Britvic in 14m Tango relaunch
Britvic Soft Drinks is relaunching its Tango brand and introducing a new tropical flavour after research showed a ten per cent slump in can sales.
The relaunch, backed by a 9m advertising campaign as part of a 13.8m marketing investment, comes after a disappointing year for Tango. According to Information Resources figures obtained by Marketing Week, sales of Tango in cans last year (excluding pubs and restaurants) were down by 10.6 per cent by value on 1997, while bottle sales were down by 3.7 per cent.
However, according to Nielsen figures, Tango had 5.5 per cent of the total non-mixer carbonates by value for 1998 (excluding pubs and restaurants), making a drop of only 0.3 per cent on 1997.
Tango is still the market leader in the fruit carbonates category, with sales worth twice as much as its nearest rival, Coca-Cola’s Lilt (Information Resources). The new Tango tropical flavour – a combination of pineapple and grapefruit – will be in direct competition with Lilt.
New-look packaging will be introduced across the Tango range. Britvic is also considering axing Tango’s two-litre bottles of blackcurrant flavour. A greater emphasis will be placed on the Diet Tango range, which will get its own ads for the first time this May.
Diet cola represents 48.6 per cent of total cola sales, whereas diet fruit carbonates account for only 21.2 per cent of the total fruit carbonates category, according to Nielsen’s August figures.
Andrew Marsden, Britvic’s marketing director, says: “We will be doubling the level of investment in the Tango brand. In the past, we advertised individual flavours; now we will advertise Tango the regular brand, and Tango the diet brand.”
The campaign, which is due to break in April, is being created by HHCL & Partners.
