Euro launches contradict Scott rebranding strategy

Scott Paper’s UK arm is launching another product under the Andrex brand name, despite

its US parent declaring that all products must be rebranded under the Scott name (MW May 19).

Scott will invest 6m over the next six months in the pan-European launch of two new kitchen towel ranges. Just over half of the spend will go on a TV ad campaign for Andrex Ultra, which breaks on July 29. The product is already available in the UK, but is now being launched across Europe. The rest will be spent supporting the launch of Andrex Clean.

Both launches are at odds with an announcement by the US parent company lastmonth (MW May 19) which said products were to be branded under the name Scott, rather than individual country brand names.

“We had been planning this launch for some time,” says Scott European category manager Steve Lyons. “Andrex is an incredibly strong name and we are trying not to change all product names at the same time.”

Although the US parent has stated publicly that the brand change will go ahead worldwide, the UK company appears to be undecided whether the Andrex name will be dropped.

“This is something that has been discussed, but there has been no final decision,” says Lyons.