The primary objective was to radically shift Somersby's brand perception on social media, moving it from a "product wallpaper" brand—hidden behind generic packshots and drinking clichés—to a source of social-first entertainment for Gen Z audiences.
Our brand purpose gave us a rich opportunity to entertain: Somersby exists to counter adult life bullshit with carefree joy. The endless pressures, chaotic contradictions, tech-led silliness of being a “proper” adult that make modern life feel absurd. By behaving like the playful refreshing antidote, Somersby wanted to offer a time out from this bullshit.
So with an existential problem to solve and a provocative role to play in culture, our objectives were clear:
We began by delving into what “adult life bullshit” looks and feels like for Gen Z. And we found that it presents a daily struggle. The undefined situationships, influencer fatigue, workplace Zoom etiquette, apps for everything, indecipherable coffee shop orders are often overwhelming. But that’s why social media has become a crucial coping mechanism for these absurdities, where Gen Z can find an antidote through humour and silliness.
Knowing different content will surf the algorithm into different feeds, we created three distinct entertainment franchises that helped Gen Z find humour amidst the “bullshit”. These were all simple enough to cut through the feed, ownable enough to build long-term brand equity, and - crucially - entertaining enough to attract fresh audiences and capture attention.
We didn't just create one campaign that would wear out. We created three ongoing social-first content series and a reactive mentality that would grow over time.
“The Squirrels Of Somersby Tree” is a scripted entertainment series showing squirrels navigating the bullshit of adult life, using reality TV tropes, voiceovers, meme culture and cringe comedy to land self-aware Gen Z humour. Each episode was built around a relatable “bullshit” absurdity, picked from our extensive social listening and focus groups around the world.
Our “Treeside Confessions” is an unscripted, low-fi, and visually distinctive interview format, partnering with an influencer host to prompt funny stories from Gen Zers of how they escaped adult life bullshit while hugging a Somersby tree (of course).
The “Fruit Gang Reacts” is a low-fi repeatable reactive format that allowed our numerous Somersby fruits to react to real-life “bullshit” with a healthy dose of shock and wit.
This multi-franchise approach allowed our feed to keep ticking over with high-frequency scripted Squirrels drops that put the brand top-of-mind, mid-frequency unscripted Confessions content that landed emotional relevance, and reactive riffing on UGC through our Fruit Gang to ensure we were always part of the cultural conversation.
Across all of these, distinctive assets like the Somersby tree, fruits, squirrels, and bottles were peppered throughout to ensure brand and product recall.
And to sustain momentum and stockpile ‘fodder’ for our franchises, we built a “Bank of Bullshit”. A rolling repository of globally and locally-relevant modern life absurdities. This allowed us to stay reactive, topical, and single-minded in our mission to help Gen Z find the humour amongst the “bullshit” in every piece of content.
All together, these formats, principles, and stimulus created a coherent, entertaining brand world for Somersby that was unpolished yet distinctive, scalable across markets, and designed to ‘wear in’ over time rather than ‘wear out’.
The impact was immediate and extraordinary. Our transformation from passive packshot brand to social entertainer lit up the feeds, stopping thumbs, sparking conversation, and spreading joy.
The franchises have so-far driven 17.5 Million engagements with a 34% view-through-rate. And in an online culture where no-one can agree, 83% of conversation responded positively to the brand’s new role.
With those results, Somersby proved that in today’s attention economy, alcohol brands can’t just be present on social. To earn relevance with Gen Z, they must entertain.
By abandoning endless packshots for playful, scroll-stopping entertainment franchises, Somersby transformed from a forgotten brand into a carefree counter to modern life’s bullshit.
