• by Danielle Oster , April 3, 2024

PepisCo’s Pure Leaf brand is touting an innovation introducing a zero-sugar beverage in a category synonymous with sugar: sweet tea.

To promote the rollout of Pure Leaf Zero-Sugar Sweet Tea, the brand debuted a launch campaign last week entitled “The Unbelievably Sweet Files,” with a pair of young actors associated with the supernatural.

Celeste O’Connor and Emily Alyn Lind – who both appear in “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” teamed up with the brand for a spot kicking off the campaign. The ad opens on a bottle of the tea behind a screen of smoke as O’Connor sets the tone. “All across America, people are hearing whispers of the unbelievable,“ they say, eventually leading to the conclusion that “Tasting is believing.”

The campaign is clearly centered around getting consumers to taste the new product, and the ad ends with a call to action for viewers to enter a promotional sweepstakes for a chance to sample a bottle. The initiative calls on fans to submit their own otherworldly stories through April 26 for a chance to win a Pure Leaf Zero Sugar Prize Pack, which includes the new Zero Sugar Sweet Tea, along with a selection of holographic stickers.

"Bringing our first-ever Zero Sugar Sweet Tea product to market has been a long time coming," Julie Raheja-Perera, general manager, North America, Pepsi Lipton Partnership, said in a statement. "We know this is an iced tea option consumers are looking for today, and we took the time needed to perfect our recipe. We wanted to make the delicious taste of sweet tea happen without sugar, while keeping Pure Leaf's standards of real, freshly brewed tea that consumers have come to know and love.”

In addition to zero sugar and zero calories, the tea boasts an ingredient profile free of artificial flavors, colors, concentrates, or preservatives.

“The Unbelievably Sweet Files” campaign also includes a tasting tour across three cities associated with the supernatural: New Orleans (April 3), Boston (April 5), and Chicago (April 7). The brand will hand out free samples of the product at locations in each city.