Kopparberg readies £4m marketing campaign

Kopparberg is teaming up with music platforms Spotify and Last.fm and launching its “biggest” ever advertising campaign as it looks to bolster its presence in the fast-growing UK cider market.

Kopparberg

The £4m ‘ün-established since 1882’ campaign launches tomorrow (15 May) and aims to bolster the brand’s ties to music and the creative arts.

A TV spot, which premiered on the brewer’s Facebook page earlier today, will front the campaign and aims to present a more contemporary take on popular Swedish culture references. For example, the ad features an Abba tribute band performing in an empty hall juxtaposed with a secret music gig in a forest.

The brewer is supporting the campaign with its Kopparberg Festival Player, a Facebook app developed in partnership with Spotify and Last.fm. Users will be able to create playlists around festivals this summer using the app, which marks the first time that both music platforms have collaborated on a project together.

Kopparberg will also run promotions at over 15 festivals across the UK this year, including a renewed tie-up with the Warehouse Project as well as sponsoring stages at Field Day, Apple Cart and Rockness.

Additionally, the brand will host a series of workshops, exhibitions and experiential events later in the year.

Davin Nugent, UK managing director at Kopparberg, says the campaign aims to play up the brand’s links to the creative arts as the brand looks to differentiate itself from rivals Magners and Bulmers, which have both aligned their products closer to music in recent years.

He adds: “We only started above-the-activity around the brand three years ago. Before that it was trade promotions. We haven’t got the budget to run off-trade promotions or massive advertising campaigns so we’ve developed a strategy to get cut-through with opinion formers, people we feel are going to go out there and help promote the brand.

“We were the first cider brand in the UK to form links with music. Now others are doing it we’re having to maintain our ties but also look at other avenues to extend the brand to.

The brewer has announced plans to produce a range of bespoke furniture for bars at locations including London, Leeds, Birmingham, Scotland and Manchester.

Kopparberg’s latest campaign is part of a wider £10m marketing plan in the UK to boost its presence in the UK cider category, which saw sales rise from £1.7bn to £2.4bn between 2006 and 2011, according to Mintel.

The campaign was developed by RKCR/Y&R and media planning and buying agency Arena Media.

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