If you're unique, Dr Pepper is the mass-produced beverage for you.

So says the brand in a new campaign from Deutsch/LA titled "Always One of a Kind." The centerpiece spot starts off somber, opening on a regular guy in a regular suit stepping off a train into a crowd of commuters. But wait! He's drinking a Dr Pepper. He's no faceless corporate cog. Cracking a smile, he doffs his drab-gray jacket and blue oxford, Clark Kent style, to reveal a T-shirt with "I'm a One of a Kind" printed across its front in the brand's trademark white-on-maroon colors. Our hero struts off, a new bounce in his step, as a processional of other bold personalities takes shape behind him, each sporting a T-shirt that declares a salient fact about its wearer.

The clever cast of characters—the proud cougar, the unlikely momma's boy, the canine wingman—make the spot. They get an assist from the apt soundtrack—an upbeat rendition of Sammy Davis Jr.'s "I've Gotta Be Me," sung by OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder. Overall, it's a well-crafted appeal to individualism, despite feeling at moments like an over-the-top fantasy. (It is, in fact, an updated version of the similarly bubbly 1970s "I'm a Pepper" campaign.)

The brand deserves some kudos for inviting fans to design their own Dr Pepper-themed "I'm a …" T-shirts, even though they're charging for them. Of course, there's a bit of a logical disconnect inherent in the whole message—drinking Dr Pepper is liable to make you more of a soda-guzzling statistic than a totally unique snowflake. With 592 million cases sold in 2010, according to Beverage Digest, it's the fifth most popular soda brand in the universe. Then again, it's not Coke or Pepsi.

CREDITS

Client: Dr Pepper

Agency: Deutsch/LA

Chief Creative Officer: Mark Hunter

Group Creative Director: Frank Dattalo

Senior Copywriter: Jed Cohen

Senior Art Director: Karl Haddad

Director of Integrated Production: Vic Palumbo

Director of Broadcast Production: Victoria Guenier

Executive Producer: Tricia Hoover

Production Company: Smith & Jones Films, London

Director: Ulf Johansson

Director of Photography: Andrzej Sekular

Executive Producer/Line Producer: Philippa Smith

Production Manager: Natalie Isaac

Editorial Company: Whitehouse Post

Editor: John Smith

Assistant Editor: Shane Reid

Senior Producer: Kristin Branstetter

Executive Producer: Sue Dawson