From "Unpalatable" to Unforgettable
Role: Copywriter & Content Lead
Agency: Weber Shandwick
Key Awards: In2Sabre Award, Clio Health (Bronze)
For a long time, Ocean Spray had a unique problem. Everyone knew who they were, and they dominated the holidays. But outside of November, the cranberry was struggling to find its place on the American table.
They were essentially the ketchup of Thanksgiving. Always there, never the star.
My job wasn’t just to sell juice; it was to help 700 farming families clear a massive surplus of fruit by turning a seasonal garnish into a modern "superfood". Here’s how we did it, and how we survived a roast by John Oliver.
The Endless Table
We needed to bridge the gap between the nostalgia of the past and the "foodie" culture of the present. We created the "Endless Table," a digital experience that lived online during the holidays.
It was a continuous, scrolling dining table that stitched together "Traditional" dishes (like the can-shaped sauce) with "Modern" recipes (like cheesecake with port-glazed berries). We used technology called ThingLink to hide recipe cards over the food, so the photography stayed beautiful and clean until you hovered over it. It was visual storytelling that gave people permission to try something new.
Bringing the Bog to 30 Rock
Digital wasn't enough, so we brought the farm to the city. We built a watertight tank in the middle of Rockefeller Center and filled it with 2,000 pounds of fresh, floating cranberries.
We called it "The Most Beautiful Harvest." We set up a dining table right inside the bog and invited influencers and celebrity chef Curtis Stone to have lunch in waders. It wasn't just a stunt; it was a content engine that landed us in the Wall Street Journal.
Of course, you can't talk about this era without talking about the "sugar wars." As we were pushing the health benefits of cranberries, the brand faced scrutiny over sugar content.
It culminated in a letter Ocean Spray sent to the FDA, explaining that cranberries are naturally low in sugar and have a "distinctly tart, astringent, and even unpalatable taste".
Comedian John Oliver got his hands on that letter for an episode of Last Week Tonight. He read our regulatory language on air, saying:
"It's no wonder they want certain cranberry products to be exempted... which is tantamount to begging, 'Please don't make us tell everyone how much sugar we dump on our garbage bog berry.'"
He went on to call the cranberry "what a raspberry drinks before its colonoscopy". It was a crisis at the time, but honestly? I’m weirdly proud of it. We leaned into that "bold" tart flavor as a differentiator, and the work we produced ultimately helped the cooperative weather the storm and win an In2Sabre Award for insight and innovation.