MARKETING NEWS: May 2007

Asahi focuses on culture, Japanese beer brand Asahi is showing its cultured side with two new marketing drives…£23m drive for Glenfiddich, Glenfiddich is aiming to shore up its position as the world’s leading single malt Scotch whisky with a major £23 million global advertising drive, which rolls out this month, as well as updating its packaging…

Asahi focuses on culture
Japanese beer brand Asahi is showing its cultured side with two new marketing drives. Asahi – which means rising sun in Japanese – is getting involved in the release of major new movie Sunrise, as well as becoming a key sponsor of the Brighton Fringe Festival.

The movie represents a major coup for the company, providing a platform for extensive on- and off-trade tie-ins, as well as print advertising. Activities will include posters and tent cards in licensed premises, and an on-pack competition to win a home entertainment system. UK brand manager Christian Hamilton explains that the objective is “to bring more awareness to the brand name and its translation”.

Elsewhere, Asahi will be sponsoring the Udderbelly, a major venue at the Brighton Fringe Festival. The event will afford the brand major exposure – last year 630,000 people were attracted to the three-week event. Over 40% of these were the brand’s core audience, 18-30 year olds.

£23m drive for Glenfiddich
Glenfiddich is aiming to shore up its position as the world’s leading single malt Scotch whisky with a major £23 million global advertising drive, which rolls out this month, as well as updating its packaging.

The concept aims to draw a parallel between the brand’s heritage and “life opportunities that can take years to realise”. This message is communicated with executions based on savouring time, and bearing the catchline “Every year counts”. Brand owner William Grant & Sons is investing more than £2m in the UK alone.

The new strategy comes at a time when the brand is already riding high, with value up 4.8% and volume up 4.3% year on year.

Commenting on this initiaitve, Chris Mason, managing director of wholly-owned subsidiary First Drinks Brands, says: “These are already exciting times for Glenfiddich in the UK. The record investment that we are putting into the brand with new packaging and our first fully integrated marketing campaign will help the category as a whole.”

Brothers’ glasto promo
Brothers cider is leveraging its sponsorship of the Glastonbury Festival with an on-pack promotion in conjunction with Asda. Unsurprisingly, the competition prize is four tickets to the festival – a much sought-after prize since all 177,000 tickets sold out in under two hours last month.

The pear cider brand signed a deal with the festival earlier this year, making it the official cider supplier until 2011. The link between brand and event runs deep – it was first sold at the festival in 1995.

Commenting on the latest partnership, Brothers Drinks co-founder Matthew Showering says, “as one of the official sponsors of Glastonbury, we are pleased to announce this on-pack promotion with Asda”. The brand will gain additional exposure at several other music festivals this summer, targeting a total of 500,000 consumers.

Chivas bros unveils new brand strategies
chivas brothers, the Scotch whisky arm of Pernod Ricard, has launched a new marketing strategy and also unveiled the results of an intriguing design initiative, which aims to regenerate Ballantine’s.

Chivas Regal is being bolstered by a continuation of the major Chivas Life campaign. The latest initiative is focused on sailing, with the brand sponsoring both British Olympic hero Ben Ainslie and the America’s Cup as it heads to Europe for the first time in the spring. Notably, this year will be the first time that a Chinese team has joined the race, guaranteeing even greater exposure for the brand.

In other news, the Ballantine’s brand has its very own tartan design which will be used in future communication, following a competiton among young British textile designers. The tartan “successfully captures the brand’s authentic credentials and flair”, according to the company. It will be used in future materials as Chivas completes a major overhaul of the brand.

Decouvertes: a big success
The fourth Découvertes en Vallée du Rhône (13-19 March) was a resounding success, with a 9% increase in visitors compared with the previous event in 2005. More than 12,000 visitors from 25 different countries took part in this excellent range of tastings and events. 956 exhibitors showcased their wines at 19 different tastings, and around 4,000 wines – Côtes du Rhône, Côtes du Rhône Villages and Crus – were available for tasting.

World’s top Syrahs
Following the success of the Chardonnay du Monde competition, 2007 will see the first ever Syrah du Monde competition, which will take place in Ampuis in the northern Rhône Valley on 31 May and 1 June. The objective is

to find the best Syrah/Shiraz wines in the world and the competition is open to all wines that are made from this grape variety, whether red, rosé, still, sparkling, dry or sweet. Winners will be selected by an international panel of expert judges. For more information, go to www.syrah-du-monde.com

Cote du Rhone’s LIWSF news
Don’t forget to visit Côtes du Rhône at this year’s LIWSF at stand H40/1. Come and taste some great wines including the fantastic new vintage and chat with representatives from the region, plus look out for an exciting new addition to the stand!

Other news
The Union des Grandes Vins Liquoreux de Bordeaux is embarking on a new generic campaign to draw attention to the region’s 11 sweet wine appellations. The campaign is being orchestrated by the Eviva agency and aims to emphasise the compatibility of the wine with food. It commences with a food and wine matching lunch in June.

Tiger beer is aiming to build on last year’s impressive 13% sales increase with a focused marketing campaign backed by a £5 million budget. The brand is sponsoring Sky Movies Indie, a new channel launched by the satellite TV provider. It also has a revamped website, which aims to be “an interactive community site for everything that’s happening in urban Asia”.

Stowells has reinforced its retail appeal with a sleek new packaging design that aims to increase in-store presence. The Constellation-owned brand has also been bolstered with the launch of its first sparkling wines. According to Clare Griffiths, VP of brand marketing, “the new look presents the brand in an attractive, contemporary fashion, but also reinforces the traditional heritage of the Stowells brand.”

Cumbrian brewer Jennings  has teamed up with two other local businesses to develop an on-pack promotion giving drinkers the chance to win outdoor clothing. The campaign is run in conjunction with North Face (the clothing provider) and Keswick, a local outdoors store. The campaign cements the brand as the beer of choice for local outdoors enthusiasts.

© db May 2007