Marketing Excellence Awards 2009

2. Communications Excellence

B. Advertising Excellence

Title:

“If” only the sun would shine in summer

Authors:

David Amers

(Planning Director)

WORD COUNT: 2,035

- 1 -

Background

IRN-BRU is made by AG Barr, a Glasgow based soft drinks company. Whilst the Barr’s

brand portfolio is increasing year on year, the company’s jewel in the crown remains

IRN-BRU. It accounts for two thirds of Barr sales and most of this is generated from

sales in Scotland.

For 2008, AG Barr set us and IRN-BRU a major challenge: grow the brand by 4% in a

market in decline.

The summer is the key sales period for soft drinks so a strong performance from IRN-

BRU in summer in Scotland is a commercial imperative. However, with four out of the

last six summers being a damp squib, IRN-BRU needed the support of strong

marketing and advertising to ensure that it could meet its ambitious sales targets.

(Met Office / Mintel, Premium Soft Drinks, UK, January 2008)

- 2 -

A big ask

Growing IRN-BRU was going to be extremely difficult for a number of reasons.

Firstly, the traditional carbonated soft drinks market is losing share of throat to other

soft drinks.

(Source: TNS / National Drinks Survey, drink units to end of September 2007)

As the above chart shows, drinkers are moving away from traditional carbonates

towards perceived healthier options such as water and fruit juices or drinks which offer

functional benefits such as sports and energy drinks. IRN-BRU is an ‘Other Flavoured

Carbonate’ (OFC) within the traditional carbonates sector. And it is the OFC category

which is really struggling at the moment. As of summer 2008, the OFC market had

shrunk by 7% in volume terms across the UK1.

1Nielsen Scantrack, MAT 14/06/08

- 3 -

4 5 5 5 6 7 8 9 9 10 11 11 10 11 11 12 10 9 71 1 2 2 3 34 4 4 4 4 5 6 7 8 8 8 8

85 5 6 6

6 66 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 91 1 1 1 2 2

3 4 4 4 5 5

51 50 48 47 45 44 43 41 41 39 38 36 36 34 33 33 34 32 33

18 18 19 20 20 20 20 19 20 20 19 19 18 17 16 16 16 16 17

8 7 6 6 5 5 5 6 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6

14 14 15 14 14 15 15 15 14 15 16 15 15 16 17 17 15 15 15

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1975

1980

1984

1988

1992

1996

2000

2003

2005

2007

%

Alcohol

Other Bev

Coffee

Tea

Mineral Water

Squash

Juice/Juice Drinks

Carbonates

This decline in OFCs is driven by health and behavioural trends, as mums, concerned

about additives, flavourings and sugars, increasingly turn to drink options they

consider to be healthier. In short, it’s harder for the likes of IRN-BRU to sustain their

relevance to modern consumers.

The soft drinks market is also increasingly competitive. In the year to May 2007, there

were 73 launches in the carbonates sector but by May 2008 this figure had almost doubled

to 1292. More choice has created less brand loyalty, as drinkers’ repertoires extend.

The average drinker’s repertoire contained 5.2 brands in 2007 but this figure had

increased to 5.4 brands for IRN-BRU drinkers by 20083.

IRN-BRU still has to work hard to maintain consumer adoration. As the following chart

shows, its arch rival Coke had significantly more loyalists than IRN-BRU prior to the

2008 summer campaign.

2Marketing Week / Mintel, 31 July 2008

3 LVQ brand health tracking research, March 2008

- 4 -

“IRN-BRU used to be the one that everyone drank at school, but that was 3 - 4 years ago.

Now there are lots to choose from, it probably isn’t as popular as it used to be.”

Respondent, Out of the Box qualitative research, December 2008

20

Brand Loyalty - Standard Drinks - 2008

Base: All (243)

7 71 1 1

26

43

510 13

2

30

29

10

27 25

6

16

10

11

19 19

10

1611

25

31 24

29

11

34

238

23

12

41

31

6 10 18

Irn-Bru Coke Dr Pepper Fanta Lucozade Orangina

ProductConcept

Occasional

Rejectors

Regular

Adopters

Loyal

Staunch

Adorers

Rejectors

Adopters

Available

Accepters

Adorers

Accepters

Scotland

Coke has significantly more adorers and regular adopters than Irn-Bru. High rejection of Dr Pepper.

