GSK to reposition Ribena with £27m marketing spend

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is planning to restore the fortunes of its Ribena brand by introducing sports-cap bottles in a bid to make the drink more attractive to adults.

At the same time, GSK is increasing its Ribena marketing spend by &£7m to &£27m this year, and Grey Worldwide has been briefed to create a new Ribena ad campaign for a summer launch.

The new packaging is believed to be between 200ml and 300ml in size and will be introduced across the Ribena range.

The strategy is believed to be in response to the decline in popularity of the 288ml Ribena cartons. Insiders have speculated that the cartons will eventually be axed, but a GSK spokeswoman claims there are no plans to axe them.

The decision to introduce a sports-cap bottle version will bring Ribena closer to GSK’s Lucozade Sport product.

According to the AC Nielsen, Ribena’s main competitor Robinson’s was ranked eighth with a value of &£186.5m at retail, up 14 per cent on the previous year. Ribena was ranked as 33rd, with a value of &£114.8m, down five per cent for the same period.

The &£27m spend will include advertising, promotions, sponsorship of The Tussauds Group and other direct marketing activity. The company spent &£2.4m on advertising the brand last year (AC Nielsen/MEAL).