British strawberries, Ariel and Robinsons all feature in space promotions in our latest survey, which can only signify one thing - Wimbledon has started.

Robinsons Fruit & Barley squashes were on promotion in all five retailers at the weekend using a combination of gondola ends, stacks, free-standing-display-units and ladder racks for extra space. A variety of promotional mechanics were used, including x-for-y, save and buy-one-get-one-free.

The tie-in continues to be the 'Winbledon' strapline, which started in 2006, where consumers can text to win their children the chance to play on centre court.

Ariel was only on offer in Morrisons and Sainsbury's - using the save mechanic. There was no sign however of a re-run of last year's 'Champ Whites' rebranding, though the brand continues its relationship with the event.

While Robinsons and Ariel are probably the best-known grocery sponsors of Wimbledon, other branded suppliers include Nescafé, Buxton, Häagen-Dazs and Lanson. Blossom Hill and Ambre Solaire are two new suppliers for 2007.

Nescafé, Häagen-Dazs, Blossom Hill and Ambre Solaire had featured promotional space in all five retailers and took advantage of the Wimbledon Championship to boost consumer awareness of their brands.

As far as overall branded activity goes, Nestlé has maintained its first place in the top-five branded chart for promotional activity, with 32% of featured space at the weekend - an increase of three base points from 2006.

This has kept Cadbury in second place - 14 base points behind Nestlé with 18%. Kellogg's and Wall's shared third place with 17% of activity and McVities took fifth place with 16%.

For the year to date, Nestlé is in the lead - 11 base points ahead of McVities and Kellogg's - both with 19%. Cadbury has fallen from its second-place spot in 2006 to fourth with 18%. Birds Eye sits in fifth place with 14% - dropping three base points from its third place in 2006.

Topics