Branston, the UK’s best-selling pickle brand, is to launch a UK sampling tour this month, as part of a wider marketing initiative to aimed at reinforcing the pickle brand’s positioning as ‘the perfect partner for cheese’.

The activity will amplify the success of the brand’s ‘Please The Cheese’ campaign and bring Mr. Cheddar, the down to earth hero of the TV ad, to life. At each event, Mr. Cheddar will greet consumers with samples and tap into the nation’s love affair with cheese by encouraging them to pose and upload photos on Instagram using the #PleaseTheCheese hashtag.

The tour will take place at 11 events and 12 supermarkets and comprises of 39 live activities across the UK from now until the end of the year. Key dates include Lambeth Country Show in London (21-22 July), Bristol Balloon Fiesta (9-12 August) and Bournemouth Air Festival (30 August-2 September).

At the events, consumers will be able to try different products from the Branston pickle and chutney ranges, accompanied by Cathedral City cheese and Jacob’s crackers from the Branston sampling van. With up to 5,000 samples distributed per day, Branston’s sampling activity aims to reach more than two million consumers in total and recruit a new generation of pickle lovers by reminding them of the delicious taste combination of cheese and pickle.

Branston lunchboxes, key rings and goodie bags will be handed out and consumers will also be given recipe cards, Branston dip pots and money off coupons for Branston pickle.

Nisha George, senior brand manager at brand owner Mizkan, says: “We wanted to bring this association to life in an impactful way to reconnect with our loyal customers, engage a host of new ones and to invigorate the pickle category nationwide.”

The Branston brand is owned by Mizkan Euro, the European subsidiary of Mizkan, a privately-owned Japanese business started in 1804, which is the number one Sushi seasoning supplier in the world. Mizkan is a global business with over 210 years’ experience in producing high quality products. Mizkan Euro brands include Branston Pickle, Hayward’s Pickled Vegetables, Sarson’s Vinegar and Dufrais vinegar.

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Heineken 0.0 alcohol-free lager was one of the sponsors for the first-ever Mindful Drinking Festival in mid-August.

The Mindful Drinking Festival, which took place on August 13^th, 2017 in London’s Bermondsey Square, featured a range of innovative drinks to taste and buy, talks from producers, mocktails from top mixologists, and more. The organisers say it was the first event of its kind to truly showcase the emerging no alcohol/low alcohol sector of the drinks industry.

The festival featured:

• Zero to 0.5% abv drinks; beers, wines, adult soft drinks.
• 30 stalls with innovative drinks and food.
• Talks and tastings from producers and experts.
• Non-alcoholic mocktails by leading mixologists.
• Free samples of some of the latest drinks available.

Heineken was one of the sponsors, and the company’s Master Brewer, Willem van Waesberghe (pictured), was on hand to explain more about the dedicated brewing process which is used to create Heineken 0.0’s premium flavour.

Van Waesberghe commented: “We were delighted to welcome so many fans and teach them more about Heineken 0.0. This new beer gives consumers choice for a variety of drinking occasions. It also contributes to the growing trend around the importance of responsible alcohol consumption and living a balanced, healthy lifestyle”.

Headquartered in Edinburgh, Heineken employs around 2,000 people. In addition to being Britain’s leading cider and beer business, Heineken owns around 1,049 pubs through its Star Pubs & Bars business. Its portfolio of brands includes Foster’s, Heineken, Strongbow, Desperados, Kronenbourg1664, John Smith’s, Bulmers, Amstel, Birra Moretti and Old Mout plus a full range of niche and speciality brands.

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The My Little Pony Friendship Tour, an experiential roadshow celebrating Hasbro’s iconic girls’s toy brand, My Little Pony, returns to the UK this summer with a refreshed look and feel to celebrate the upcoming release of My Little Pony: The Movie.

The tour will be visiting cities across the country this summer, welcoming fans aboard the toy range’s signature pink double-decker bus, where they will be able to explore Equestria, the magical world of ponies, and celebrate the positive power of this unique children’s brand.

New for 2017, children will have the chance to ‘Get Ponified’ with free cutie-mark face painting at one of the tour’s new Ponification Stations.

Kids will be able to play with the latest toys, watch clips from the new movie, and enjoy a series of unique My Little Pony experiences including creating their own My Little Pony Selfie GIF with scenes from the new movie or favourite locations from the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic TV show.

Visitors will also be given an exclusive Friendship Points code to use online at the My Little Pony Friendship Club.

The tour started in Liverpool on July 26^th, 2017, and finishes at The Big Feastival at the end of August. In addition to Liverpool, it has already visited the Bullring, Birmingham; Fosse Shopping Park, Leicester; Cribbs Causeway Retail Park, Bristol; Castlepoint Shopping Park, Bournemouth; Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth; Two Rivers, Staines; Gallions Reach Shopping Park, London; Bluewater; and the Bristol Balloon Fiesta. Its next appearance is at the St. David’s Centre, Cardiff on August 15^th, followed by Middlebrook Retail Park, Lancashire (August 19^th), Ravenhead Retail Park, St. Helens (August 20^th) and The Big Feastival at Alex James’s farm in the Cotswolds (August 25^th-27^th).

More information is available via the My Little Pony UK Facebook Page.

