Ricola and Park Seo Jun disrupt daily grind with mood lifting campaign

Shortly after appointing South Korean actor Park Seo Jun as brand ambassador, Ricola has launched its new campaign with marketing agency ADNA. The campaign rolled out in major markets across Asia, including Korea, China and Thailand and is part of its efforts to ramp up growth efforts in the region.

Starring Park and an animated Bumble Bee, ADNA said the work is designed to “disrupt the daily grind and lift your mood with a drop of Swiss nature”. In the new executions, the sonics have been refreshed into a more contemporary orchestration based on the feeling of breathing freely but it still keeps the iconic "Ri-Co-La" three notes. On social media, the three notes have been turned into breathing exercises using kaleidoscopic herbal meditations to reinforce the message of "Breathe in Nature". Park has over 21 million followers on social media well known for starring roles in the television series Kill Me, Heal Me, She Was Pretty, Itaewon Class and many others.

According to Ricola Asia's marketing vice president Mikki Ravelo Nicole, the agency used “unique data-to-creative approach was used to drive insights and take the brand in Asia to the next level”.

ADNA collaborated with Group IDD’s Unbound Thinking to generate the work which was shot in Korea and Switzerland. The first stage of the campaign will run across all platforms and formats in six markets to lead with China, Korea and Thailand. The campaign works as a modular system of assets that can drive awareness among young consumers and conversion at point of sale.

“The way the campaign has been produced and delivered means that it is able to flex and travel between markets in multiple formats, which allows the work to drive greater relevance at point of consumer contact,” added Ravelo-Nicole. “The work that the team have generated is best in category, and I am very proud of what we have achieved,” said Ravelo-Nicole.

When asked about the creative concept behind the campaign, David Mayo, ADNA Global's chief operating officer, told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that Ricola candy is made from fresh Swiss mountain herbs. The candy was originally created for Swiss mountaineers.

"The new work takes all the cues of Swiss mountain imagery and herbs, plus of course the iconic Ri-co-la mnemonic sound design and it has been re-imagined and designed to resonate among a younger, female skewed Asian market," he explained.

Juxtaposed against the backdrop of urban Asia, where people are confronted with pollution, pandemics and the daily rhythm of city life, in an age where the freedom to breathe is no longer taken for granted, Mayo said the new campaign sees Park disrupting the daily routine with a little drop of Swiss nature. He added that the campaign’s new line ‘Breathe In Nature’ gives a nod to Ricola’s Swiss provenance and the purity of its herbal ingredients.

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