Strongbow eyes fruity cider spin-off with Zest trademark

Strongbow has underlined its goal to recruit a “new generation of cider drinkers” with a recent trademark application.

It has applied to register the name ‘Strongbow Zest’ with the Intellectual Property Office under class 33, covering cider – pointing to the development of a citrus-infused variant.

A Strongbow spokeswoman said it had “no plans at the moment”. However, the trademark activity follows a “vibrant” redesign and the launch of another fruity cider variant, Strongbow Tropical, in March.

Backed by a £20m spend, the makeover aimed to recruit “new cider and Strongbow drinkers” and engage existing shoppers, with more launches in the pipeline, said Rachel Holms, cider brand director at Strongbow owner Heineken UK.

It comes as value sales of Strongbow fell by 12.1% to £255.5m in the year to 22 April 2023, according to NIQ data.

The cider brand has recently focused its efforts on bolstering its 4% abv Ultra cider to turn around sales declines. Having only launched in March 2022, Ultra Dark Fruit is already worth £5.2m in retail.

“We have seen huge success following this launch as Ultra has brought a younger and more affluent shopper into cider,” says Alexander Wilson, category & commercial strategy director at Strongbow owner Heineken.

Strongbow recently bolstered the Ultra range with an Apple variant.