The classic European dance track ‘Dragostea DinTei’, better known as the viral ‘Numa Numa’ meme, has been reimagined by Yakult in a new campaign to get Europe singing about the power of gut health.

The bold new campaign from healthcare company Yakult sees the brand rework the lyrics of the well-known track, changing the chorus to: “my Yakult, my Yakult, my Yakult, friendly bacteria”.

The campaign has been created by Brothers & Sisters and plays on the popularity and internet virality of the song. Numa Numa was a dance video released by American vlogger Gary Brolsma in which he lip-synced to the 2004 song Dragostea DinTei by Moldovan band O-Zone. It became an iconic trend popular with millennials and has been used in cultural moments for more than 20 years.

A short campaign film shows a woman taking a sip of her Yakult drink before breaking into the updated version of the song and reenacting the popular viral trend. Dancing with glee, uncontrollably, the woman shows the burst of celebration and joy following a sip of the small health drink. The multi-channel campaign will include broadcast, social, OOH, and radio.

The campaign borrows from the popular Numa Numa meme to capture the attention of the brand’s target audience of 25-30-year-olds. By embracing the catchy earworm and taking on a more light-hearted tone than health category norms the campaign aims to cut through clutter and make audiences take note.

“We know traditional advertising is mostly ignored so creating top of mind awareness and attention is paramount to success. Numa Numa has already got a place in people’s hearts - or at least their heads - and algorithms love it, so to borrow that for the purposes of getting adults thinking about their gut health has the foundations of a memorable, unignorable ad campaign.” explained Matt Charlton, CEO of Brothers and Sisters.

Theo van Uffelen, European Marketing Manager at Yakult added: “The public’s awareness of the importance of good gut health is growing all the time and so it’s a crucial time to raise Yakult’s profile among our target audience.”

The Numa Numa campaign allows Yakult to spread the message of good gut health whilst challenging category expectations and firmly sticking in the heads of audiences through the catchy tune. By capitalising on a trend its audience is already aware of, Yakult is able to condense the benefits of its product and package up its brand messaging in a memorable way through the power of popular culture.