7Up’s new campaign, ‘Karachi ki biryani, Lahore ki karhai...’ was rolled out with the aim to create brand recall and celebrate Pakistani food. Aurora got in touch with the team at 7Up to talk about the campaign.

But first, here’s a look at the campaign:

When was 7Up’s new campaign launched and what are its objectives?
The campaign was launched in August (on digital and TV), and it aims to celebrate the passion Pakistanis have for food. The concept is hinged on how various regions of Pakistan are distinctively known for specific foods, and yet the love of food is what unifies the entire Pakistani nation. The campaign targets young people (age group 19-35), who form the core of 7Up’s target market.

What factors were kept in mind when choosing each food?
The popularity of the dish was the primary factor since since we wanted to highlight regional preferences and specialties.

What was the creative strategy behind the campaign?
Pakistanis have very clear food preferences in each region/province, and that’s the insight behind the latest 7Up campaign. For example, they might serve biryani in Lahore, but they only make ‘proper’ biryani in Karachi. Meanwhile, Gujranwala is very famous for its batair and Lahore for its karhai. In order to find relevance we dug deeper into this insight. The creative than capitalised on this by stating that no matter how diverse Pakistanis might be in preferences, they all unite for desi food in general and of course their choice of drink – 7UP. The whole shoot was an amazing experience; the team not only got to travel to different parts of Pakistan, they discovered varying cultures – from the mountainous terrain of Nathia Gali to the lush green forests of Balochistan, everything was fantastic.

The campaign also makes use of the mobile app ‘Shazam’. What is app’s role and why did 7Up decide to incorporate it?
We hear different jingles everyday for various brands, but are unable to listen to them again until the ad is aired again or after we find it online. The idea was to make the jingle of this campaign available on a searchable music platform such as Shazam. Users can simply download the app, hum the Karachi ki biryani... jingle, and the app will detect the tune, and download it on your mobile app – this also increases the chance of making the jingle viral. Lastly, the use of Shazam for this campaign will also serve as an example for other brands to explore new platforms and their effectiveness.

What branding and marketing strategies did 7Up employ to differentiate itself from its competitors? What follow-up campaigns can we expect from 7Up?
7Up is the market leader in white carbonated soft drinks, and Sprite is its main competitor. While different brands have attempted to be associated with food we feel that based on our deep insights about food habits we are driving a more meaningful message which will be relevant for our audience. In future campaigns also we will continue to celebrate food and its unique relationship with Pakistanis.