Secrets of Alchemy

Schweppes is the top selling mixer brand but in recent years it began losing its sparkle and share to Fever Tree and new craft competitors who were trading on their rich provenance and ingredients story. Crucially, key opinion formers, bartenders and consumers were falling out of love with the brand.

However, Schweppes has something that its competitors don’t – rich heritage and a backstory routed in something unique to the brand; alchemy. In 1783 amateur alchemist Jacob Schweppe discovered the key to bottling bubbles, creating the world’s first carbonated drink. Bubbles play an important role in charging the flavour of the drink and as the world’s most effervescent tonic, our strategy was to share Schweppes untold story through a below the line platform that would use creativity, experimentation and alchemy to inspire bartenders and consumers to fall in love with the brand once more.

To highlight the ‘magic’ of our bubbles we invited the trade and consumers to step into the curious world of Jacob Schweppe and discover how 234 years of creativity, chemistry and experimentation has gone into making the very best tonic for the very best G&T. Perfectly blending the past with a modern twist, we tapped into the steampunk trend and popularity of mixology to take us back to 1783, where inquisitive minds could delve deeper into the life and times of the original ‘alchemist.’ We shared our stories and immersed consumers and bartenders in the art of alchemy through pop- up masterclasses, trade events, festivals and in store, taking them on a flavourful journey of discovery that reignited their passion for Schweppes once more.