Signifier: Sprite and Lebron James
Signified: It shows you the connection we all have with our home town. Sprite a product of Coca-Cola has of course its own identity outside of its parent company, with its own branding and campaigns. These campaigns center around the premiere NBA player Lebron James with the hashtag #ChangeTheGame, Lebron has changed the game by being in the commercials and print ads. James and Sprite have made their own new drink called “Sprite 6 Mix by Lebron James”, which has cherry and orange added to Sprite in a collective can and bottle.
Image: In this ad in a different variety it’s all about the prodigal son returning home after leaving more than five years ago. The main focus is about James coming home and making everything right in the city of Cleveland, which has all of the sports heartbreaks. It is a mash up of all the radio and TV announcers about James coming home with clips of him playing and people being interviewed. It does show him actually coming home and narrates some of the commercial as well. It shows him walking around Akron, Ohio his real hometown and all the kids flock and scream his name. He asks where does “my thirst comes from?” he answers “it comes from here, these people, their passion and love drives me, they say home is where your heart is, and my heart is here, it’s always been.” It’s all about his first home game.
Denotation: This is an ad for a soft drink (soda pop); one of the most drank sodas out there as it is the premiere lemon-lime soda. When you think of a lemon-lime soda you think about having a Sprite, like it is when you want cola you think Coke. 7 Up and Sierra Mist are Sprite’s biggest competition but Sprite wins the battle and I personally prefer Sprite over Coke. Sprite was smart in picking the most popular, well liked and best NBA player to be the spokesman for their drink as they are tapping into the basketball fans as well as the African American community besides the usual market for soda fans.
Connotation: Sprite is a part of the successful soft drink company Coca-Cola but at the same time is its own brand as it has its own site, own partnership with the NBA, James plastered all over the site along with a style and music sections along with the commercial that I talked about. #Obeyyourthirst is the hashtag for social media strategy as long as it being a part of all the ads. With its partnership with the NBA they are the official sponsors of the NBA Slam Dunk Contest they can get more exposure than just all the ads or using James, but the whole NBA market which is not just national but global so it helps them get more products sold. They have made 16 kinds of Sprite since they came around in the 1960s to compete with 7 UP. For James, Sprite has made their own site for him and new drink called 6 Mix, it adds orange and cherry to the drink and comes in bottles and cans. It promotes the drink, James, and has contests as well.
Icon: Whenever you see the logo for Sprite no matter what it looks like you know that it is the premiere lemon-lime soft drink and that it’s refreshing. When something well liked has been around for awhile it becomes iconic. Also, they have the best and most recognizable NBA player as their spokesperson no matter if you like him or not, you know who he is as he has won many MVP awards, been in many All Star games and has won 2 titles. That’s brand recognition for both of them and that’s what you want when you sell a product.
Diachronic Analysis: Since Sprite has been around since the 60’s it has had time to make it into our lives and minds. Sprite in this ad is trying to make them more relatable to you with the whole idea of James returning home as a big event. As NBA fans you hated him for leaving his hometown team for the Heat, he became a villain for doing that so we loved to root against him. His coming back to Cleveland well really his home Akron it’s a redemption story. Using our emotions for loving our hometown no matter how bad we all want to go back at some point and make everything all right. Sprite wants us to know they care about all the communities not just this one. There is history of people going full circle going back to where they started, what made them. Sprite can always reinvent themselves with all different logs or ads and making James their spokesman these past few years, which was like Gatorade or Nike picking Michael Jordan to represent them because people know or like them already so it helps your product to be with the right person.
Ideology: With Sprite like its parent company Coca-Cola the premiere lemon-lime soft drink as coke is for cola or just soft drinks in general. When you think of soda you think of Coke, Sprite or Diet, or both but not 7 UP or Pepsi’s lemon-lime Sierra Mist. There are people who refer to soda as either just can I have a Coke or can I have a Sprite. Sprite pretty much corners the market since Mist has been only around since this century while 7 Up doesn’t have the same taste as Sprite or the same sweetness to it. As I stated earlier with this ad it plays on the emotions of all the people who miss home or realize home makes who you are as everyone was mad when James left but are all happy he’s back. With making a big deal of him coming home they capitalized on a way to take a local thing and make it global as James is a polarizing famous athlete. The idea of partnering with James is smart as he is the best NBA player and most recognizable besides Kobe Bryant in the current league who has been doing ads for them but nothing as powerful as James and city connecting and becoming one. It is all about trying to connect with your favorite athletes as you buy their jerseys or shoes but you can buy the drinks or other products they promote. It is very smart to co-brand with Lebron James as he is his own brand already. They also co-branded with James and Nike to make Sprite colored shoes a part of James line of shoes.
Codes: The biggest social code is that if the world’s premiere NBA player endorses it, it shows that we should want to drink or keep drinking Sprite. People want to do the cool/hip thing so if famous people want you to drink Sprite it makes you want to do it. It’s a copy cat world nowadays. They want you to obey your thirst as it says in the commercial and a nice cold Sprite sounds good.
Jingoism: Sprite in general targets all ages, races, and communities and is global as a soft drink brand that doesn’t have caffeine in it. By teaming up with James you can increase your sales all over the world since he is known globally, and it helps with the African American community as well since he is prominent in that community and the NBA community of fans who may not drink Sprite but will. That’s why Sprite sponsors the biggest event at the NBA All Star weekend, the dunk contest. By having a famous person that can be recognized even by the non NBA fan, helps your product as well, by making it about home. I myself endorse Sprite despite James being the face of it. It is a good partnership between Sprite and Lebron James like Nike is with Michael Jordan or Gatorade.