(LVQ brand health tracking research, March 2008)

An ever growing competitive market meant that IRN-BRU was no longer automatically

front of mind in Scotland; spontaneous brand awareness of IRN-BRU had fallen 13%

from 79% in 2007 to 66% by March 20084.

The advertising objectives

The advertising was not expected to work in isolation. It was planned to be a leading

part of a ‘weather proof’ summer marketing campaign which also included a glass

promotion for two litre IRN-BRU bottles.

The client set clear brand advertising objectives:

1. Enhance the brand’s stature and the audience’s affiliation in Scotland

2. Reinforce loyalty and win over lapsed users who have drifted into other drinks

categories

3. Build desire for the product itself (achieving at least 60% agreement with the

statement “I really fancy an IRN-BRU”)4 LVQ brand health tracking research, March 2008

- 5 -

The strategy and target audience

Historically, AG Barr's hard working marketing budget has dictated that every IRN-BRU

ad has to be able to work in two distinct regions – Scotland and England.

In 2008, we had the opportunity to change our approach dramatically. Limited

exposure to our previous summer ad (“Goth”) south of the border meant that running

it in England only was an option. This meant that, for the first time in over 15 years,

we had an opportunity to make a TV ad solely aimed at a Scottish audience. In other

words, we could make an overtly Scottish ad and tap into the emotional connection

Scots had with a genuine fabric brand.

To begin with we changed the audience targeting. Previously, IRN-BRU advertising had

sought primarily to win over a largely younger audience, who purchase the brand from

impulse outlets (i.e corner shops and newsagents). However, when we interrogated the

sales data further, we unearthed a surprising fact: it was the 22 to 44 year olds who

deliver the volume sale for IRN-BRU in Scotland.

The importance of winning over this audience became even clearer when we looked at

the latest 'brand health' tracking. The biggest falls in brand adoration from 2007 to

2008 was in the 22 – 34 year old age range, followed by the 35 – 50 year olds.

It became clear that our advertising had to work hard to build an emotional connection

across a very broad age range. Our new advertising had to have adult appeal as well

as appealing to a younger audience.

- 6 -

The message

Research showed that, in Scotland, IRN-BRU gives people a little lift, either as a drink

or in the likeable and distinctive way it markets itself.

The tracking research showed that IRN-BRU scored more highly than Coke when it

came to being ‘a brand that makes you feel good’ and a brand that ‘has really

enjoyable advertising’5 More than any other soft drink, IRN-BRU is felt to be “ours” 6 by

Scots.

We wanted to celebrate the way that IRN-BRU uplifts Scotland and reinforce the feel

good factor in being a Scottish IRN-BRU drinker.

We encapsulated our strategy in the advertising proposition:

5

6 The Leith Agency qualitative, Jan 2005- 7 -

"Refreshed, galvanised, ready to go on"

"Yes, when I'm a wee bit tired, it gives me a lift"

Respondents, Out of the Box qualitative research, D ecember 2006

“IRN-BRU: Uplifting Scotland”

Managing “Scottishness”

We knew that ‘Uplifting Scotland’ was going to lead to ideas which played the Scottish

card very strongly. This posed another challenge.

Just because an ad for a Scottish audience is very Scottish doesn’t mean that it will

automatically win hearts and minds. Being too stereotypically Scottish (all tartan and

clichés) can backfire. We needed to tap into how Scots feel about themselves, and

IRN-BRU, in a way that prompted identification and approval.

Research showed that our audience felt that IRN-BRU advertising was very Scottish.

And yet, most of the last decades' ads don't feature Scottish accents or settings. The

fact is that the advertising was liked because it seemed Scottish at heart. It appealed

to the way that Scots liked to see themselves – independent, don’t take themselves too

seriously, funny, enjoy a laugh and down-to-earth. These characteristics formed the

basis of the brand personally we wanted our new advertising to convey.

The creative breakthrough

Initially, we were inclined to put the desire for brand ‘stature’ and ‘Scottishness’

together to develop big “we’ll be coming down the road…” production numbers. They

were big on nationalism but lacked the wit and cleverness at the heart of a great IRN-

BRU ad.

We re-looked at how IRN-BRU is central to life in Scotland. As a genuine fabric brand

it is drunk by many types of people on many different occasions. What we needed was

a device to tie all these people and occasions in a compelling way. We explored the

potential of tapping into Scotland's rich heritage of emotionally rousing verse. This

was the breakthrough we needed. In fact, the verse which seemed most promising

came from south of the border.

