AdMiration feature: RYZE Superfoods’ “What would happen if you felt a little bit better every day?”

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we looked at consumer response to RYZE Superfoods’ “What would happen if you felt a little bit better every day?” ad, part of the brand’s “Feel Better Every Day” campaign. 

Arriving just in time for back-to-school season, it follows a tired teacher through her day with an adorable animated mushroom along for the ride.

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data.

The ad opens to a softly lit study where a desk is covered in a collage of printed photos and handwritten notes. An animated mushroom character, Rye, stands on the desk looking through the collection. The pictures capture moments from someone’s life like family photos, childhood memories and personal achievements.

One photograph then comes to life, transporting viewers into the memory itself. A teacher walks between her students in an elementary school classroom, visibly tired.

The focus shifts to her desk, where a mug of RYZE Mushroom Coffee sits beside a stack of books and school supplies. Spotting the yawn, Rye nudges the mug — which reads “best teacher ever” — toward her, and she picks it up and takes a sip.

After the sip, the mood lifts noticeably. The classroom transitions into a creative activity, with children gathered around a colorful handmade banner that reads “You’re Doing Great Things!” 

Once the lesson is over, the story moves outdoors to a running track, where the same teacher crosses the finish line as friends and family cheer from the sidelines. 

That moment freezes into the photograph viewers saw at the very start, and the film returns to the desk. Rye wipes away a tear as on-screen text appears: “Inspired by a real story to inspire your own journey.”

The ad closes with the product alongside the RYZE brand name and a saying it’s available at Target.

3 facts

• The ad lands in the top 15% of US ads for driving short-term sales and the top 25% for building long-term brand equity (Sales Impact: 86; Brand Impact: 75).

• Love reaches 40% (vs. 27% norm), driving Overall Emotion to 66 (vs. 57 norm) — and it peaks every time Rye the mushroom appears on screen.

• Despite already being the most-picked brand in the category pre-exposure at 28%, the ad drives consideration for RYZE resulting in 64% consideration after viewing — a 36-point Purchase Uplift (vs. 22% norm).

2 learnings

A story can carry your product’s benefits better than a claim. This ad has no dialogue, voiceover or an explicit product claim but it still teaches people about the product. New Information scores 4.1 (vs. 3.7 norm), well above the norm for a film that never explains what mushroom coffee is or what it does.

Over half associate RYZE with providing natural energy (53%) and supporting a healthy lifestyle (52%) after watching the ad. And all of that is simply inferred from watching a tired teacher’s day get better: "The way the teacher was 'tired' and ended up energizing her students and running a race showed how she overcame the doldrums by drinking this coffee."

That’s worth remembering for any brand whose promise is hard to assert. “Feel a little bit better every day” is subjective by nature. It can’t be demonstrated in 60 seconds so asserting it outright might invite skepticism. But showing it through a story, inspired by real life, sidesteps that.

Build an asset that shows what your product does, then pair it with your brand at every opportunity. Rye is the biggest driver of Love in the ad, viewers rate him at an incredibly high 4.6 for Character Appeal (vs. 3.9 norm) and he’s the strongest brand cue, mentioned by 33% of people. But Unaided Brand Recall sits below the norm at 63% (vs. 70% norm), simply because people can’t make the link yet.

That gap is what you’d expect this early with a brand new DBA and it's no reason to rethink him. No rival in the category has anything like Rye, people like him and he resonates very well, so he’s a great asset for the brand to keep using (Brand Distinctiveness: 4.1 vs. 3.7 norm).

What makes him especially smart is that he appears in the mug, nudges it toward the teacher, then stays with her through the rest of her day. In other words, he’s a visual stand-in for the product, showing how it works without a word being said. As one viewer put it: “The mushroom guy. He’s just precious. And it gets the message across well, he’s just there to help you be the best whatever you are.”

So Rye has all the makings of a great DBA. He’s loved, he represents the product and its benefits perfectly and helps the brand stand out. What still needs repetition is the link between Rye and the RYZE name, which is why the asset should appear alongside it consistently and often. 

1 reflection

When your brand enters a new stage, does your advertising follow?

RYZE spent 5 years selling direct, growing to a business Forbes estimates at over $300 million a year. Like most brands in this space, it did this largely with creator testimonial content — people explaining how the product benefited them. Then in January of this year RYZE landed in more than 1,900 Target stores for the first time. 

Those two sales channels require different approaches. Selling direct works as a closed loop by showing the product working, clicking and eventually buying. There’s no competitor in the frame and no decision to make beyond yes or no, which is why demos and testimonials work so well there.

A shelf is a comparative environment. Your product sits alongside every rival at once, in front of someone who isn’t necessarily searching for you. So your brand has to come to mind quickly and positively. That’s why the shift from creator content to a brand-building film like this one makes sense at this stage of RYZE’s growth.

The job changes from explaining the product to building something people recognize and relate to. As one viewer put it: “I adore the little mushroom character and relaxing music in the background. I can also relate to the afternoon slump which I seem to feel more and more lately.”

For any growing DTC brand, it’s worth asking: is your advertising evolving as fast as your brand?

The ad is part of RYZE’s “Feel Better Every Day” campaign, directed by Bertie Ellwood and produced by Object & Animal. Built around a series of small, everyday turning points, the campaign follows ordinary people as RYZE becomes part of a subtle shift in how they move through their day — they’re more awake and more like themselves. 

It marks a clear change in how RYZE talks to its audience. Inspired by real stories, the campaign avoids traditional testimonials and instead uses the mushroom mascot to guide people toward positive shifts in energy and confidence. 

