Gaviscon Goes on Tour with pH Neutral Street Food

Heartburn and indigestion relief brand Gaviscon is going on tour this summer – in a campaign aimed at young millennials. Despite heartburn symptoms being first felt on average at 23, 20-25-year-olds rarely acknowledge the problem, let alone embrace a serious solution; instead, they try their best to keep going, determined that heartburn won’t ruin their fun.

They spend the majority of their disposable income over the summer and they are more likely to suffer heartburn in the evenings – which is why Gaviscon is hitting popular late-night locations and food and music festivals to help them keep going as part of its new ‘Go On’ campaign.

Over the next six weeks, a luminously-branded food truck serving only pH-neutral street food will tour the UK, culminating in Norwich’s Sundown Festival, which the brand has partnered with as part of this campaign. Chefs Max Halley – author of Sunday Times Bestseller Max’s Sandwich Book – and Ben Benton have created the specially-designed pH neutral menu and will staff the van, which offers late night food but with ingredients that are less likely to give you heartburn and indigestion.

The menu includes buttermilk fried chicken and watermelon burger; hazelnut fried fish sandwich; Bolognaise, fennel and pear ciabatta; burnt chipotle broccoli tacos; and zucchini fries – all of which will be offered to late-night revellers free of charge*.

The van made its debut in Leeds this month, with further visits to London (Alexandra Palace’s StrEATlife street food and craft beer festival, 28 July), Newcastle (Grainger Street, 10 August), Liverpool (Yard bar / District venue, 17 August), and Norwich (Sundown Festival, 31 August through 2 September) to come.

The campaign, from creative agency Havas London and sport and entertainment agency Cake, aims to connect with its target audience where their passions – such as food, friends and festivals – and common triggers for heartburn – including lifestyle factors and certain food and drinks – intersect. It positions the brand as a facilitator of good times, helping this experience-loving audience to literally ‘go on’ – without their fun being tarnished by heartburn and indigestion.

As well as the street food tour, it includes a bold, luminous pink and blue new look and feel, out-of-home (including numerous location-specific executions) and a digital, social and influencer campaign.  

Elliot Harris, deputy executive creative director at Havas London, says: “This campaign debuts a bold look and feel and an attitude that’s a real shift in direction for Gaviscon. Our custom street food truck is not serving your average fast food. It offers a pH neutral menu developed by Max Halley and Ben Benton that not only tastes great, but aims to reduce the chance of heartburn and indigestion altogether.”

Tilly Swan, strategy director at Havas London, adds: “This audience sees heartburn and indigestion as a frustrating reality they’d rather not acknowledge, especially as it affects them most when they are trying to enjoy the experiences they love. So rather than talking ‘at them’, Gaviscon is showing solidarity ‘with them’, meeting them in the moments where fun and heartburn intersect – providing a relevant, interesting (and delicious!) solution so they can ‘go on’.”

* excluding StrEATlife / Sundown festivals