Bandworth Blog

Want to get more than 2 million views on YouTube in a week?

Think babies. Cute, roller skating, CGI’d babies.

Evian’s new international “Live Young” campaign includes a 60-second spot featuring a posse of adorable babies apparently roller skating to the Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” interspersed with messages like “Naturally pure and and mineral-balanced water supports your body’s youth.”

U.K.’s Daily Mail quotes Evian’s worldwide brand director Michael Aidan explaining, “In the majority of countries in recent years, our communication has been very fact-based. But consumers expect more from a big brand emotion, dream. This is what we want to achieve — hence this breakaway and back to roots campaign.”

The Evian babies were last seen in 1998, doing their best Esther Williams impression in a pool of (presumably) Evian water — apparently, the “roots” Aidan refers to.

So, does the campaign work? In terms of creating awareness, definitely. As of today, the YouTube clip has 3,297,750 views; it was launched on July 1. It’s been Twittered about and covered by mainstream media, extending its reach even more, all without actually airing on television.

In fact, the web is the main medium for the campaign. Evian put some muscle into its web presence, creating a site around the campaign loaded with goodies, including behind-the-scenes information, teasers, and interviews with and Facebook pages for the babies–just in case you haven’t gotten enough cuteness yet. It’s all shareable and fan-able on Facebook.

But will that awareness translate into sales? It’s been widely quoted that Evian’s U.S. sales volume dipped by 17% in 2008, according to Beverage Digest, another premium-priced victim of the sagging economy.

Evian has been known to embrace its premium positioning. Earlier this year, the company engaged famous designer Jean Paul Gaultier to create an exlusive, high-end glass bottle for the on-premise market. (The next time you’re clubbing, be sure to order the Pret-a-Porter bottle of Evian for your table, at only $13.95 a pop.) The bottles debuted at Paris’ Fashion Week.

The current “Live Young” campaign is clearly designed to appeal to a larger, less exclusive audience in a cost-effective way. According to The Neilsen Company, Evian spent $800,000 on U.S. media last year and $40,000 for the first quarter of this year. While the video and web site certainly cost some $, it was a smaller investment than a full-blown broadcast and print campaign. It will be interesting to see if Evian see a sales uptick as a result.