• by Karl Greenberg , May 2, 2007

Cadbury Schweppes' Sunkist Soda is bringing back "Good Vibrations" after a 15-year hiatus. But the song, penned by Brian Wilson, won't be the Beach Boys' version, which graced the original Sunkist campaign in the late 1970s.

Instead, Sunkist tapped current hit-maker the Gym Class Heroes, whose version of the song is in a new 30-second spot that aired two nights ago on CW and will be featured in a May 9 episode of CW Channel's "One Tree Hill" with which Sunkist has had an ongoing product-placement relationship, per Tony Jacobs, VP/brand marketing for Sunkist.

"We think the song is clearly so strongly connected with Sunkist, it's such a great fit, and right now there's a retro trend, with artists redoing older songs," he says.

"We looked at twenty five different bands, and we thought they had a great sound, funky and contemporary and with a great feel," he says, adding that the choice was serendipitous: soon after tapping the band for the promo the group scored a No. 1 hit with "The Cupid Song" and has the top video.

The effort, via Y&R, San Francisco, includes a TV spot showing people dancing to "Good Vibrations" at a Sunkist house party. The commercial cuts to animated oranges that discuss the benefits of Sunkist and express a desire to hang out with the Sunkist crowd. Jacobs says the animated oranges constitute a new brand image and will be used in future marketing.

As in the commercial, the song will be background music during a dance scene on the May 9 episode of "One Tree Hill," during which Sunkist will launch an sweepstakes promotion driving consumers to drinksharewin.com. The grand prize is a Gym Class Heroes VIP concert experience with 15 guests. Other orange-themed prizes include Epiphone guitars signed by the band, Motorola RZR phones, iPod players and Nanos, and music downloads.

Consumers can enter codes -- hidden under the caps of specially marked bottles of Sunkist -- at the site.

Beach Boy Wilson wrote "Good Vibrations," and the song graced a 1978 campaign for Sunkist. According to the company, in 1981 Sunkist became one of the 10 best-selling carbonated soft drinks in the United States.

Jacobs, who says the company will promote the sweepstakes with advertising during the show as well as in packaging, in-store POS components, and sampling at local events, says Sunkist has a 46% share at retail of the orange segment of the soda market, with the next biggest competitor in the teens.

Last year, Sunkist introduced a new SKU, Cherry Limeade. Other flavors include Grape, Strawberry, Peach, Fruit Punch and Pineapple. Said Jacobs, "We tend to feature orange because it's the biggest portion of the line; but the ad has a halo effect."