BITE Insight

It started with Jamie Oliver’s pledge for a sugar tax and carried through into the rise of health and wellness obsessions with Instagramable fruit juices and smoothies. Fizzy drinks were out; but the alternatives hadn’t yet appeared.

Cue Ugly Drinks, the UK’s first unsweetened, 100% natural, fruit flavoured sparkling water. Launched in 2016, Ugly worked with JKR to create a unique positioning, identity and campaign for the brand, designed to expose #theUglyTruth about the soft drinks industry.

Ugly have created a healthy alternative to a fizzy drink but with a unique identity centred around the concept of the Ugly Truth. The message spreads across all touchpoints, assuring customers that they’ll find “no ridiculous promises, no catchy jingles or unattainable lifestyles.” They created limited edition merchandise, including tote bags, t-shirts and sweatshirts, and designed stickers to encourage their ‘ugly’ mob to spread the word.

Flavoured sparkling water is a huge category in the US, but not so much in the UK. While those across the pond consume La Croix and Perrier in abundance, over in the UK, we can now enjoy a healthy, ugly alternative of our own.