The Pop Shoppe is inviting consumers to discover a new world at its just-launched website designed by Toronto-based AmoebaCorp.
Launched last week, the site takes visitors into the wild, wacky world inside every Pop Shoppe bottle.
The site allows users to navigate through the “world of flavour” inside each bottle of Pop Shoppe pop. Inside are clusters of talking clouds, rainbows shooting out of pots of gold and rows of candy coloured evergreen trees. Users can control characters like a furry blue Sasquatch and a rope-skipping purple bear by clicking on the animations.
“The old site wasn’t telling a lot about the brand personality,” explained Amoeba partner and co-creative director Mikey Richardson. “We don’t have a big media spend, this is the one place we can really speak to our consumer… When you don’t have a lot of money you’ve got to be effective with what you have.”
Though Amoeba made sure the site showcases the brand’s history, offers information and drive sales, Richardson said he wanted the design esthetic to be child-like and fun, like the brand’s pop. “The product itself is not a functional thing,” he said. “It’s not water. It’s more like a toy you can eat. We wanted to site to have that same flavour.”
“We wanted [the site] to remind people what it was like to be a kid,” said Richardson. The Pop Shoppe wanted the site to appeal to young pop drinkers, but also to older Canadians who remember the brand from the 1970s.
“Nostalgia is tricky with this brand,” Richardson said. “People that have a real affinity for it are really in their 30s, and the target for pop is young people. For kids, it’s contemporary, for me it’s nostalgic.”
Amoeba has been working with the Pop Shoppe since 2005 when Burlington, Ont.-based businessman Brian Alger re-launched the brand. The agency also designs the brand’s packaging and handles its communication.
Amoeba created the site with help from OneMethod Inc. Digital + Design and enlisted Tattoo sound and music to create the sound design for the site.
