Sale of Panda Pops brand puts Hall & Woodhouse marketing jobs in jeopardy

Independent brewer Hall & Woodhouse is slashing its sales and marketing team by up to 30 jobs, following the sale of its Panda Pops soft drinks brand to Nichols.

The Dorset-based brewer has gone into consultation over 30 positions, following the &£5.5m sale of its children’s drinks portfolio.

Hall & Woodhouse now intends to focus on its Badger beer brands and its pub estate. It outsourced the manufacturing of Panda Pops last year. The company has restructured its senior management and promoted group strategic analyst David French to the new position of group head of brands, with responsibility for marketing.

Panda Pops marketing manager Graham Jacobs is believed to be transferring to Nichols. The position of ales brands marketing manager, held by Rick Payne, is one of those under review.

Nichols already owns the Vimto and Sunkist soft drinks brands and the acquisition could see a change of advertising agency for Panda Pops. The brand is marketed by McCann Erickson Bristol, while Nichols uses Cheetham Bell JWT for its drinks.

Panda Pops were launched as a budget range of fizzy children’s drinks 30 years ago, although the portfolio now includes still fruit juices, Simpsons-branded drinks and spring water. Past on-pack promotional tie-ups have included instant-win offers for Lord of The Rings film merchandise.

Nichols sold its food service business last year in order to focus purely on soft drinks.