Sting Powerpacq Energy Drink - Knocked-out but Still Standing

Having recently launched energy drink brand Sting PowerPacq, Pepsico wanted to bring the fight to the market leader, Cobra. Sting partnered with Manny Pacquiao to launch its new variant and used a stunt centred around the boxer’s previously rumoured use of banned substances to generate media and online interest. The campaign harnessed Pacquiao’s reputation as endorsement for the energy drink. When Pacquiao lost two fights in 2012 Sting turned bad publicity into good publicity by creating a string of poster and digital ads that positively communicated the will to get up after a loss. After the Q1 launch drove a 92% increase of the Gold variant sales on the previous year, the campaign remained effective despite Pacquiao’s heartbreaking loss, sustaining the brand’s equity, and sales, and elevated trial until the end of Q4 2012 utilizing only 1/3 of it’s competitor’s ad spend.