Britvic’s CMO on using social to promote Robinsons and Tango

The soft drinks giant is launching campaigns for both its Robinsons and Tango brands this summer in an effort to “drive value to the category” and address the challenges faced by the industry according to CMO Matt Barwell.

“One of the big difficulties you see in many sectors is deflation,” Barwell told Marketing Week.

“Continuing to drive value as well as volume is a challenge we’re all facing as marketers.”

Promoting Robinsons ‘quintessentially British’ roots

Britvic is launching a multi-channel campaign titled “80 Years at Wimbledon” to promote its Robinsons brand’s 80^th year of partnership with Wimbledon, the second longest running sports partnership in history according to Barwell.

“The relationship between Robinsons and Wimbledon is quintessentially British,” he said. “Robinsons Barley Water was born in the changing rooms at Wimbledon when a sales rep combined Robinsons crystals with lemon juice, sugar and water, and it has been drunk there ever since.”

While the campaign rolled out with a TV ad and will be promoted by limited edition packs, in-store activity and PR starting on 29 June, Britvic will focus on digital and social media, working closely with Wimbledon’s digital team.

Tomorrow it will launch “The Great Robinsons Ball Hunt” which will see it hide giant tennis balls across the country and invite consumers to find them for a chance to win prizes.

Former player Tim Henman on the Robinson’s Twitter page will share clues as to the whereabouts of the balls.

“There’s an opportunity for us to use social and digital channels to make the property more accessible and slightly younger than perhaps it has been in the past,” Barwell said.

He added that the company sees this as a “big program and significant investment”.

“At times it has sat on the side lines, but it’s much more integrated and central to our marketing plan now,” he added.

The campaign is also an effort to promote Britvic’s Robinsons Squash’d variant and drive value to the squash category following the launch of its £10m “Play Thirsty” brand campaign in April, which focused around hydrating families.

“We haven’t driven the opportunity to have the squash category be seen as a bigger, broader opportunity to bring flavour to water,” Barwell said.

“Wimbledon is an opportunity to really deliver those objectives and an obvious manifestation of ‘Play Thirsty’.”

Making Tango ‘live on social’ through consistent marketing

Meanwhile, after launching the first ad in two years for its Tango brand in May, Britvic has launched another TV spot for the soft drink in an effort to “bring the work back to the product”.

The “5 Stages of Tang” commercial features “superfan” Rodney Cloomb and takes viewers through each of the stages of the drink, including the Nose Tang and Sting Tang, highlighting the brand’s smell, sting, and smooth taste.

The campaign will also include updated packaging in an effort to more “clearly depict” the drink’s fruit taste.

“When it was originally conceived it was about the product, the orange hit and the taste you got,” Barwell said. “Over the years the campaign has moved away a bit from that and become more about the wacky, creative expression of that idea.”

He said the brand wanted to “pull it back to the product” with the new ad, but do so in a way that’s “relevant in the world we’re now operating”.

“We wanted a campaign that could live on social and become viral,” he said.

A series of TV spots and online content will continue to roll out over the summer as the brand looks to drive more consistent support to Tango.

“Tango is such a loved brand and there’s still a massive affection or it,” Barwell said.

“For older consumers that have grown up with it it’s there and latent, but we haven’t had enough consistent support behind the brand.”