A woman in bed with her man mentally counts the calories she’ll burn during their lovemaking session in a new spot by Grey Worldwide for Slim-Fast meal replacement beverage. Taking a few stabs at existing, ultra-complex diets that lead women to obsessively count calories or avoid carbs or protein or both, Grey’s new campaign for the nutritious shakes stresses the idea of demystifying the diet with the tagline ‘The Simple Plan’. Says, Marc Stoiber, CD at Toronto-based Grey, with Slim-Fast, ‘you can live your life and still be on a diet.’
Stoiber says Slim-Fast was a ‘tired, dusty brand.’ While the essential Slim-Fast plan has stayed the same – a Slim-Fast bar or shake twice a day, sensible meal and snacks – the marketing of the product hadn’t changed over the years to reflect changing attitudes in dieting. Grey art director Cheryl Kaplan says they wanted to break away from testimonial-type advertising – where a woman says she lost x amount of weight in her current diet plan – that has been used in diet ads in the past.
The campaign, consisting of TV, transit and print, broke Dec. 31 – just in time for people resolving to lose weight in the new year to take note. Mike Welling, VP, brand development, foods, for Unilever, says timing is a factor and the company is ‘hoping the simplicity of the plan reasonates with [consumers].’
Unilever acquired Slim-Fast a couple of years ago and Welling says they have been focusing on reviving the brand ever since, trying to ‘make it relevant to people again.’ By conveying the idea that the Slim-Fast plan does the thinking for you, Welling says they have been ‘leading the charge in terms of growth.’
When asked about competitors such as Snapple getting into the diet drink market, Welling says, ‘There’s lots of people who position themselves to do something similar, but they don’t necessarily market meal replacements. We offer a plan to help people eat.’
Credits
Agency: Grey Worldwide
Client: Slim-Fast
Creative Director: Marc Stoiber
Copywriter: Jordan Schmid
Art Director: Cheryl Kaplan
