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- Marketing Teardown: 🌊 Ocean Spray
Marketing Teardown: 🌊 Ocean Spray
They have a monopoly, but is that really enough?
Tom Snyder
November 28, 2024
Hey, marketer!
For those in the US celebrating today – Happy Thanksgiving!
This holiday is synonymous with food – a few in particular:
Turkey
Mashed potatoes
Stuffing
Pumpkin pie
And, of course, cranberry sauce
There’s a juggernaut in the cranberry industry.
They own 60% of the market.
They’ve been around for almost 100 years.
They’ve taken one raw ingredient and expanded into many different uses, effectively creating new product markets.
It’s honestly a beautiful story of the American dream.
Brand in the hot seat: 🌊Ocean Spray
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Who is Ocean Spray?
Quick stats:
Ocean Spray is all about cranberries – cranberry juice, cranberry sauce, dried cranberries, whole cranberries... if it involves this tiny tart berry, they’ve mastered it.
They’re not just the OG in the cranberry game – they’re a brand that people genuinely love.
Founded in 1930 as a cooperative of cranberry farmers in Washington, they’ve grown their reach to Canada and Chile, all while staying true to their roots.
Rather than branching out into other crops, Ocean Spray doubled down, going all-in on cranberries. From field to shelf, they’ve built an empire focused entirely on making the most of this iconic berry.
These days, Ocean Spray is synonymous with cranberries and vice versa. They dominate the market – and they do it while maintaining an incredible brand.
Ocean Spray’s beautiful digital presence
Ocean Spray’s website
Land on their website and you’ll immediately think “wait, is this a direct-to-consumer ice cream or makeup brand?” “a trendy new sneaker brand?” or “a super intuitive HR software for startups?”
They’ve embodied the essence of the berry right into their brand: it’s tart, bold, and a little sweet.
The bright red color can’t be missed. The tartness can’t be ignored. And Ocean Spray is anything but boring.
Take one look (Derek Zoolander voice: one look) at their website, social presence, or ads and you will see:
Farmers
Berries
Bold statements
Fun, but not over-the-top humor
They’ve put massive effort into crafting their brand guide and keeping their image consistent across all platforms.
The beautiful part is that they didn’t need to do this.
Their customers are buying their products from store shelves, not their website or social shopping.
They flex their funky (a phrase I’m coining 💁) just because they can.
Woah. That Call to Action isn’t to buy their products?
Nope. It’s to meet their farmers.
It leads you to a purpose-driven storytelling page that even highlights a “farmer of the month.”
Their social feeds are *chef’s kiss. (Well, maybe not X/Twitter, but whatevs)
A perfect cocktail (couldn’t help myself) of product promotion, recipes, and trending meme riffs – hey, is that even a Lizzo reference in their bio 👀
But let’s look past the typical social channels and peep their Pinterest.
Their Pinterest page gets 6.5 million views per month!
Instead of memes, funny videos, etc. – they heavily focus on recipes. Exactly what so many people use Pinterest for.
They group recipes by dish type (sweet treats, appetizers, etc.) and occasion (summer soiree, Halloween, holiday favorites, and so on).
Pinterest is a hugely powerful channel for them because they can provide tons of value (interesting recipes) without coming off as promotional, though their followers here are more likely to buy their products than their Instagram followers.
For a food brand, a Pinterest page is like the back of the package 50 years ago.
Ocean Spray’s marketing opportunities
Let’s dive in.
Ocean Spray had its own viral moment back in 2020 when a TikTok of a skateboarder drinking the juice straight from the bottle while Fleetwood Mac played in the background took the world by storm.
The company rode the wave (you knew more puns were coming, right?), launching a #dreamschallenge on Instagram and even bought the TikToker his own truck – fulfilling a dream of his and earning them tons of positive media in the process.
What’s next?
IMO, that campaign was a fun way to boost an organic trend Ocean Spray was at the center of, but they should maintain focus on recipes and bring that Pinterest energy to their other platforms – but not directly.
Partner with micro influencers to feature Ocean Spray cranberries in a recipe of theirs. Maybe they’re chefs or modern health/wellness or home living influencers.
The idea being to find that audience that loves them on Pinterest (but is mostly utilitarian) and serve them up content on the other channels they use as well, and fit for that platform (like going hard in turning recipe cards from Pinterest into Reels).
Wrap Up
Overall, Ocean Spray really knocks it out of the park (I didn’t even talk about their events marketing). And it shows – they have a thriving, beloved brand and have become almost synonymous with the holidays.
Hey - thanks for reading and I hope this issue of Marketer Gems gave you some insights to use in your own campaigns.
Oh, btw – I’m rebuilding Marketer Tools and I want to hear from YOU! What are some of your fave marketing tools? Fill out this survey for a chance to win one of three $20 Amazon gift cards 😄
✌️,
tom from marketer gems
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