C&C Group has launched a major marketing campaign for Tennent’s lager in a bid to turn around the brand’s flagging retail sales.
Sales of Tennent’s flagship namesake lager have fallen by 8.3% to £69.3m, while volumes dipped 10.8%, to 30.7 million litres [NIQ 52 w/e 22 April 2023].
This has prompted owner C&C Group to embark on its biggest marketing drive for the brand in eight years.
The new Tennent’s brand platform, ‘Raised in Scotland’, features an evolved visual identity and is underpinned by a TV spot, on and off-trade activity and a billboard campaign celebrating the brand’s Scottish identity.
Paul Menzies, C&C Group’s GB brand and marketing director for beer, acknowledged Tennent’s had faced challenges, most notably in Scotland due to minimum unit pricing.
“Increasingly we found ourselves competing for repertoire, for space, for shoppers with premium brands like Corona, Peroni and even Innis & Gunn in Scotland,” he said. “So the intention of what we’re doing now is … just a slight nod towards the premiumising trend and also to an extent moderating trends. Adding Tennent’s Light and Tennent’s Zero to the range has been part of that.”
Menzies said “sustainability and product quality cues” were at the heart of the rebrand for Tennent’s, which features an enriched yellow colour palette, a barley motif and enlarged word mark to help the brand stand out on shelf.
The ‘Raised in Scotland’ campaign kicks off with an out-of-home push in the form of a a billboard campaign designed by creative agency John Doe. The artwork celebrates Tennent’s Scottish heritage through use of the word ‘Oooft’ – an expression frequently used in the country to communicate something pleasing or unusual.
The out-of-home campaign ties in with a 30-second TV spot featuring former Scotland footballer James McFadden and Rachel Malcolm, the women’s rugby national team captain.
Menzies said C&C Group would up the ante of its at-home advertising ahead of September’s Rugby World Cup. Tennent’s is the sponsor of Scotland’s Rugby Union.
The brand is also to give away 6,000 ‘Raised In Scotland’ branded glasses in the off-trade throughout August and September. The promotion will be available in selected Tesco stores in Scotland until 7 August and then from selected Co-op stores across central Scotland from the 16 August until 6 September.
Shoppers can claim their branded glassware by scanning a QR on shelf talkers in participating stores.
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