Supply issues fail to stall Magners ad push

Magners Irish Cider is launching a new UK national advertising campaign in a month’s time – despite being unable to supply existing demand (MW September 14).

Magners marketing director Maurice Breen last week admitted "we do have capacity constraints at our plant in Clonmel and our ability to supply the off-trade is already limited". Magners’ owner, Irish drinks group C&C, is now investing Û250m (£167.7m) in quadrupling production facilities at its Clonmel site, but the brand is likely to be in short supply in the run up to Christmas, Breen acknowledges.

Magners launched in London in spring 2005 and since then has achieved a 29% volume share of the cider market in Great Britain and 39% in London (Nielsen, July 2006). In the first half of this year, Magners saw a UK sales increase of 250%.

The new ad campaign, which breaks on October 21, includes a 30 second television spot showing the harvesting of apples in an autumnal-looking orchard and then drinkers enjoying Magners in a pub, with The Strangelove’s "Night Time" as the backing track. It will run aross ITV, Channel 4 and Five, and will be supported by an outdoor campaign with harvest-themed posters, radio advertising, and special one-off events such as a take-over of London’s biggest underground station, Waterloo, with corridor friezes of autumn orchard scenes.

Magners is credited with revitalising a previously dormant cider sector with its "over ice" proposition.