Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRS) is giving away £5,000 cash to 12 retailers, for a total of £60,000, from now until the end of September as part of a new competition rewarding the independent channel.

The multi-brand activation is designed to encourage independent retailers to buy Lucozade Energy, Lucozade Sport and Ribena stock via wholesale depots this summer. The cash competition will be available across price-marked stock of LRS’ best-selling SKUs.

Retailers just have to visit www.lrsuntory.com/win and enter the details printed on promotional shrink-wrap of participating SKUs for a chance to win.

Lauren Maddocks, Shopper Marketing Manager at Lucozade Ribena Suntory, comments: “We’re really excited to launch this LRS-first competition and give something back to our loyal independent retail customers. On average, an independent store already generates in excess of £4,400 worth of sales through our portfolio of leading brands each year, but we wanted to reward retailers with an extra cash boost. With the hottest months of the year coming up retailers should stock up now to ensure their chillers are summer-ready, not to mention the chance to win a big cash prize!”

The competition began last week and runs until September 23^rd.

Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRS) is one of the leading soft drinks businesses in the UK and Ireland. LRS was formed in 2014, and is part of Suntory Beverage & Food Europe. Its brand portfolio includes Lucozade Energy, Lucozade Sport, Fitwater, Ribena, Orangina and True Nopal cactus water.

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As part of the latest version of its Stay Smooth campaign, Whyte & Mackay whisky is taking a “wry and witty look at the real folk of both Glasgow and Edinburgh” that have helped shape the brand’s smooth taste and character, and is again working with award-winning Scottish photographer, David Boni.

The campaign, which launched earlier this month, sees the creation of a series of quirky and fun posters of real people and a coffee-table magazine, which will be distributed on streets and in key bars across both cities, plus new POS kits and promotional scratch cards for the on trade. There is also an instant win competition with 5,000 free drams as prizes and a text to win competition with the star prize of the chance for one fan to create their own whisky.

The magazine and accompanying poster campaign feature innovative AR technology, bringing to life four of the featured characters.  The campaign will also see a number of giant static mirrors located in selected bars and prime outdoor street spots in each city, providing people with a glimpse of their own reflection and reminding them to ‘Stay Smooth’. Whyte & Mackay is promoting the activity via social media including Twitter.

Whyte & Mackay mirrors and the accompanying poster campaign will be running in city centre locations, with the magazines and on-trade promotion kits available in nearly 100 bars across Glasgow and Edinburgh.

To enter the competition, people have to buy a Whyte & Mackay at a participating outlet and text in to tell the brand what makes them Surprisingly Smooth in 10 words or less. The most original entry, as judged by Whyte & Mackay, will win.

The star prize includes return train travel to Glasgow from any UK mainland railway station for two people, one night’s accommodation, £250 spending money and a whisky blending and tasting session.

For the ‘instant Win’ promotion, people will get scratchcards when they buy a whisky at participating venues – the prizes come in the form of vouchers to be redeemed for a single measure of Whyte & Mackay Scotch Whisky.

The Scotch whisky brand also announced earlier this month that it will be the new headline sponsor of Glasgow’s International Comedy Festival for 2018. The long-running festival will from next year be known as the Whyte & Mackay Glasgow International Comedy Festival. Big names from the stand-up comedy world including David Baddiel, Bridget Christie, Des Clarke, Tommy Tiernan, Katherine Ryan and Rob Delaney have already been signed up to feature in 2018.

Finally, Whyte & Mackay is also running a trade promotion offering retailers or bar owners who buy any mix of three cases of brands including Claymore, Vladivar, Whyte & Mackay, Glayva, Tamnavulin or Jura in one transaction the chance to enter a competition to win a Peugeot van and £500 of Whyte & Mackay stock. At least two of the cases must be of price marked packs. The trade promotion is running until the end of January 2018 at participating cash & carry depots.

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UK tea brand Tetley has introduced an attention-grabbing holographic version of brand character Gaffer, who is appearing in selected Cash & Carry and wholesalers.

Tetley’s new Virtual Gaffer will be sited in selected cash & carry outlets initially, but the company is planning to deploy them in supermarkets in the future. The new assistant uses the latest in technology to attract buyers and point them to the offers to be found in the tea aisle.

The animated display unit has a footprint of just 50cm2 which makes it suitable to place in a variety of locations; but, at 1.5m, with Gaffer’s animation accounting for nearly half of this, it has high impact.

Andrew Pearl, director of customer and shopper marketing for Tetley, says: “The development is part of our programme to create a sense of theatre at point of purchase and stimulate interest in tea. It’s a really engaging promotional tool – an in-built sensor tells Gaffer when he is on his own so he can call out to passers-by to get them to come over and look at the current tea offers he has on his iPad. A number of different scripts have been developed for him and we can manage these remotely to ensure that he is as up to the minute as possible.”

Pearl adds that the technology “has been proven to increase unit sales by 75% and dwell times by 50%, so when you add to this the appeal and recognition that Gaffer has, you get a powerful marketing tool.”

The technology for the Gaffer Virtual Assistant has been developed by customer journey specialist Tensator Group and the graphics by Tetley’s ad agency Creature.

Tensator group marketing manager Rebecca Fennell observes: “Our research shows that many of us are becoming de-sensitised to more traditional forms of marketing, so it’s great to see Tetley embracing such an innovative approach.

Tetley’s investment in Virtual Gaffer forms part of a wider programme of activity in cash & carry and retail environments to stimulate growth in the tea market.”

Tetley is developing a number of initiatives to enhance shopper engagement with tea and is looking to work with a number of customers on specific activities in the coming year.

This is not the first time Tetley has worked with Tensator. Two years ago, the tea brand introduced Virtual Assistants to promote tea at a number of Co-Op stores in Kuwait. The female assistants promoted the brand by communicating the benefits of Tetley’s drawstring teabags to Kuwaiti shoppers.

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