Old Jamaica has launched a campaign appearing to herald the end of the ginger beer brand.
It has this month rolled out OOH adverts and a social media campaign inviting consumers to say “farewell Old Jamaica”.
A video on the brand’s social media channels purports to show an Old Jamaica shelf-stacker delivering the news of the brand’s “retirement”.
Other posts, meanwhile, call on shoppers to make the most of the drink whilst they can, with a strapline reading “enjoy it before it’s gone”.
It is not clear why the brand is to be retired, or when the drink will cease to be available in its current form. The Grocer has approached brand owner Beliv Company and UK manufacturer Refresco for comment.
Fans of the brand were aghast at the news of the brand’s apparent impending demise. Commenting on Instagram, one wrote: “You can’t take my ginger beer away from me please.”
Others postulated the campaign could be a precursor to a recipe change. Old Jamaica was among many soft drinks reformulated in the wake of the soft drinks industry levy introduced in 2018.
One user on Instagram commented: “Hopefully this is just interaction bait, and that you’re just going back to the original recipe!”
The ‘Farewell Old Jamaica’ campaign would “celebrate the 34-year-old iconic ginger beer and its legacy before it bids an ‘au revoir’, going out in a tongue in cheek blaze of glory,” said creative agency Samy Alliance.
“We wanted to give Old Jamaica’s loyal customers one last chance to say goodbye, to take that final sip, and see the can ride off into the sunset,” said Samy Alliance campaign lead Hernán Cerdeiro.
Old Jamaica was “not whispering goodbye in silence” and was instead launching “the world’s first farewell campaign for a brand”, according to Alfonso Haces, senior global marketing head at Beliv Company.
Old Jamaica was first launched in the UK in 1988 and remains widely stocked across grocery multiples and convenience outlets. Its sales dipped by 0.4% to £11.3m last year, on volumes down 19.1% [NIQ 9 September 2023].
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