Why is that girl, half buried? Is that a deadly desert she’s in? OMG, her struggle is real; why can’t she get out…?
…haha. It’s a metaphor. She’s swamped by an overly complicated healthy eating regime.
Healthy eating doesn’t need to be difficult or overcomplicated, the commercial notes.
Viewers have been captured by the intrigue, surprised by the reveal and have embedded the message because they were paying attention. Not every food brand remembers to do all that.
Barilla-owned crispbread brand, Wasa, stands out as the hero of healthy eating and Forsman & Bodenfors’ new global brand platform, Go Hard, has made it so. The campaign, Wasa’s biggest brand shift in decades, cuts through the performance pressure that’s rife in the world and the food fatigue resulting from it, offering a simpler, more satisfying way to eat well. No mysterious and weird-tasting ingredients. Just real food made for real life.
The new platform also comes with a new look, and a new, distinguished voice. The visual identity is simple and bold to underline further that Wasa is a simple solution. And in a segment where many brands take themselves quite seriously, Wasa wants to ease things up a bit. The messages are short, witty and snappy.
“We know that eating healthy can seem complicated and time consuming – but it doesn’t have to be. With Go Hard, we want to be a counterforce to the strict meal plans and long lists of do’s and don’ts we see in social media. We want to show that there is an easy way to be a bit healthier, just by going hard,” stated Ilaria Lodigiani, chief category and marketing manager, Barilla at Wasa.
Go Hard is also grounded in global consumer insights. People are tired of “perfect” eating. And they don’t have time to prepare healthy snacks from scratch. They want a more supportive, realistic, and emotionally kind approach to food. From frustration with ultra-processed “health” snacks to a growing backlash against optimisation culture, the demand was clear. Wasa is answering with a platform that’s grounded, affordable, and made to work in real life.
“For more than a century, Wasa has provided people with tasty and healthy crispbread. But even though the brand represents tradition, its new look and feel are far from traditional. To stand out in the health food category and attract a broader audience, beautiful photos of nature have been replaced by simple, bold visuals and punchy copy,” commented Marcus Hägglöf, creative lead at Forsman & Bodenfors.
The Go Hard platform will launch in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Greece, Austria and Serbia.
Credits:
Client: Barilla Wasabröd
Head of Brand: Jakob Osborne Edman
Global Brand PR Director: Anna Bielecka
Global Digital Marketing Manager: Abbie Thomas
Creative Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors
Account Director: Cecila Ross
Account Executive: Lena Grundström
Creative Lead, Copywriter: Marcus Hägglöf
Copywriter: Andrea Sundström
Art Director: Adam Radi, Amanda Gameel
Designer: Michelle Christiansen, Clara Rollny
Motion Designer: Jens Wickelgren
Strategist: Tom Suharto
Digital Strategists: Pierre Boudard & Peter Gaudiano
PR Strategist: Julia Samuelsson & Donya Kumlin
Agency Producer: Lena Sellman & Oceanne Texier
Production Company: Bacon
Director: Bart Timmer
Executive Producer: Samuel Cantor
Producer: Axel Herrlin
DOP: Carl Nilsson
