First Drinks pours cash into Christmas

First Drinks has announced plans to invest heavily in its portfolio of brands to drive sales in the run up to Christmas.

The company will be putting over £6 million into brand advertising and injecting further spend into a series of sponsorship deals and promotional activities in the UK.

 “Christmas is a key trading period and competition for share of wallet will be fiercer than ever,” said Katie Rawll, marketing director.

 

“We have the best balanced portfolio of premium brands in the industry and always look at innovative ways to build on their success. By continuing to financially boost our big brands, we have seen exceptional growth in a number of categories this year and we are very confident about delivering a profitable Christmas across the trade.”



 

Russian vodka brand Russian Standard will be First Drinks’ biggest spender with a £3m Sky TV sponsorship, TV and cinema advertising campaign.

Disaronno, the number two non-cream liqueur in the UK which has demonstrated strong growth in 2009, will be back on TV with a £2m TV advertising campaign.

Glenfiddich is investing in a heavyweight integrated Christmas communications campaign worth over £1m with advertising in top end consumer titles and at POS, and online activity from Glenfiddich Explorers, the brand’s relationship marketing programme.

Meanwhile Tia Maria – a new addition to the First Drinks portfolio, will be attacking Christmas with a £1m TV advertising campaign. The series of adverts will represent the first Tia Maria UK TV campaign since 2003.

 

Rawll added: “As well as a number of heavyweight marketing programmes, we will be rolling out some major category initiatives to really lead the industry with an innovative approach to help drive sales of premium spirits across both the on- and off-trade.”

Alan Lodge, 02.12.2009