RYZE Superfoods was founded in 2020 by Harvard graduates Rashad Hossain and Andrée Werner, and sells a blend of six organic mushrooms combined with arabica coffee. 

The Boston-based brand grew entirely online and now RYZE is the best-selling mushroom coffee brand in America, launched in more than 1,900 Target stores with three exclusive latte flavors alongside its signature instant coffee and sticks. 

The appetite is there

Convincing people to try something they’ve never had before is one of the hardest jobs in advertising. RYZE has an advantage going in though as the appetite is already there.

63% of viewers say they’re very or extremely interested in foods and drinks offering functional health benefits, and 87% are at least somewhat interested.

The demand for adaptogens, probiotics and mushrooms is clearly there. So the job is less about persuading anyone that functional benefits are worth having, and more about being the brand they think of — and trust enough to buy.

“What would happen if you felt a little bit better every day?” makes a strong case on both counts, landing in the top 14% of US ads for driving short-term sales and the top 25% for building long-term brand equity (Sales Impact: 86; Brand Impact: 75).

The mascot-brand link is still forming

Most DTC brands in this space, including RYZE, built their businesses on testimonial content showing real people explaining how the product benefits them. That approach earns clicks, but it doesn’t build the recognition a brand needs once it’s on a shelf.

So an ad that shows us the benefit through an emotional journey instead of claiming the benefit is a very different move for the brand.

And it pays off, with every cut-through measure beating the norm (Ad Distinctiveness: 4.2 vs. 3.7 norm; Brand Distinctiveness: 4.1 vs. 3.7 norm; Claimed Attention: 4.1 vs. 3.9 norm; Uniqueness of Brand Impressions: 4.1 vs. 3.9 norm). As one viewer put it: “It wasn't just another wellness or coffee ad; it was different in a good way.”

Rye, the mushroom, is doing the heavy lifting here and viewers rate him highly, with Character Appeal at 4.6 (vs. 3.9 norm) — the strongest measure in the whole test!

The mushroom is also what cues the brand more than anything else, even the brand name itself (33% vs. 13%). Here’s what some people say about him:

• “When I saw the little mushroom walking around in the ad I knew it was Ryze.” 

• “That little mushroom person says it all.”

• “The little mushroom represents Ryze mushroom products.”

But that’s also why Brand Recall sits below the norm at 63% (vs. 70% norm). Some viewers didn’t connect the ad to RYZE until the final frames: 

• “The name RYZE at the end was the only thing that made me think it was for this product” 

• “The only thing I saw was the tag at the very last frame.”

• “I am unfamiliar with the brand so only knew the brand when it was shown.”

RYZE is still introducing itself to a mainstream audience and Rye is a brand new asset, so it’s no surprise that people remember the distinctive character but can’t link it to the brand yet. 

What matters is that he’s already the most recalled, most distinctive and most-loved thing in the ad. The link between Rye and RYZE is the part still to build and that can only happen through broad use and repetition. 

The mushroom drives the emotional response

Emotion is the ad’s real strength. Love reaches 40% (vs. 27% norm) — a 13-point gap that drives Overall Emotion to 66 (vs. 57 norm). 

The music and the mascot are clearly adding to that warmth, and to the audience’s enjoyment of the ad overall (Musical Appeal: 4.2 vs. 3.8 norm; Character Appeal: 4.6 vs. 3.9 norm; Enjoyment: 4.2 vs. 3.9 norm).

Here’s what some people said about them:

• "The little mushroom dude is just precious. When he was wiping his eyes the second time I saw it, I almost did too."

• “I adore the little mushroom character and relaxing music in the background. I can also relate to the afternoon slump which I seem to feel more and more lately.”

• “The mushroom character was cute. The music sounded soothing. Family images were nice.”

• “I like the music in the ad and the mushroom is really cute to watch.”

The second-by-second trace shows just how much Rye is driving that Love. The first spike comes within the opening seconds, as soon as he appears on the desk. A bigger one follows a bit later with the close-up of his face. 

The pattern repeats all the way through — every time the mascot appears, Love ticks up — and the reverse holds too: the classroom scene where he’s off screen doesn’t drive as much warmth. 

When he returns to nudge the mug toward the teacher, Love recovers instantly. It then climbs again through the race and reaches its highest point of the film as the teacher crosses the finish line and Rye flies alongside her. 

In other words, Love rises whenever the ad shows the result of drinking RYZE and dips in the only scene that shows life before it. As one viewer put it: “The way the teacher was 'tired' and ended up energizing her students and running a race showed how she overcame the doldrums by drinking this coffee.”

There’s a low, steady thread of Surprise running underneath too, as viewers work out who this little mushroom is and what he’s doing in someone’s memories.

The storyline does the explaining

What this ad does exceptionally well is teach people about the product without ever explaining it.

New Information scores 4.1 (vs. 3.7 norm), a strong result for a film with no dialogue, no voiceover or any specific product claims. As one viewer put it: “I thought it showed a very meaningful message, without having to actually say anything, and I loved it.” 

On top of this, over half associate the brand with “providing natural energy” (53%) and “supporting a healthy lifestyle” (52%), meaning the benefits at the heart of the brand are landing.

Measured against a competitive set of mushroom and functional coffee brands, RYZE was already the most-picked at 28% pre-exposure, which usually leaves an ad with less room to move.

But here purchase consideration still grew considerably post-exposure to 64% — a 36-point Purchase Uplift (vs. 22% norm)!

What a charming spot from RYZE! It’s proof that a mascot and a good story can sell a whole new category without saying a single word.

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