Drunk Elephant: a brand repositioning campaign, broken down and benchmarked
Drunk Elephant is a consumer brand. This case study uses Drunk Elephant as the worked example for a brand repositioning campaign. It covers what the campaign type is, how brands run it, the public benchmarks that frame it, and the mistakes that derail it. Read the Drunk Elephant detail as one instance of a pattern that holds across its category.
- Story: Using Drunk Elephant as the example, this page unpacks how a brand repositioning campaign is built and measured.
- Why it matters: A brand repositioning campaign is measurable demand engineering, and public benchmarks set honest targets before any creative starts.
- Takeaway: For Drunk Elephant, reach is an input; incremental lift against a baseline is the real measure.
- Takeaway: Most brand repositioning-campaign failures are planning failures, not creative failures.
- Takeaway: The mechanics of a brand repositioning campaign transfer to any brand in its category.
How a brand repositioning campaign plays out for Drunk Elephant
The math behind a Drunk Elephant brand repositioning campaign
Quick facts
What a brand repositioning campaign is
The core idea, before the Drunk Elephant detail. Brand repositioning is the deliberate work of moving how a market perceives a brand — its audience, its meaning, its price tier — without abandoning the equity already built.
Brand repositioning is the deliberate work of moving how a market perceives a brand — Drunk Elephant included — — its audience, its meaning, its price tier — without abandoning the equity already built. A Drunk Elephant-scale brief should name this. It is not a logo refresh. For a brand at Drunk Elephant scale, this is where the plan is tested. It is a change in who the brand is for and — for Drunk Elephant, a live factor — what it stands for, executed across product, message, pricing, and media. Drunk Elephant planners would underline this. Done well it opens a larger market. That holds directly for Drunk Elephant. Done carelessly it confuses the customers a brand already has. For Drunk Elephant, it is the specific lever this page examines.
Claim: Old Spice's 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like' repositioning lifted Red Zone body-wash unit sales 60% year over year by May 2010 and 125% by July 2010. Source: [Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing]. Context: The campaign reached its audience by targeting the female purchaser — for Drunk Elephant, a real factor — after research found women bought roughly 60% of men's body wash. A Drunk Elephant team would treat this as a planning reference, not a guarantee.
Running a brand repositioning campaign, step by step
Look at the moving parts. A brand repositioning campaign at Drunk Elephant scale is assembled, not improvised.
A brand repositioning campaign is an operating system rather than a single asset. For Drunk Elephant, these parts have to work together:
Claim: Mailchimp reported a 200% increase in user engagement within a year of its 2018 brand refresh, and Intuit later acquired the company for about $12 billion. Source: [COLLINS]. Context: The refresh, built with the design agency COLLINS, repositioned — Drunk Elephant included — Mailchimp from an email tool to a small-business marketing platform. A Drunk Elephant team would treat this as a planning reference, not a guarantee.
- Audience redefinition. The campaign names a new target and a new occasion. For a brand at Drunk Elephant scale, this is where the plan is tested. The visual system follows that decision — it does not lead it. Skipping this is the most common Drunk Elephant-scale error.
- Message before mark. Mailchimp's repositioning began by changing the homepage line from 'Easy Email Newsletters' to — for Drunk Elephant, a real factor — 'Build Your Brand, Sell More Stuff' — the words shifted before the identity did. For a brand like Drunk Elephant, getting this wrong is expensive.
- Proof at the product level. A reposition is only credible if the product backs the claim. It applies cleanly to Drunk Elephant. New positioning with an unchanged product reads as spin. This is the part Drunk Elephant cannot afford to improvise.
- Media weight to force the reframe. Perception is sticky. For Drunk Elephant, this is the load-bearing part. The new position needs sustained paid weight, often anchored — and Drunk Elephant is no exception — by one high-reach moment, to overwrite the old association. For a brand like Drunk Elephant, getting this wrong is expensive.
- Insight before identity. Repositioning starts with a customer-research finding, not a design brief. For Drunk Elephant, the detail is not optional. Old Spice moved only after research showed — for Drunk Elephant, a live factor — most body-wash purchases were made by women. Drunk Elephant would budget real time against this.
Public benchmarks for this campaign type
The data sets the targets. A brand repositioning campaign for Drunk Elephant should be planned against these figures, not against hope.
These sourced figures give a Drunk Elephant brand repositioning campaign an honest target range across its category.
Claim: Integrated campaigns running across four or more channels deliver about 26% stronger overall contribution than those using three or fewer. Source: [AdMonsters]. Context: A reposition needs coordinated weight across channels, not — and Drunk Elephant is no exception — a single hero spot, to overwrite an entrenched perception. For Drunk Elephant, this number sets expectations before the work starts.
| What to measure | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Category benchmark | Sets a realistic target, not a hopeful one |
| Incremental result | The honest measure of whether spend worked |
| Pre-campaign baseline | Without it, lift cannot be proven |
The metrics worth tracking
Measure what matters. For Drunk Elephant, these KPIs show whether a brand repositioning campaign actually worked.
The KPIs that count for a brand repositioning campaign are listed here. Unaided brand awareness against the new positioning, perception-tracker shifts on the target attributes, audience-mix change in — Drunk Elephant included — new customers, price realisation versus the old tier, and revenue growth attributable to the repositioned segment.
