Soft drinks companies overtook booze brands on traditional advertising spend last year, The Grocer’s latest annual advertising report reveals this week.
Led by Coca-Cola, non-alcoholic brands splashed out a total of £100.1m on TV, print, radio, outdoor and cinema advertising in 2016, bagging them a 6.6% share of total fmcg spend.
The ramp-up meant the category leapfrogged booze, nudging ahead on spend by a narrow margin of £1.7m as alcohol brands reduced their total budget for non-digital marketing by 8.6% to £98.4m. Confectionery maintained its position as the biggest spender.
The switch comes as soft drinks brands have embarked on heavy innovation ahead of next year’s sugar tax, rolling out new low-calorie options and reformulating existing products to suit consumers’ needs.
Coca-Cola, for example, spent almost £11m on Coca-Cola Zero Sugar in traditional channels - a 152.4% rise on its predecessor, Coke Zero. At the same time, spend on full-sugar Coke Classic fell 24.7% to £11.1m, causing it to plunge from the top of the 100 biggest spenders list to number 10.
“As part of our work to encourage more people to try Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, we’re making a significant investment to raise awareness,” said Aedamar Howlett, marketing director at Coca-Cola Great Britain & Ireland.
Smaller soft drinks brands were also focusing on “healthy, natural and refreshing” products to charm viewers and listeners, according to Penny Butler, international sales manager at Radnor Hills, who added soft drinks brands had “proven success” with traditional marketing.
Alcohol’s slowdown was most likely the result of a move to targeted messaging for which digital was “a more considered platform”, said David Cunningham, programme director at There’s a Beer for That.
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