Britvic plans marketing boost to revitalise Tango

Britvic will ramp up marketing behind its once iconic Tango brand next year in a bid to win back its dominant position in the sales charts.

Britvic marketing director Simon Stewart says that it is the right time to refocus on the brand given that the backlash against sugary drinks is subsiding, and the cola market is resurgent.

He plans to revitalise the brand with a boost in marketing spend and a new digital-led advertising campaign.
Consumers, says Stewart, are now taking a more balanced approach to diet.

Stewart is looking at brand plans for the next year and these are expected to include increasing marketing spend.

He says: “We are going through the planning [for all our brands] at the moment, but my own personal thought is that Tango is really important to us and will continue to be important to us. So therefore we need to focus our energies on it.”

Last year, Britvic overhauled the packaging and reformulated the range, removing artificial colours and flavours. It also added a new citrus variant.

The change in recipe was supported by a campaign, created by CHI & Partners, which included print and outdoor. The ads ran in magazines, among them Closer, Heat and OK!.

However, Stewart says he is looking to cut the spend on periodicals and instead shift it to online.

He adds: “A magazine such as Kerrang! for Tango would be potentially fantastic. I think there’s some really niche media that you can get good returns from.

“Over time – this is a longer term view – I think Tango will get back closer to where it was in the market. I can see a scenario where fruit carbonates could have quite a reasonable time in the next 12 to 18 months.”

The advertising account for Tango was last month moved out of CHI to Bartle Bogle Hegarty as part of a realignment of Britvic’s agency roster.