"Don't be a sucker," raps Baba Sehgal for Del Monte Fruit Drinks

The brand urges consumers to adopt cans over bottles and tetra packs.

Canned juice maker Del Monte recently launched its new digital video campaign #DontbeaSucker featuring rapper Baba Sehgal. The aim was to draw the attention of people towards Del Monte's juices which are available in cans, not tetra packs, and which are a safe and a healthy option. The agency behind the campaign was Wunderman International.

The campaign, through rap, takes a cheeky dig at its contenders while it spreads the message of being a brand with a difference. Del Monte has created a stir by choosing to be different, and has also taken a subtle dig at all the "suckers" (The new Frooti campaign?).

Being the pioneers in the canned juices category, Del Monte, through this campaign, aims to build a direct connect with the people to understand their choice and preferences and also their juice consumption pattern.

When asked about the idea behind the campaign, Anshu Anand, head of marketing, Del Monte, says, "The initial kernel of the idea behind the campaign was from observing young adults consume juice from 200 ml tetra packs using straws (literally, sucking on straws - a tad bit uncool, too) unaware that there is a more age appropriate format available for consuming juice."

Anand further adds, "While this was the starting point, looking at our context in the fruit drinks category, Wunderman - our digital agency - came back with the #Dontbeasucker campaign idea."

When asked about the reason behind choosing (Baba) Sehgal for the campaign, Anand says, "Sehgal has been our first choice right from the start. He is someone who has charted his own path in the music industry (not followed the herd) and stuck to what he believes works for him. In that sense, he is a perfect fit to convey the #Dontbeasucker message".

He further adds, "Sehgal is the king of sarcasm and has an amazing fan following on Twitter. So, we were fully confident and convinced about him. He, too, was kicked about the concept and agreed to take it ahead. The Del Monte #Dontbeasucker video has come out really well and all credit goes to him. A lot of people are watching it with curiosity only to spread a positive word-of-mouth."

We asked Rajiv Dingra, founder and chief executive officer, WATConsult, a digital arm of Dentsu Aegis Network, about the execution of the campaign.

Dingra says, "It's an interesting campaign. Looks like Del Monte is taking on Frooti by going the don't be a sucker way. The campaign is interesting, but the song isn't catchy enough. Sehgal is well-known among an audience which is above 30 years, but is not known as well among the youth. This could have been a better execution had more thought gone into the rap rather than what it is currently."

Incidentally, it is not just Del Monte which has roped in a rapper as the face of its brand. Recently, Hitachi too, made a video campaign featuring Bollywood rapper Badshah in it.

So is rap the best way to target youth?

Dingra says, "Rap songs are a great way to reach out to a young audience and also a great way to create a music piece that the brand can own. I definitely do see this trend catching up though I feel few brands will be able to make a hit out of the park with this. It's never easy to create a great song that also fits the brand."