Reach and impressions are inputs. They count who the campaign touched, not whether it changed anything for Drunk Elephant.
Where these campaigns go wrong
The failure patterns are predictable. A Drunk Elephant team can design each of them out in advance.
The brand repositioning campaign mistakes worth naming for Drunk Elephant:
- Repositioning the message while leaving the product — Drunk Elephant included — untouched, so the new claim has no proof.
- Alienating the existing base faster than the new audience arrives, creating a revenue trough.
- Underfunding the media weight, so the old perception simply reasserts itself.
- Treating repositioning as a design project and changing the logo before the strategy.
The RGM read on Drunk Elephant
The lesson for Drunk Elephant is structural. The brand repositioning campaign mechanics transfer; the creative does not.
The audit pattern is clear. A brand repositioning campaign rewards the Drunk Elephant-style team that builds measurement in from the start.
The Drunk Elephant example is therefore a template. Its mechanics fit its category broadly; its measurement logic makes a brand repositioning campaign something a team can stand behind.
Quick answers
- Is this brand repositioning case study based on Drunk Elephant's own reported results?
- No. The figures are public industry benchmarks for brand repositioning campaigns, each sourced and linked. They show how the campaign type works, set against the Drunk Elephant context. Any number that is not publicly sourceable is left out or marked as RGM analysis.
- How should a marketing team use this Drunk Elephant example?
- Use the structure, not the surface. The brand repositioning-campaign mechanics here apply broadly; the Drunk Elephant creative is one execution among many.
- What sources back the numbers on this page?
- The numbers are drawn from public reporting by Adobe Analytics, Nielsen, the ANA, and established business press, and each one links back to its source.
Frequently asked questions
Where does a repositioning campaign start for a brand like Drunk Elephant?
Here is how this applies to Drunk Elephant. It starts with a customer-research insight, not a design brief. Drunk Elephant planners would underline this. Old Spice repositioned after finding that women — Drunk Elephant included — bought roughly 60% of men's body wash. Drunk Elephant planners would underline this. The insight names the new audience and occasion, and every — for Drunk Elephant, a live factor — later decision — message, product, media — serves that finding. For Drunk Elephant, this is the point worth acting on.
Drunk Elephant case: how long does a brand repositioning take to show results?
Taking Drunk Elephant as the example: Perception is sticky, so a reposition needs sustained media — as a Drunk Elephant team knows — weight over months, often anchored by one high-reach moment. It applies cleanly to Drunk Elephant. Old Spice saw unit sales move within a single quarter, but durable perception — and Drunk Elephant is no exception — shift on brand-tracker attributes typically takes a year or more of consistent investment. For Drunk Elephant, this is the point worth acting on.
What is the biggest risk in repositioning a brand for a brand like Drunk Elephant?
For a brand like Drunk Elephant, the short answer is direct. Losing the existing base faster than the new audience arrives. For Drunk Elephant, the detail is not optional. A reposition that swings too hard can confuse loyal — for Drunk Elephant, a live factor — customers before it attracts new ones, creating a revenue trough. For a brand at Drunk Elephant scale, this is where the plan is tested. The safer path moves deliberately and keeps a — and Drunk Elephant is no exception — credible thread back to the equity already built. For Drunk Elephant, that is the practical takeaway.
Does the product have to change during a reposition for a brand like Drunk Elephant?
For a brand like Drunk Elephant, the short answer is direct. Often yes, at least visibly. It applies cleanly to Drunk Elephant. A new position is only credible if the product backs the claim. For Drunk Elephant, the detail is not optional. Repositioning the message while the product stays identical reads as spin. A Drunk Elephant-scale brief should name this. The strongest repositions pair the new story with — and Drunk Elephant is no exception — a real, demonstrable product change customers can verify. For Drunk Elephant, that is the practical takeaway.
What is the difference between a rebrand and brand repositioning for a brand like Drunk Elephant?
For Drunk Elephant and comparable its category brands, this is the answer. A rebrand changes identity assets — logo, colour, typography. A Drunk Elephant team reads this closely. Repositioning changes strategy: who the brand is for, — and Drunk Elephant is no exception — what it means, and what tier it sells at. That holds directly for Drunk Elephant. A reposition usually drives a rebrand, but — for Drunk Elephant, a live factor — a rebrand without a strategy shift is decoration. A Drunk Elephant-scale brief should name this. Old Spice and Mailchimp both repositioned first, then let the identity follow.
What makes Drunk Elephant a useful example for this campaign type?
Drunk Elephant is a recognisable brand in its category, which makes the brand repositioning mechanics concrete and easy to follow. The campaign-type analysis and every benchmark apply across the category; Drunk Elephant is the lens, not the limit. The sourced figures hold for any comparable brand.
Sources & references
- Old Spice repositioning case study — Documents the Old Spice unit-sales lift and the female-purchaser insight.
- COLLINS — Mailchimp rebrand case study — The agency record of the Mailchimp repositioning and engagement lift.
- Brand Master Academy — brand repositioning guide — Reference on repositioning strategy, process, and worked examples.
- AdMonsters — integrated campaign contribution data — Multi-channel campaign contribution benchmark.