it a try. Good job.”
Male 36-49
“Ok, this definitely made me curious. Is there really a hotdog that tastes like Dr Pepper? Why would anyone do that? I love Dr Pepper, and I love hot dogs, but combining them sounds horrifically bad.”
Male 50+
“I am a big fan of Dr Pepper, so it got my attention. However, I think that a Dr Pepper flavored sausage sounds absolutely disgusting. The vending machine thing was quite clever though.”
Female 18-35
“I’m confused and intrigued. Is there really a sausage that tastes like Dr Pepper? I find this ad very interesting.”
Male 18-35
“I feel like the ad was actually very confusing. To start off with a very prominent brand like Dr Pepper and to go most of the entire ad before realizing it was actually highlighting something else was deceiving in a non-threatening way. Coincidentally, the product didn’t have any other selling points in the ad and so I was not sold on even trying it.”
Female 36-49
“I am curious as to what a Dr Pepper Johnsonville sausage would taste like. I love Dr Pepper and sausage so I’m pretty sure I will try these. The ad got the point across with the vending machine and the sausage.”
Female 50+
“Was it an ad for Dr Pepper or Johnsonville? Inquiring minds want to know. I thought it was a unique ad, but it moved too fast and left me questioning if I can buy Dr Pepper infused Johnsonville hotdogs and/or sausages. I like both products and am especially fond of the 10, 2, and 4 brands (that’s Dr Pepper if you’re not old school).”
Male 50+
“I don’t know if they are actually introducing a Pepsi flavored hot dog or if it was just for the brand Pepsi, but is sounds disgusting.”
Male 18-35
“The ad was perfect. It inspired intrigue and ridiculousness. I will absolutely be purchasing these in the future.”
Female 18-35
“I loved it. I thought it was very creative. Definitely wasn’t expecting a sausage to come out of the vending machine.”
Female 18-35
“Very funny to show the soda machine that we all expect to pop out a can of soda and it’s a sausage. Good way to show the viewer it’s a collaboration product with the new sausages.”
Male 18-35
- In a reflection of current dietary trends, Tyson saw some success with a :15 spot touting their Simple Ingredient chicken nuggets as high protein:
- This creative found a strong audience among younger viewers under 50, and sparked Convenient and Healthy response.
Ineffective creative, even if delivered to the right audience, results in missed opportunity and performance shortfalls. Great creative delivered poorly also results in failed campaigns.
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Creative Agency: Droga5