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Magners looks for help from history

Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Branwell Johnson, Latest reporters' blogs May 16th, 2008 by Branwell Johnson

Magners, the cider brand that is seeing its profits evaporate as quickly as the ice in one of its pints, is about to play the heritage card in its advertising.

So far, Magners has mainly focused on good looking couples standing under falling blossom, or some such imagery, to help sell its alcoholic apple juice. And this worked for a while, especially when the weather was hot.

But now the brand is going down the well-trodden path of presenting the back story of its brewing history. It’s a road we all know well from time spent stuck on tube stations reading the Jack Daniels ads and the strategy has also been used by Guinness and countless whisky brands

Magners will tell us of two orchard workers Michael O’Donnell and Thomas White. Let’s hope they are stout yeoman true and not just some blarney dreamt up by the marketing department.

The brand now faces stiff competetion from resurgent cider names more resonant on the mainland, such as Bulmers. Its point of difference has been eroded and it now seems more popular with women than men, based on personal observation. I guess the question is whether these messages regarding craft and artisanship are as effective  with a younger demographic as they once were – or would a price promotion better drive sales?

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