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JJ Whitley unwraps new £3.5m media campaign

CAMPAIGN SEES VODKA BRAND APPEAR ON TV SCREENS FOR THE FIRST TIME

JJ Whitley Vodka has launched a £3.5m campaign, which celebrates the brand’s Russian provenance, while also paying homage to its British heritage.

The campaign focuses on the brand’s best-selling variants – JJ Whitley Artisanal Russian Vodka, Raspberry Vodka - and its recently launched Artisanal Russian Gold Vodka. It will also see the brand go on TV for the first time as sponsors of Sky One’s ‘Nights In’ programming throughout August.

The activity also includes placements at a number of high impact out-of-home sites across the country, as well as digital activity and print advertising in consumer and trade publications.

Production of the JJ Whitley Vodka range moved to a £5m vodka distillery in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2019, in order to enhance the provenance and quality of liquid. Since then it has won numerous accolades including gold medals at both the International Wine & Spirit Competition and San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Simon Jackman, senior global marketing manager for white spirits at Halewood Artisanal Spirits, said: “It’s fantastic to see such strong growth for the JJ Whitley Vodka range over the past couple of years, and our new ATL campaign is now set to further drive brand awareness over the next six months, celebrating both its rich distilling heritage and quality Russian liquid. As the vodka category continues to be the UK’s largest spirits category, with flavoured variants also seeing significant growth, the range is perfectly positioned to help retailers tap into the significant sales opportunity.”

The campaign kicks off this week and will be running throughout July until December.

Birds Eye launches new campaign

BIRDS EYE HAS LAUNCHED A NEW £2.3M CAMPAIGN TO HIGHLIGHT THE FRESHNESS, TASTE AND SUSTAINABILITY OF ITS PRODUCTS

Birds Eye has unveiled a brand new £2.3m campaign across its fish portfolio to highlight the freshness, taste and sustainability of its products

The ‘Get On Board’ campaign, which is live now, will include products from across the Birds Eye fish range, encouraging people to increase their fish consumption. Dietary guidance from the UK government states that consumers should each aim to eat at least two portions of fish a week, yet the average in the UK is currently just 1.3 weekly.

The campaign emphasises how freshness is locked in ‘from sea to plate’, with product shots visibly demonstrating the quality and taste delivered by the Birds Eye range.

The new campaign will span TV, digital, on pack and in-store POS advertising, initially running into September.

Mike Sowerby, General Marketing Manager for fish at Birds Eye, said: “This campaign will reinforce the benefits of eating responsibly sourced fish as a part of a balanced diet. The campaign aims to encourage shoppers to up their intake of fish to meet NHS guidelines, with the reassurance that they are choosing fresh and great tasting frozen fish from Birds Eye.”

Sowerby said the brand was proud to be transparent about where and how it sources its fish. This is supported on pack by a fish tracker tool that enables shoppers to trace the fish from their pack via a QR code.

He concluded: “With our Captain Birds Eye icon at its heart, this campaign will help to bring more shoppers to frozen fish by demonstrating its key benefits and overcoming popular misconceptions.”

Harry Maguire goes back to his roots

ENGLAND FOOTBALLER HARRY MAGUIRE HAS TEAMED UP WITH SPORTS DRINK BRAND WOW HYDRATE AND TESCO TO GIVE BACK TO GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL

Sports drink brand Wow Hydrate, which supplies low-calorie protein waters with added vitamins, has teamed up with England and Manchester United player Harry Maguire for its new campaign.

The Harry Hydrates Grassroots campaign will provide grassroots football teams across the UK with free drinks to ensure that they are hydrating effectively both on and off the pitch.

When grassroots clubs sign up to the initiative, they will also be in with a chance of winning a full year sponsorship for their team, plus a training session with Maguire.

To introduce the initiative, which runs until 30 August, Maguire surprised Brunsmeer Athletic FC Under 8s – the first football team he ever played for – during their training session.

Maguire said: “Grassroots is where the love for the game all starts. It’s all about enjoyment, and you enjoy it when you’re playing well. But to play well, you need to be fuelled up.

“I’ve joined forces with Wow Hydrate and Tesco to help hydrate grassroots football clubs. It’s been a hard year for grassroots teams, which is why I want to do everything I can to give back. I wouldn’t be where I am now without it.”

Wow Hydrate’s co-founder, Neil Young, added: “As a brand, we are proud to support sports across all levels.

“We are delighted to have teamed up with Harry Maguire and Tesco on this initiative, who will be helping us to spread awareness of the importance of healthy hydration.”

Win £5k

PepsiCo is giving retailers the opportunity to win £5,000, with another 10 x £500 prizes up for grabs, as part of its first trade-exclusive juice activation. The campaign is running across hero SKUs from its Tropicana and Naked portfolios until mid-September.

Echo refresh

Echo Falls is unveiling a new look for its Fruit Fusions 5.5% and 9.0% portfolio. Fruit Fusions 5.5% will feature a silver capsule colour, while the 9.0% colour will vary depending on the flavour. An enlarged ABV call out will run across the entire range. RSPs: £4.25 / £6

Let the funshine

Malibu is inviting consumers to ‘Let The Funshine’ with a new campaign celebrating the in reallife awkwardness that’s surfaced as the world starts to open up again. The digital campaign runs until the end of August across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and digital display.

Olympic gin

Stirling Distillery has launched a limited-edition gold-flaked gin named OlympiGIN in celebration of the Tokyo games and made using Stirlingshire nettles and Japanese yuzu. Limited to 500 bottles, it will be sent to British and Northern Irish Olympic and Paralympic gold medal winners.

Mini Ritters

Ritter Sport has launched a new portion-controlled Mini impulse range, its first-ever countline. The range includes Ritter Sport’s top-selling milk chocolate varieties: Cornflake, Whole Hazelnuts, Alpine Milk Chocolate and Butter Biscuit.RSP: 60p / 2-for-£1.

Brothers blooming

Brothers Cider has announcedanother strong year with valuesales growing at 48.4% YOY [IRI,Mar 2021]. The brand launchedfour variants during the pandemicincluding Pink Grapefruit,Honeycomb and Toffee AppleAlcohol Free.