Hint Water Splashes into Summer to Combat Arch-Enemy Sugar

Hint, Inc., maker of the market-leading flavoured unsweetened still water, is making a splash this summer with a new marketing campaign, 'Break Sugar’s Spell', the brand’s first new campaign in more than two years.

For this campaign, Hint partnered with Common Good to develop a multipronged approach to demonstrate the sneaky ways in which sugar puts us under its spell, and how Hint’s delicious fruit-flavoured water can help break sugar’s hold. The live-action video evokes the credibility of an old-school TV host with the flair of a young comedian to bring us back to basics and expose sugar’s tricks. To round out the campaign, animated spots feature 'sweet' beverage character illustrations that quickly turn menacing and lose their bravado as Hint comes on the scene in follow-up executions.

The engaging effort will extend throughout the summer via multiple live-action CTV spots (:30 and :15), animated spots, paid social, retail POS, a dedicated campaign landing page and a promotional giveaway site. 15 lucky winners (one per week) will receive a year’s supply of Hint and a retro refrigerator while five daily prizes will be given away during the 100 days of summer.

Additional social executions push the more nuanced benefits of the brand’s drinks over sugary alternatives and how Hint’s true fruit flavour can help break sugar’s spell.

Hint’s chief marketing officer, Amy Calhoun Robb, made the brand’s mission clear by saying, “‘Break Sugar’s Spell’ forces us to re-examine our relationship to sugar, diet sweeteners and other additives. The more sugar and sweeteners you consume, the more you want. Hint is shining a light on this subversively sinister brainwashing - executed in a fun, engaging way to help people live a healthier lifestyle in the most simple way, by falling in love with water again.”

The national campaign has launched with the animated elements and will extend with live action in July and will be seen on CTV, Meta, TikTok and YouTube.

Common Good’s media director, Kelsey Alexander, points out that “as part of this endeavour for Hint, we also developed the media strategy and planning and executed the buying with a focus on driving velocity for the brand during the key summer season.”