- 8 -

As an embryonic idea, “if” sounded very interesting. The hard part was to do the idea

justice by selecting the right scenarios and associated words. IRN-BRU ads are always

witty and research had confirmed that getting the nuances right was going to be

crucial to “If's” success.

After many re-writes, and discussions about what it is to be a Scot who loves their IRN-

BRU, the following re-working of 'If' became the agreed script.

- 9 -

“IRN-BRU ads make Scottish people proud – especially when the humour has a localised feel”

Out of the Box research (March 2007)

IF you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet look too good, nor talk too wise

Screen grabs from TV ad:

- 10 -

TV script

- 11 -

- 12 -

- 13 -

Integrated activity

The campaign launched on 12 May on STV and Channel 4 and a week later, in cinemas

throughout Scotland. A media package was created to maintain brand saliency

amongst a broad audience and reinforce the emotional connection with IRN-BRU’s

heartland. So the media agency (phd north) aimed for populist programmes like the

Saturday Night Project, Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway and the Champion’s

League coverage. TV gave us the reach we needed and cinema and online advertising

were chosen to ensure that we reached as many as possible of our core, more affluent

25 – 44 year olds.

The brand advertising was also supported by a 2 litre bottle 'glass' promotion using a

10 second ad which also utilised verse.

- 14 -

Advertising and 'brand health' results

The “if” advertising worked as intended. Independent tracking (by LVQ) showed that

for spontaneous content recall, the two most popular references were ‘makes you

proud to be Scottish’ and ‘makes you feel phenomenal’7.

When cross-referenced with verified ad awareness, over 70% of those who had seen the

ad agreed that it ‘made you proud to be Scottish’. The ad was also felt to have a much

broader appeal than previous recent IRN-BRU advertising.

Enjoyment scores for “If” were significantly higher than for the previous summer’s

Goth ad. And in terms of stand out, “If” scored more highly than any IRN-BRU

campaign since the year 2000.

The number of people claiming to be more interested in the brand after having seen

the advertising stood at almost twice the previous highest score, recorded in 2007.

And the number of people who felt they were more likely to drink the product having

seen the advertising exceeded the previous highest score recorded in 2005 for the first

‘phenomenal’ ad, ‘Bobby’.

The ad made IRN-BRU more front of mind; a small but significant shift in spontaneous

brand awareness was recorded in the wake of the campaign (75% to 77%).

When it came to propensity to drink, the tracking research showed that we had

exceeded the 60% target measure of “I really fancy an IRN-BRU”. (We reached 62%).

The research also showed a significant increase in those who had drunk IRN-BRU in

the last 4 weeks from 69% in May to 74% in July. This shift was most pronounced

amongst less frequent soft drink drinkers.

7 LVQ advertising tracking research, July 2008

- 15 -

Importantly, the tracking research shows that there was a significant shift in the

number of “adorers” and “adopters” in the wake of the TV ad.

An impressive achievement.

Sales success

Despite a terrible summer weather-wise, IRN-BRU managed to buck market trends in

terms of sales.

By December 2008, IRN-BRU was one of the only ‘other flavoured carbonates’ not in

decline whereas traditional brands such as Lilt, Sprite, Dr Pepper and for the first time

ever, Fanta, were in decline. This when the overall category continued to decline8.

In fact, by October 2008, IRN-BRU had already recorded the largest absolute growth of

carbonates brands in Scotland9.

8 Nielsen Scantrack data, December 20089 Nielsen, October 2008

- 16 -

Looking at the three month period from July, August and September 2008, IRN-BRU

recorded a massive 13% increase in sales in Scotland versus a measley 1.1% from

Coca-Cola.

In 2008 as a whole, with a powerful combination of the summer TV ad, “If”, the glasspromotion and the repeat of the well-loved Snowman ad at Christmas, achieved anoverall brand value growth of 8% versus a target of 4%10 in a market in which valuewas absolutely flat11. Moreover, AG Barr achieved their highest ever market share ofthe carbonates market12.

Conclusion

Despite extremely tough market conditions and particularly dismal weather during the

crucial summer sales period, IRN-BRU managed to enhance its fortunes in Scotland

due to its powerful “If” TV advertising.

This ad, a strategic and creative departure from preceding summer campaigns,

captured the public's imagination and strengthened their connection with the brand.

10 AG Barr Internal sales11 AC Nielsen Total GB Total Flavoured carbonates MAT to 27/12/08 vs 29/12/0712 Nielsen Scantrack data, December 2008

- 17 -