Diet Dr Pepper's Lil' Sweet Is Back, and Sweet-Talking All Over Your House, in New Ads

Diet Dr Pepper's fabulously dressed miniature singing mascot is back for a second round of commercials ... and they're still pretty sweet. Justin Guarini, best known as the runner-up in the first season of American Idol, plays Lil' Sweet in the campaign from Deutsch, which launched with two ads last year. In the previous work, the character (who dresses extravagantly and riffs about his own actions in falsetto) rescued people craving sweets but not calories. Now, he's rewarding men who do their chores. The newest spot, "Laundry," launched Sunday during the Broncos-Patriots AFC Championship Game. In it, a woman praises her husband's folding skills when Guarini, decked out in silver lamé with hair and a scarf somewhere on the magenta spectrum, pops out of the dryer to deliver a can of soda and a load of delicates (he's apparently also having an affair with the wife). A second ad, "Playhouse," aired earlier this month and stars a father assembling his daughter's bright pink playhouse. When Guarini pops out of the child-sized door in a cloud of pink smoke, the little girl has exactly the right response (she is possibly the only sane person in the campaign so far). The idea is absurd enough to entertain, and nicely serves the tagline "The Sweet One," though what that actually means is less clear—probably something along the lines of "Better than other diet sodas." Despite what seems like a pretty obvious Prince influence, Guarini contends the character is a general glam rocker who is not based on any single figure. Deustch also denies he's based on Prince. (Nobody is confusing him for Ziggy Stardust, though ... and some commenters seem to think it actually is The Purple One.) Still, if the approach manages to feel fresh, that's because it's so far over the top that it reads as parody. The brand probably can't count on appearing on one of the pop god's album covers, however. There's also a less obvious and more contemporary resemblance. In two of the spots—"Self Employed" from 2015, and the new "Playhouse" ad—Lil' Sweet announces his entrance by singing his name on a two-note melodic sequence that's a dead ringer for the titular vocal hook from Maroon 5's "Sugar," released in January 2015, just before the Diet Dr Pepper campaign's launch in February. Coincidence? We think not. But we're assuming Maroon 5 vetoed "Aspartame" because it just didn't have the same ring to it. CREDITS Client: Dr Pepper Snapple Group/Diet Dr Pepper Jim Trebilcock – Chief Marketing Officer Jaxie Alt – SVP, Director of Marketing Derek Dabrowsk – Director – Dr Pepper Scott Smith – Brand Manager – Diet Dr Pepper Michael Johnson – Associate Brand Manager, Diet Dr Pepper Shaun Nichols – VP, Integrated Content Sharon Leath – Director, Integrated Content Amanda Breaux – Manager, Integrated Content: Agency: Deutsch Chief Creative Officer, North America: Pete Favat Executive Creative Director: Brett Craig Creative Director: Ryan Lehr Creative Director: Erick Mangali Senior Art Director: Chris Adams Senior Copywriter: Ross Cavin Director of Integrated Production: Vic Palumbo Executive Integrated Producer: Megan Meloth Senior Integrated Producer: Lauren May: : Account Management Credits: Group Account Director: Adam Graves Account Director: Helen Murray Account Supervisor: Kyle Webster Senior Account Executive: Kate DeMallie Account Coordinator: Alex Neiman: Account Planning: Group Planning Director: Mitch Polatin Associate Planning Director: Jessica Friedman Account Planner: Sabena Suri: Business Affairs/Traffic: Director of Integrated Business Affairs: Abilino Guillermo Senior Business Affairs Manager: Teri Donner: Director or Broadcast Traffic: Carie Bonillo Broadcast Traffic/Talent Payment Coordinator: Terence Dowling: Executives: CEO, North America: Mike Sheldon President, Los Angeles: Kim Getty Live Action Production Company: Tool of North America Director: Benji Weinstein Managing Director-Live Action / Executive Producer: Oliver Fuselier Executive Producer: Lori Stonebraker Line Producer: Jason Manz Editorial Company: Cut + Run Editor: Frank Effron Assistant Editor: Connie Chuang Executive Producer: Carr Schilling Head of Production: Amburr Farls Producer: Annabelle Dunbar-Whittaker Post/VFX: Method Executive Producer: Robert Owens VFX Producer: Jennie Burnett Fischer On Set VFX Supervisor: Vernon WIlbert Lead Flame Artist: Noah Caddis Lead Flame Artist: Matt Welch Flame Artist: Sean Wilson Roto/Paint Artists: Stephanie Sweeney Crystle Schrecengost Pam Gonzales Kenneth Lui YunMi Ahn Color: CO3 Colorist: Siggy Ferstl Senior Color Producer: Matt Moran Composed Music, Credits and Track Info: Stock music licensed from Music Beyond Sound Design/Audio Post Company: Lime Studios Sound Designer/Mixer: Mark Meyuhas Assistant: Peter Lapinski Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan Shoot Location: Pasadena and Van Nuys, CA (Nov. 9-13, 2015)

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Diet Dr Pepper's Lil' Sweet Is Back, and Sweet-Talking All Over Your House, in New Ads

Justin Guarini reprises his 'glam' role

Gabriel Beltrone

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Gabriel Beltrone