Early June saw Kopparberg launch its first football themed campaign in the UK as it attempted to leverage public interest in Euro 2012.
The cider brand kicked-off its tactical push ahead of the England vs Sweden Euro 2012 match on 15 June by offering UK pubs and clubs across ‘Swengland’ packs.
These contain comedy ‘brigadier’ and ‘blonde’ moustaches to be worn by England and Sweden fans respectively, as well as the flags of both countries.
The initiative revolves around Kopparberg’s Facebook page which offers publicans and fans that chance to sign up and receive the brand pack before the match.
The objective is not just to create on-premises branded parties up and down the country, but also to boost the brand’s online interactions.
Kopparberg has already doubled its Facebook fan base to 120,000 in the first half of the year and hopes that this initiative, created by PR agency Margaret, will continue the growth trend.
While Kopparberg’s marketing head Rob Calder claims that the move does not signal an attempt to become a ‘football brand’, it nevertheless marks something of a change of direction for a brand that has previously focused more effort and budget on building ties with the music and arts sectors.
‘We’re not trying to be something that we’re not. We’re more focused on bringing together fans from both sides and having a good atmosphere around the match,’ says Calder. ‘Rather than support either England or Sweden the brand decided to combine the two countries in a tongue-in-cheek way that’s in keeping with our ‘Un-established since 1882’ marketing strategy.”
It certainly adds to the brand’s rising profile and presence in the UK cider sector. In May Kopparberg it launched its largest ever ad campaign: a £4m initiative led by a TV spot presenting a more contemporary take on popular Swedish culture references.
This was supported by the Kopparberg Festival Player, a Facebook app developed in partnership with Spotify and Last.fm that enabled users to create playlists around festivals this summer.
Kopparberg is running promotions, workshops, exhibitions and experiential events at more than 15 festivals across the UK this year, including a renewed tie-up with the Warehouse Project as well as sponsoring stages at Field Day, Apple Cart and Rockness.
Comment:
This is one of several UK Euro 2012 ambush campaigns launched to leverage interest in the tournament. From the standard supermarket retail initiatives to Paddy Power’s stunt that saw Denmark player Nicklas Bendtner show the betting brand’s logo on his underwear after scoring, to Dutch cooperative ‘The Greenery’ launching orange raspberries onto its home market to create a link to the colour of the Netherlands national football team colours and Kit-Kat’s ‘Cross Your Fingers’ augmented reality Blippar smartphone game.
Perhaps more interesting still was Nestle brand Kit-Kat’s ‘Cross Your Fingers’ campaign. To support its above-the-line work, it also ran an augmented reality initiative with smartphone app company Blippar (see http://blog.blippar.com/)
By scanning the chocolate bar’s packaging with free Blippar app users cold play the brand’s unofficial Euro 2012 table football game. Consumers were challenged to build a high score by saving as many shots as possible, with all scores being posted to the game’s league table and the top scorer winning €2,012.
The digital content is also be embedded on multipacks, point-of-sale displays and poster ads.
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