Babe and Bumble cover moving costs

Canned wine brand Babe has teamed up with dating app Bumble to cover the moving costs of women who are stuck living with an ex during the pandemic.

The canned sparkling wine brand owned by AB InBev has teamed up with Bumble on a new social media campaign that offers women the chance to have their moving costs covered if they’ve recently split up. The prize was a US$600 pre-paid card that can be used to purchase moving services, as well as a $100 credit to purchase wine from Babe’s website.

People were asked to tag themselves on Babe’s “moving on” post on the brand’s Instagram account, and show how they are “turning their breakup into a glow up”. The winners were crowned on 6 August.

As part of the publicity stunt, Babe and Bumble created a mock moving company called B&B Movers in Babe’s brand colours – pale pink and navy blue.

Across the side of the van a message reads: “Babe and Bumble are here to help you move on. Literally”.

In addition to moving your belongings, B&B Movers can also help with removing all traces from an ex from a smartphone and tailoring a Bumble profile to get you back on the dating scene.

Heineken 0.0% to sponsor UEFA Europa League

(Photo by Lukas Schulze/Getty Images for Heineken)

Heineken’s alcohol-free brand 0.0% has been named as the new sponsor of the UEFA Europa League, taking over from another of the brewer’s brands, Amstel.

The sponsorship started on 5 August and will run through to June 2024. It will feature a raft of advertising and marketing rights; backed up by a new brand campaign dubbed ‘Now You Can’.

Currently available in 58 markets globally, this is the first major sporting sponsorship for 0.0%, with the Europa League garnering an audience of around 550 million across its programming and an average of 37 million viewers per matchday.

US trade body warns against ambitious health claims

The US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) issued a reminder of its regulations after seeing an “increasing number” of health claims in alcohol advertising.

In its newsletter dated 14 August, the TTB included a section on regulations associated with attributing health claims to drinking alcohol.

“We have found an increasing number of alcohol beverage advertisements, including company websites and social media accounts, depicting health-related statements that suggest a relationship between the consumption of an alcohol beverage and its purported health benefits or effects,” the statement read.

“We remind industry members that the TTB advertising regulations prohibit any health-related statement that is untrue in any particular or tends to create a misleading impression as to the effects of consumption on health.”

It follows much debate and controversy over the term ‘clean wine’ after the launch of Cameron Diaz’s new wine label Avaline. The brand claims to not be like “most wine”, which is “not made with organic grapes and can be manipulated with over 70 additives”. Other brands have also emerged claiming their wines pair with “a healthy lifestyle” or don’t contain “yucky stuff” such as pesticides.

A spokesperson for the TTB told the drinks business that the reminder issued in the newsletter “was not in response to a spike [in violations] in any particular industry segment”.

Frankie Bridge becomes low ABV ‘spirit’ ambassador

Ex The Saturdays member Frankie Bridge has been named the brand ambassador of low ABV ‘spirit’ label Atopia.

The brand, which is bottled at 0.05% ABV and retails for around £25 in UK supermarkets, was created by spirits group William Grant & Sons last summer.

Bridge, who is Atopia’s first brand ambassador, will promote the botanical spirit alternative through social media promotions on her Instagram, Twitter and TikTok accounts, which have collectively garnered two million followers.

It is hoped that the singer and mental health advocate will show William Grant & Sons, which also owns Hendrick’s gin, to be company that offers drinks promoting wellness alongside its alcohol brands.

PrettyLittleThing launches gin

Fashion brand PrettyLittleThing, owned by scandal-ridden clothing group Boohoo, has launched a pink gin to “lift the spirits of sun-seekers, festival-goers and stay-cationers”.

The pink gin, which is strawberry and vanilla flavoured, was made by the Handmade Gin Company, a Liverpool-based distiller that produces other brightly coloured spirits brands such as Bakewell Gin, Pink Dog, Union Jack Black Gin and Everton Gin.

Crafted my head distiller Claire Barclay, the spirit is made with botanicals and fruits including juniper, cardamom, coriander, orange zest, lemon zest, strawberry, vanilla pods, and pineapple.

A spokesperson for the fashion brand said the spirit was created to “lift the spirits of sun-seekers, festival-goers and stay-cationers” while there is less use for on-trend festival outfits as the UK struggles to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

Just 99 bottles have been made, which were released via a social media competition

PLT asked hopeful winners to follow the fashion brand’s Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or TikTok accounts, and then “follow the instructions”.

The competition ended on Thursday 3 September.

Brewdog teases Aldi IPA in response to copycat beer

Inspired by ALDI’s take on Punk IPA from yesterday, we are making a new beer.

YALDI IPA is coming soon!

Maybe our friends @AldiUK will even sell it in their stores? pic.twitter.com/lV5bANS5L3

— James Watt (@BrewDogJames) August 20, 2020

Brewdog and Aldi seemingly ripped off each others’ branding last month, resulting in a win-win situation for both businesses.

