Strongbow Advertising Campaign

Executive Summary

The UK market for alcoholic beverages is currently experiencing a slow-down, however contrary to the general market trend, the sub-market for Low alcohol ciders is registering an impressive turn of growth. Within the last eight years, preferences for cider and attendant sales volumes have increased as consumer stereotypes of the beverage as a drink for women have waned. Accordingly the cider market is on a growth trajectory; within the last three years alone the market has increased by 3%in sales volume and 5% in sales value. Research shows that cider now constitutes 38.3% of the alcohol beverage market in the UK.

Strongbow, a traditional British brand of apple cider which pioneered the change in consumer perceptions towards cider, remains the clear market leader in this alcohol beverage category. Strongbow currently holds 21.8% of the cider market share followed By competing brands, Magners with 8.8% and Stella with 6.4%. As the market for ciders expands though, more and more newer brands of cider are successfully penetrating the market and Strongbow's lead has narrowed from a dominant market share of 52% in May 2009 to 24.3% in 2010 and then its current value of 21.8%.

Strongbow's advertising over the years has been very successful in connecting with its specific target market of 35-60year olds in the C2, D social class (mostly skilled workers, artisans and labourers). With the current spate of competition in the burgeoning market, it is imperative that Strongbow seeks other poles/market segment in order to expand its reach among alcohol consuming men and increase market share thereby restoring significant dominance of the cider market and increasing sales volume enormously.

In line with this opportunity, this document by our agency, Loves ads, proposes a subtle repositioning campaign dubbed the 'Strongbow Real man' campaign with a view to including a new market segment; young men of 21-34years and of a slightly higher social class; C1,C2,D into the Strongbow family. The campaign will connect with the old as well as the new target market segment. It will position drinking Strongbow as a 'coming of age ritual for all real men' and also communicate the idea that 'everyday is a battle and real men are knights who conquer on the battlefield and celebrate with Strongbow afterwards'.

The campaign will utilize TV, OOH (buses, trains, bill-boards) and Press (The Sun, The Daily Mirror, The Metro and Evening Standard) as media of choice.

Prior, during and after the campaign evaluation activities such as focus groups will be carried out to predict and measure the success of the campaign.

It is projected that the 'Strongbow Real Man' campaign will aid Strongbow to recoup the 2.5% market share lost in 2011 and further increase market share by 7.5% leading to an increase in market share of over 10% and culminating in an overall market share of 30%.

Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 0

I. INTRODUCTION 2

AGENCY-ABOUT US 2

II. CLIENT BRIEF 4

The Product: 4

BACKGROUND 5

PREVIOUS ADVERTISING 6

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION 7

OPPORTUNITES 7

CURRENT BRAND WHEEL 7

STRONGBOW CIDER BRAND WHEEL 7

CURRENT TARGET 8

UNIQUE SELLING POINT 8

CURRENT POSITIONING STATEMENT 8

III. CREATIVE STRATEGY 9

WHERE ARE WE GOING? 9

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO FOR THE BRAND? 9

WHAT WILL WE CHANGE? 9

OGSM 10

STRONGBOW CIDER REPOSITIONED BRAND WHEEL 10

NEW TARGET 11

NEW USP: 11

NEW POSITIONING STATEMENT 11

IV. CREATIVE BRIEF 12

CREATIVE SOLUTIONS 12

V. MEDIA 18

TV 18

PRESS 19

OUT OF HOME ADVERTISING (OOH) 21

SOCIAL MEDIA 21

MEDIA PLAN 21

VI. EVALUATION 23

PROJECTED RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI) 23

REFERENCES 24

APPENDIX 26

Word Count: 4954

I. Introduction

Advertising is an essential marketing tool that most companies employ because it creates consumer awareness of the firm's product/service offering thereby generating demand and increasing sales which ultimately lead to profit. Effective advertising must be tailored to resonate with the target market segment (of the brand/product/service being offered). The message communicated to the consumer (about the product) must therefore be catchy, exciting, simple and easy to understand (Exforsys Inc., 2009).

Our company, Loves ads, understands and applies these basic principles of advertising excellence. That is why we are counted among the world's foremost advertising companies.

This report proposes the activation of a 6-month advertising campaign for Strongbow Cider in the UK. The campaign is aimed at winning over a newer, younger demographic of alcoholic beverage consumers and ultimately increasing market share for our client, Strongbow.

The report details how we will attain this objective via our Strongbow 'real man' campaign.

Agency-About us

Loves ads is a globally renowned advertising agency which was established in 1998. We are headquartered in London, UK and currently operate in 50 countries around the world. In the previous year 2011, Loves ads generated revenue of up to 1.1 billion GBP leading to a profit of 110 million GBP.

Loves ads' major proficiencies are:

* Strategic Brand Management

* Marketing Communications Research

* Media Buying

* Strategic