• by Larissa Faw , August 2, 2019

It's important to not underestimate the popularity of past contestants from ABC's The Bachelor. Season 20's love seeker Ben Higgins drove more than 200 sign ups to a Chicago SoulCycle spin class in a few hours as part of the #V8EnergyTour.

The session formed one aspect of a broader July initiative involving V8, technology platform Influential, SoulCycle and Spotify. The program was developed by V8 parent Campbell Soup's media AOR Spark Foundry.

“One of our key priorities is bringing in partners to have a bigger impact,” explains Allison Zilbershatz, director of content, Spark Foundry. "We want to push their boundaries."

Select influencers, including the popular Higgins, invited their followers and raised awareness for branded in-studio and outdoor SoulCycle classes held in New York, Miami, Chicago, and Austin. All partners were selected for their "halo effect" to spread word-of-mouth among trend-setters to hopefully funnel down across all markets.

Messaging and partnerships were designed to support “positive energy” since V8 +Energy is a green-tea based energy drink that marketer claims doesn’t bring on the inevitable caffeine crash. 

“Millennials are the tired generation, connected to technology and our research tells us one of their remedies for exhaustion is fitness,” says Zilbershatz.

Spotify continued the theme by introducing a branded destination with upbeat songs, including Pharrell Williams's "Happy" and Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop The Feeling." There were also Spotify QR codes on-site to drive riders to the playlists from the class. Several influencers partnered with SoulCycle instructors to curate the positive playlists that fueled each class.

While the classes primarily targeted Millennial women, paid media was more balanced to reach both genders, says Zilbershatz. She adds she was surprised at the large number of men who turned up at the SoulCycle events.

Zilbershatz admits measuring success is still challenging. Content creators continue to rely and seek superficial social media metrics that may prove unwarranted and irrelevant for brands. Her agency is pushing more clients to connect campaigns to IRI sales to determine whether the initiative sold actual product at retail.

Ultimately this campaign was more than promotion of the V8 +Energy to a select group of Millennial women, says Zilbershatz. "We are trying to expand the reach and relevance across the entire V8 portfolio." She adds many people don't know the brand offers more than its traditional red juice.