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GEOFFREY HOLDER’S CLASSIC 7-UP COMMERCIAL

Geoffrey Holder 7-Up CommercialIn addition to being illuminated by Geoffrey Holder’s performances, the 7-Up campaign was a rare great example of a true “positioning” campaign:

7-Up was selling much less than the leading cola brands, Coke and Pepsi.

Why? Because more people wanted to drink Coke and Pepsi.

They took a hitherto irrelevant product detail and used it to differentiate 7-Up from the market leaders in a positive way:

Colas have caffeine. 7-Up doesn’t have caffeine.

7-Up declared itself the “uncola” and that as far as caffeine was concerned: “Never had it. Never will.”

The implication was that 7-Up never would stoop to adding wicked, harmful caffeine to its recipe.

For the first time, when ordering a soft drink some people starting thinking, “Hmmm. Do I really want that caffeine right now?”

View the Geoffrey Holder 7-Up commercial on YouTube.

Here’s an article that discusses the positioning pros & cons of radio stations that boast “commercial free music.”