Müller Corner tops our ranking of dairy's biggest advertisers

This article is part of our digital feature on dairy.

Dairy’s 10 biggest advertisers have whipped up an additional 19.5% spend on traditional ad space, with a combined outlay of £65m [Ebiquity 52w/e 30 March 2015].

While seven of the 10 increased their spending, notable declines came from Müller Corner and Flora. Nevertheless, Müller Corner is still the sector’s biggest spender, having forked out £10.7m, mostly on TV ads starring Nicole Scherzinger (see below). 

Flora, meanwhile, has  splashed out £9.3m in support of NPD Gold from Flora and Flora Pro Activ. “Flora Pro.Activ has invested over £2.5m so far this year into its on-going ‘It Takes a Village’ marketing campaign – a nationwide challenge encouraging Brits to lower their cholesterol,” says Sarah Jackson, brand manager for Flora at Unilever UK.

Running across TV, radio, PR, digital and social, the campaign has helped maintain brand penetration at 8% since December 2014, she claims, and has helped drive trial. “These results show that if you have a clear proposition and strong communication you can drive trial for your brand,” Jackson adds.

Lurpak, meanwhile, doubled its ad spend to £4.7m. “It went predominantly into the launch of the cooks range, the Adventure Awaits campaign and there was quite significant in-store investment around trying to interrupt the shopper and educate the consumer on fixture, predominantly it was put behind innovation,” says Arla business unit director Mike Walker.

The brand will continue to support innovation as well as its spreadable campaign Go Freestyle, but Walker insists “we’ll have a continued investment and campaign behind what’s always been for Lurpak a phenomenally successful and consistent creative idea around Good Food Deserves Lurpak.”

Topping Lurpak for ad spend growth, Bertolli saw a staggering 1,055.7% increase as it ramped up spending to support NPD Bertolli with Butter. “The TV campaign to support new Bertolli with Butter has proven to be hugely successful and will continue to receive airtime throughout 2015, with a media spend of £3.75 million,” says Rachel Chambers, marketing manager for Bertolli at Unilever UK.

Here’s our pick of three of the most significant soft drinks ads on TV from the past year:

Lurpak

At first glance, Lurpak’s ad looks like a movie trailer – it utilises some classic shots and the iconic music from Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey to create arguably the most dramatic grocery ad of the year. The £10m campaign highlights the brands versatility (in terms of uses and formats) and is directly aimed at foodies looking for ‘new food adventures’.

The baking and mists products generated the highest rate of sales, according to Mike Walker, business unit director at Arla, who says there’s still a challenge to develop understanding around liquid and clarified variants.

Philadelphia

Everybody’s jumping on the breakfast band wagon as brands look to tap into new occasions. The cream cheese bagel may be a long-standing American breakfast favourite, but Philadelphia is out to prove it is far more versatile as a breakfast component with its latest campaign Love Breakfast; Love Philadelphia.

The ad showcases a range of recipe ideas from heart-shaped toast with Philly and jam to English muffins with fruit and nuts.

Müllerlight

Opa! Müllerlight is really driving home the Greek theme in its Fruitopolis ad, with the not-so-subtle Greek music, Greek restaurant and even a spot of plate smashing. All this to highlight the creamy Greek-style yoghurt with strawberry compote, not forgetting to mention the crucial selling point that it’s fat free.

The slight increase in ad spend certainly paid off as value sales for Müllerlight’s increased 5.5% on volumes up 4.3% [IRI w/e 28 February 2015].

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