A G Barr is enhancing its role of Proud Supporter of The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, the largest event to be held in the UK in 2014, with a raft of marketing activity that will enable retailers to boost sales across the soft drinks category in 2014.
The company will be investing a record £12 million in its biggest ever multi-brand marketing programme in the run-up to Glasgow 2014, which is expected to attract a UK TV audience of 42 million* across 11 days, watching many of the world’s leading athletes competing for glory.
A G Barr will be focusing its wide-ranging marketing activity on its four best-selling brands: IRN-BRU (Official Soft Drink of Glasgow 2014), Strathmore (Official Water of Glasgow 2014), the Barr brand (Official Soft Drink of Glasgow 2014 and Official Cola of Glasgow 2014) and Rubicon (Official Juice Drink of Glasgow 2014).
“Glasgow 2014 will create a feel good factor throughout the UK and we’ll be enabling retailers to engage with shoppers across flavoured carbonates, cola, juice drinks and water – all strong performing soft drinks categories,” says Adrian Troy, A G Barr’s Head of Marketing.
“We are investing unprecedented levels of marketing support to allow us to work closer than ever before with our retail partners in every corner of the UK.
“However the retail opportunity is not just for the 11 days of Glasgow 2014. Our marketing activity will enable retailers to use A G Barr brands on their soft drinks fixture for 6 months to engage shoppers and harness the excitement which is already building around this memorable sporting occasion.”
The opportunity to boost soft drinks’ sales during Glasgow 2014 is highlighted by the strong performance of the category during London 2012 when it out-performed every other category in-store, with a 10% sales uplift.**
The nationwide appeal of Glasgow 2014 is underlined by the fact that 43% of tickets sold via Glasgow2014.com have been bought by consumers from outside of Scotland.
A G Barr’s marathon brand support programme will get off to a high profile start in March, building anticipation ahead of The Games and getting people in ‘supporting mood’ with Cheer We Go, IRN-BRU’s biggest ever on-pack promotion.
Cheer We Go will give consumers throughout the UK the chance to win a phenomenal range of tickets to watch their sporting heroes in action at Glasgow 2014.
Cheer We Go will be backed by a heavyweight digital media campaign (plus radio in Scotland) and extensive in-store support via dedicated point of sale.
The promotion will feature on 2 litre, 500ml and 330ml packs of regular and Sugar Free IRN-BRU.
Building on Cheer We Go, there will be further exciting activity for IRN-BRU, Rubicon, Strathmore and the Barr range to maximise the retailer profit opportunity of Glasgow 2014. Specific details of other major brand activity will be announced in the run-up to Glasgow 2014.
“Our investment in each of the four participating brands will provide a strong platform for retailers to forge even closer links with their shoppers across the soft drinks fixture. Retailers will be able to generate excellent visibility in-store with the POS we are providing and capitalise on the unrivalled opportunity to drive soft drinks sales before, during and after Glasgow 2014,” concludes Adrian Troy.
SOURCES:
* BBC viewing figures for Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games
** Nielsen Scantrack, Value Sales, 4 wks to 18.08.13, Total Coverage
Did You Know?
• Glasgow 2014 will attract a global audience of 1.5 billion people
• Over 4,500 athletes will be competing
• Up to 15,000 volunteers will be lending a hand
• 70 nations and territories will be involved, representing one third of the world’s population
• 14 competition venues will be used to host Games events
• 2.3 million ticket requests were received in the first four weeks
A G Barr
Tel: 01204 664295
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