All smiles

A Kool-Aid commercial, which is a semifinalist for the 2001 ARF David Ogilvy Research Awards is discussed. From 1994 through 1998, sales were declining by 2.8% on average as consumers shifted their interest to convenient ready-to-drink and ready-to-go beverages. Before sales bottomed out, the Kool-Aid team needed to find a way to reconnect with its heavy users, and show all consumers that the drink could fit into a busy lifestyle. Sun Research Corp. moderated 11 focus groups, segmented by product usage, which included heavy African-American users who buy Kool-Aid at least 12 times a year. Ad agencies in UniWorld Group, Inc. and Ogilvy & Mather developed executions based on the findings, as the Kool-Aid team commissioned a second round of qualitative research to further hone their strategy. According to ACNielsen, retail volume and market share have started to turn around. Sales in the overall sales market went up 2%.