Fanta’s Haunted Apple x Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Welcome to Innovation Spotlight! Each month we’ll spotlight a brand that’s capitalizing on a current consumer trend with a new product innovation. We'll uncover the product's in-market potential, who it appeals to and why, and what you can learn from it to innovate smarter.?

Innovation spotlight: Haunted Apple x Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Gearing up for its biggest Halloween yet, Fanta is celebrating the release of the new movie Beetlejuice Beetlejuice by summoning Beetlejuice with his own Limited Edition flavor, haunted apple, featuring an iconic black-and-white striped design and the main character himself, Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice.?

The full Fanta range will receive limited-time makeovers featuring the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice characters, including Orange for Astrid (Jenna Ortega), Strawberry for Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder), Pineapple for Delia Deetz (Catherine O'Hara), Grape for Delores (Monica Bellucci) and Lemon for Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe).?

A wider campaign to support the launch of the limited-edition flavor invites consumers to “Summon What You Wanta” by finding unexpected and exciting ways to celebrate Halloween. The campaign builds on the brand’s longstanding association with the spooky season with a call to curate the holiday they really want(a).

Why is it interesting??

Fanta has a long history of activating and innovating during Halloween. With bold colors and a playful brand image that naturally align with the spooky and fun vibe of the holiday, Fanta has strived to establish a connection with the festive season to primarily reach younger audiences.?

Plus, the sequel to fantasy horror-comedy Beetlejuice has been highly anticipated and is on track to scare up one of the biggest September debuts of all time, with a predicted $80 million for the North American Box Office. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, starring Gen Z horror princess Jenna Ortega and Gen X goth queen Winona Ryder, is set to have something for all age groups to enjoy, making it the perfect franchise for Fanta to associate themselves with in the lead up to spooky season.?

Does the hype for the movie translate into appeal for Fanta’s limited edition Beetlejuice range with the brand new haunted apple flavor? That’s what we set out to find out!

What’s the potential??

Fanta’s limited-edition haunted apple x Beetlejuice Beetlejuice scores in line with the average beverage innovation on trial potential and in the top 5% of all beverage innovations tested in the US on breakthrough potential.?

Sitting in the ‘seed and grow’ section of our potential quadrant means that the limited-edition flavor and supporting range is seen as highly unique and distinctive — but appeals to some people more than others.?

Who does it appeal to??

This limited-edition Fanta flavor understandably appeals more to a younger audience: 72% of adults under 45 said they would be willing to purchase Fanta x Beetlejuice Beetlejuice versus only 31% of adults over 45 years old.?

That makes sense considering that the Fanta consumer base tends to skew younger and the average age of Beetlejuice fans tends to be in the late 20s to early 40s, primarily including people who grew up with the original 1988 film. Plus, younger audiences have been drawn to the movie through its cultural resurgence, including the Broadway musical and ongoing references in popular media.?

People who regularly drink carbonated soft drinks, consuming them at least once a week, were also significantly more likely to want to engage with the limited-edition flavor and wider Beetlejuice Beetlejuice range.?

Additionally, with the new movie at the core of Fanta’s innovation, people who are looking forward to the movie release were also significantly more likely to want to purchase the range.?

What do they like about it??

People absolutely loved the look and feel of the Fanta x Beetlejuice Beetlejuice range.?

The link to the upcoming Beetlejuice sequel was highly praised with people thoroughly enjoying the fact that each flavor showcases a different character.?Some even talk about buying the cans as collectable items!?

And the variety of flavors were seen as highly appealing and the uniqueness of the new apple variant was intriguing to consumers, with many saying they hadn’t seen an apple-flavored carbonated soft drink before.?

What can we learn??

Our key takeaways are:

1. Innovating around a topical trend or event in a way that aligns with your brand values can drive relevance for your brand, differentiate it vs competitors and even boost incremental sales among specific audiences.
2. When launching a limited-edition flavor or variant, it’s important to establish whether it is differentiated enough vs your core range and whether it is competitive enough in driving consumer engagement vs your existing products and competitors.?
3. Limited-edition or seasonal innovation is designed to boost sales and drive brand engagement and talkability over a short period of time. Thinking of ways in which consumers can further interact with your innovation beyond the product itself — like creating packaging designs that can be seen as collectables, tying physical experiences to the product, running competitions, etc. — can make a huge difference to its overall performance in market.?

For more data & analysis

This was just a summary, for the rest of our analysis please head to our blog.?

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Take a look at the executive summary in the Quick Report for the data I just shared above:?

This is the next step in our mission to shrink the distance between data and decisions. More than that — it gives insights teams the time back to focus on connecting data from across projects to inspire the team’s next great idea.?

You can view the full Fanta Haunted Apple x Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Quick Report here.

Until next time!?

Janine Klimko