Sprite is a lemon-lime flavored soda created by The Coca-Cola Company. Sprite has had a long-standing partnership with NBA-player Lebron James. Lebron has appeared on many of their channels to promote their product since 2003. Let’s take a look at how this long term relationship has made Lebron the face of the company and improved Sprite’s bottom line.
In 2016 Sprite released a commercial with Lebron James to promote their product. In the commercial, Lebron seems to take a jab at other celebrity endorsers say “I’ll never tell you to ‘Drink Sprite’.” Lebron continues to troll taking shots at musicians writing product songs, influencer marketing, and autotune. The commercial concludes with Lebron asking “Wanna Sprite?”
This commercial was a key piece of the launch of the #WannaSprite campaign which continues to run today. In 2017 James was rewarded their Spokesman of the Year, to celebrate the success of his #WannaSprite campaign.
In mid-November of 2017, Sprite released their seasonal cranberry flavor along with a new animated commercial featuring musical artist DRAM. In the commercial an animated version of Lebron makes a guest appearance.
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In recent months, the commercial has made a comeback due to it’s meme-ability. Memes have been circulating of Lebron James popping up and asking “Wanna Sprite?”. Some fans are even requesting the full version of DRAM’s song “It’s the thirstiest time of year”.
While Sprite may not have predicted the virality of the commercial, Sprite Cranberry has been a key driver of the company’s revenue since 2013. A combination of seasonality, a strong marketing campaign, and social media buzz has made local bottlers of the drink sell out every year.
