The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2023
Sprite China turns the '1982 Sprite' meme into a real soda — 7M yuan sold in a day
Sprite turns a decade-old Chinese joke into a real limited edition, launched like vintage wine — auction livestream, tasting rooms, 7M yuan in a day.
Sprite (The Coca-Cola Company)
What it had to solve
Sprite's summer market share fell in 2022 and young drinkers were drifting to novelty brands; the mission was to win back 13–29-year-olds with a limited-edition launch that creates social buzz on a small budget (the campaign budget was RMB 1–2 million).
How it works
A 2014 Spring Festival Gala comedy sketch compared Sprite to a USD 25,000 bottle of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, and 'let me have a 1982 Sprite to chill out' became one of China's most durable memes. Nearly a decade later, with Sprite's summer share slipping and Gen Z drifting to novelty drinks, Coca-Cola China decided the joke itself was the strategy.
Ogilvy Shanghai and the WPP Open X team made the meme physical: a retro limited-edition lemon soda with dark-green bottles and gold '1982' lettering, launched with a deadpan 'fine wine' film starring actor Nathan Na, a Douyin auction livestream with actor Wang Yaoqing, and 'Chateau Sprite' tasting corners in malls and convenience stores. Douyin's algorithm pushed the auction to more than 2.5 million people who had shared the meme in the previous 90 days.
The launch generated RMB 7 million in social-commerce sales on day one, 7.4 million social engagements, and 5.1 million auction views with over 100,000 bids — winners paid up to 70 times the retail price. Sprite became the No.1 beverage store on Douyin, July market share recovered from -0.6 points to +0.8 points, and weekly drinking among 13–29-year-olds rose 1.5 points.
Why it lands
- The meme was already owned by millions of young consumers, so awareness was pre-built; the campaign only had to make it real.
- The product was a satirical mirror of luxury, so the launch ritual — auction, chateau, sommelier — doubled as the joke.
- It gave a 40-year-old soda a fresh story without changing the core product, only packaging and ceremony.
- Results were measured on share, brand image and weekly drinking, not just impressions.
What it did
RMB 7M in social-commerce sales on day one; the auction livestream drew 5.1M views and 100,000+ bids, with winning bids up to 70x retail; 7.4M social engagements; Sprite became the No.1 beverage store on Douyin; July share swung from -0.6pt to +0.8pt and weekly drinking among 13–29-year-olds rose 1.5pt.
What you can take
A joke the audience already owns is free brand equity: take the meme literally, make a real product, and stage it with the pomp the joke mocks — the contrast does the talking.
Since then
The 1982 Sprite limited edition stayed on shelves across Greater China through the season, and the campaign won the 2024 Roi Festival Grand Prix in the social-marketing category, with Ogilvy Shanghai credited as the agency and EssenceMediacom on media. It also became the local expression of Sprite's global 'Heat Happens, Stay Cool' platform, showing how a global brand can go locally native by playing with consumer-owned culture.
Sources
- Sprite Taps Into Meme Culture With The Launch Of '1982 Sprite'
- '1982 Sprite' becomes real: can meme marketing win young people?
- A bottle of 1982 Sprite, no longer a joke (Roi Festival 2024 winner entry)
- Sprite: a 1982 Sprite — how is that not classy?
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