AG Barr gives classic range repackaging task to Stand

AG Barr has appointed Glasgow-based design agency Stand to revamp the packaging for its Barr Soft Drinks classic flavours range, a business worth &£20m.

The 16 flavoured drinks, including Cola, Ginger Beer, Lemonade, American Cream Soda and Limeade, are sold in returnable glass bottles, which retail at 80p but earn the consumer 20p per bottle when returned to the shop where it was purchased.

This serves as the focus of a new outdoor marketing campaign which uses the strapline “Scotland raise your glass”. The campaign has no end date planned and will run alongside all other AG Barr advertising.

Billboards and posters on the side of AG Barr’s bottle delivery trucks aim to evoke consumers’ childhood memories and also make them feel good about benefiting the environment by recycling.

Stand won the business of refreshing the packaging after a pitch against seven other design agencies. The agency worked with Leithal Thinking, the strategic planning arm of the Leith Agency on its proposal, and will continue the partnership throughout the project.

The brief is to produce a design that retains the history of the brand while delivering improved differentiation across the variants and maximising “shelf standout”, according to AG Barr commercial director Jonathan Kemp.

AG Barr is close to naming a replacement for marketing manager Nigel Dugdale, who left earlier this year. Dugdale’s replacement will report to Kemp.

Barr Soft Drinks recently purchased leading Scottish water brand Strathmore Spring Water, the second water brand in its portfolio after Findlays Natural Mineral Water.