Brewdog founder James Watt has released details of a new “Ald IPA” after someone pointed out the supermarket was selling a beer that bore a striking resemblance to the brewer’s flagship Punk IPA.

Called “Anti-Establishment IPA”, Aldi’s beer has a 3.2 rating on review site Untappd, and caught the attention of the craft brewery boss when a shopper Tweeted the can, claiming it was “legendary”.

Quick off the mark, Watt came back hours later with a mock-up for a “Yaldi IPA” beer can.

He later dropped the “Y”, after someone pointed out a smaller independent brewer already makes a beer called Yaldi.

Later that week, Aldi’s buying team expressed interest in stocking Brewdog’s new creation.

John Coldham, intellectual property partner at Gowling WLG, said there may be another reason Brewdog chose not to challenge the supermarket on its product.

“Brewdog and Aldi are both very experienced at using social media to maximise their exposure,” he said.

“It’s typical of Brewdog’s style to deal with a copycat product using humour rather than legal letters, especially where its case might not have been that strong.”

Rapper Bas and Jameson whiskey find emerging artists to create new tracks

Pernod Ricard-owned Irish whiskey brand Jameson teamed up with American rapper Bas to mentor two emerging musicians as part of a new marketing campaign.

Called Jameson Connects: The Stay Inn, the campaign saw Bas collaborate with the brand again to help develop the careers of two artists from Ireland and the US.

The #JamesonConnectsBas project was launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This spring, Bas had planned to run a series of youth music workshops in Sudan, but these were put on hold due to the coronavirus crisis and subsequent travel restrictions.

Instead, he began working with Jameson to put together a digital mentorship programme, selecting the artists to develop a new track with them.

He chose to work with Say 3, a US-based music producer, and Sierra Leonean-Irish art-soul artist, Loah.

Bas said: “Throughout my career I have been lucky enough to find myself with amazing mentors, and this is something I have always been truly thankful for.

“I never underestimate the impact that this has had on my journey as an artist, and I believe it is essential to open up your experiences and share your successes with other aspiring artists so that they can learn from them, and are given the same opportunities.”

Brendan Buckley, international marketing director at Irish Distillers, added that the Jameson Connects campaign celebrates “the diversity and talents of our whiskey fans.”

Europe’s drinks trade bodies launch local tourism campaigns

Due to ever-changing quarantine requirements across Europe, many tourism boards have turned their focus to attracting local visitors to areas of natural beauty and key attractions. In the UK, the Wine and Spirit Trade Association published a virtual distillery map to encourage Brits to visit local drinks companies and boost the industry’s own tourism sector.

The Austrian Wine Marketing Board has gone ahead with its tourism campaign for 2020, highlighting vineyards for domestic tourists to visit.

Austrian Wine has created a new website, called All Aboard for Wine, which lists prominent wineries and their tourism offers in an effort to ensure staycationers make up for the loss of footfall caused by coronavirus travel restrictions.

The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) currently advises against all but essential travel to Austria, people returning from the country after 22 August asked to self isolate.

According to the Gallup Institute, around 60% of Austrians who want to get away this summer plan to holiday in their own country.

Sir Edward’s whisky launches refreshed marketing campaign

La Martiniquaise-Bardinet’s blended Scotch whisky label Sir Edward’s has unveiled a new advertising campaign focusing on its Scottish roots.

The brand, which is the third highest selling whisky in France, has created a new campaign features a classic Scottish landscape with rolling hills, loch and an historic castle.

With its new ad and the tagline ‘Scotland in a glass’, the brand hopes to showcase both the provenance of the whisky and draw attention to the fact it is “authentic, easy to drink and accessible”.

A spokesperson for the brand said: “We wanted to show the world from Sir Edward’s point of view where the traditions, values and pride at the heart of our brand stretch out in front of him.

“This campaign brings Sir Edward’s to life, with the iconic character historically found on the bottle’s label now very much a tangible figure. We are sharing his experience of savouring the spirit of Scotland. There’s no clearer message – Sir Edward’s is simply ‘Scotland in a glass’.”

First industry-wide cider campaign launched in UK

Inspired by the challenges faced and continuing to be overcome in 2020 due to Covid-19, more than 30 producers have banded together to launch Discover Cider: the UK’s first industry-wide cider campaign.

Uniting craft cidermakers to long-standing traditionalists and larger industry stalwarts, launched yesterday was a new marketing initiative that sees cider’s rich heritage placed in a modern context, as the cidermakers promote themselves around three common themes: diversity – of both style and occasion; community – whether it’s cider’s rich heritage, orchards for the people, or metropolitan Cider Clubs; and cider’s green credentials.

Over the next three months, consumers are being invited to Discover Cider, with a chance to win mixed cases of cider by sharing their own cider stories, alongside opportunities to visit producers and to meet the makers via a rich programme of events and tastings, virtual and otherwise.