Experiential agency iD created and is managing the activation on behalf of Hasbro.

Hasbro is a global play and entertainment company with interests including toys and games, television, movies, digital gaming and consumer products. In addition to My Little Pony, Hasbro also owns iconic brands including NERF, Transformers, Play-Doh, Monopoly, Littlest Pet Shop and Magic: The Gathering.

iD is a multi-award-winning specialist experiential and retail marketing agency established in 1993 which delivers large scale sampling campaigns, road shows, and immersive brand experience campaigns for clients including Hasbro, Britvic, PepsiCo, Mars and Unilever.

Additionally, iD provides teams of highly trained expert demonstrators in retailers throughout the UK for clients including; Nespresso, Microsoft, Revlon, Elizabeth Arden, COTY and Sage Appliances.

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With last year’s Dorset Cereals experiential tour delivering 25 live days, 100,000 sample giveaways and an experiential reach of over 280,000, the brand will again be touring family-friendly festivals this summer.

The Dorset Cereals sampling bar will visit a number of fetsivals, including Deer Shed Festival, Camp Bestival and Carfest South, allowing festival-goers to see, touch and taste the product range on offer. A range of handmade family games and activities will be available on the stand to keep visitors entertained and reflect the Dorset Cereals brand.

The brand will build upon last year’s prize draw campaign by offering consumers the chance to take part in its new photo mechanic and win a trip to Dorset.

Dorset Cereals’ tour is again being delivered by Circle Agency, which has refreshed the festival schedule to enable a more focused target audience to discover the brand and its new products.

The Dorset Cereals Campsite Takeover also headed back to Cornbury Music Festival at the beginning of July 2017 for the festival’s final year, to bring breakfast joy to campers. Last year, the takeover saw over 3,000 wet samples served, 124 families had a helping hand putting up their tents and over 152 people participated in Dorset’s morning yoga sessions.

Festival-goers were again be invited to a free Dorset Cereals ‘breakfast extravaganza’ complete with long banqueting tables lined with the Dorset Cereals products, and a range of morning activities including yoga, kids morning wake up sessions, face painting, festival headband decorating and an all-day family games area. To further enhance the ambience and create a festival vibe within the tent, a live acoustic performer played for campers throughout the day.

Alex Naranjo, marketing manager for Dorset Cereals, says: “We are very excited to be out on the road again this year. We have lots of new products to share with people and can’t wait to meet them to see what they think. We learnt so much from our consumers last year that it made total sense to build on this. We have again worked to create a premium experience that reflects our brand and have already had a great start at Wychwood Festival.”

Claire Stokes, Founder and Managing Director of Circle Agency, comments: “Having last year proved that deeper engagement leads to stronger ROI, Dorset Cereals has once again invested in experiential. Having witnessed strong overall results last year it has cemented the channels value within the overall marketing mix. We have analysed and built upon previous successes, identifying which aspects of the campaign worked best and evolved our activities to form this year’s tour. We were able to closely analyse last year’s impact and are hoping to further build upon this during this year.”

A video of the activation at Cornbury Festival can be viewed here.

Circle Agency’s 2015 festival experiential campaign for Dorset Cereals, Life Begins at Breakfast Lodge, won Gold in the Trial & Awareness category in the IPM Awards 2016.

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Belvoir Fruit Farms, makers of the Belvoir brand of fruit cordials, is backing its Little Drop of Lovely marketing campaign with a hot air balloon which will tour UK food and countryside festivals, including Bristol Balloon Fiesta, and selected supermarkets.

Belvoir cordials has worked with London-based creative marketing agency whynot! Thinkpeople to design and build a bespoke droplet-shaped hot air balloon and a support mobile sampling area, where consumers can enjoy a drink of Belvoir’s products while watching the Balloon take flight.

The Little Drop of Lovely campaign will be visiting 10 festivals this summer and 12 Tesco stores for outdoor sampling. A special in-store neck collar on bottles of the elderflower cordial will carry a competition to win a luxury weekend getaway to the Bristol Balloon Fiesta, with flights in the balloon. Social media will support and celebrate the activity.

The balloon launched on the June 14 2017 from the Elderflower fields at Belvoir Fruit Farms, Bottesford, Leicestershire.

Pev Manners, Managing Director of Belvoir Fruit Farms and son of founders Lord John Manners and Lady Mary Manners, observes: “We’re so excited about finally getting our stunning new balloon airborne. We believe it will enhance our presence at a series of events and shows over the summer, and engage the consumer more fully with the Belvoir brand. We’ll interact with a larger audience wherever it is flown, really giving them something to remember us by and hopefully prompt them to enjoy more of our lovely drinks. And personally, I’m really looking forward to checking on the progress of the elderflowers from the air next year to see if they’re ready for harvest!”

Nigel Clifton, Executive Creative Director of whynot!, says: “We wanted to celebrate how Belvoir cordials can be the perfect drink at every occasion.  We wanted to put the drink into people’s hands and give them a lasting memory of that moment. Adding A Little Drop of Lovely, to their day, their festival experience and where they shop was our solution. The Belvoir balloon is the perfect visual icon to deliver that thought across the UK.”

To find out where the balloon will be appearing this summer, visit https://www.belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk/things-to-do/events/

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