The soft drinks giant has launched an integrated campaign using television, print, radio and interactive, as well as below-the-line activities, in a bid to tempt the fickle teen market.
Qoo was launched as a ready-to-drink beverage in October last year. The brand's market share jumped to 40 per cent at the time of launch, and has since stabilised at around 28 per cent, according to ACNielsen figures.
Joanna Mobley, brand director for non-carbonated beverages, Hong Kong, said: "One of the things we were finding was that when we were on TV, we had significantly more brand involvement and people buying the beverage.
"But when you come off TV that is the real test. And while the personality of Qoo projected well through broadcast media, print and interactive, when you came into the store, it was just another juice drink."
The company's research found that teens wanted to see more dimensions added to the Qoo character, and how its personality would be expressed.
As a result, Coca-Cola selected 'Lemon Kiss' for the new flavour and is linking the flavour back to the brand.
According to Mobley, the new flavour has helped to evolve Qoo's personality, which was initially driven as cute and lovable, to personify greed and possessiveness.
"That was a big step forward and we were the first market for Qoo globally to get more personality into the beverage through the name," said Mobley.
The Hakuhodo-developed campaign, which aims to drive loyalty as well recruit new drinkers, is built on a storyline. The campaign kicks off on television with Qoo's visit to the zoo, where the character accidentally leaves its bottle of Lemon Kiss.
It follows with a series of print ads where Qoo reaches out to teens and asks for help in solving the mystery of its missing drink bottle.
"We get teens hooked on the story with the TVC. We then use print featuring games to get teens interacting with the brand, and reward them for participating by giving away Qoo icons for mobile phones when consumers send in their answers, Mobley said.
"We also revamped the qoo.com.hk site (through tech company Mind Arrow), and will be building a database for promotions."
The TVC will run for a four-week period, followed by a three-week print and radio campaign and an eight-week online initiative.
The company has signed on youth pop star Pancake for theTVC theme song and radio jingle. Promotional activities are also planned at supermarket chains and department stores. The campaign will have point-of-sale support through posters, wobblers, and floor and mobile displays.
Mobley added that the company would continue to introduce new flavours for the Hong Kong market.
