Greggs has launched a free gift wrapping service to relieve some of the stress from weary shoppers and to ensure the festive period is an even more joyful one.

The exclusive gift wrapping service launches in five Greggs shops nationwide from 11^th – 13^th December (4pm – 8pm). Greggs’ elves will be on hand to wrap presents for free in bespoke Greggs wrapping paper with a Festive Bake design, while customers can put their feet up with a complimentary glass of mulled wine.

A limited edition range of Greggs stocking fillers will also be available in these shops including the first ever Greggs Christmas jumper, doughnut socks, sausage roll inspired umbrella, phone case, reusable cup, Christmas cards, a high roller gift card and a set of pin badges in the image of the nation’s favourite Greggs menu items.

The festive service is being launched in light of new research that reveals over two thirds of the nation (69%) admit they find the build up to Christmas stressful, with shopping for presents, wrapping gifts and washing up after Christmas dinner named as the chores dreaded the most.

Nearly half (48%) said that wrapping gifts is one of the festive jobs they’d most like to pay someone else to do, admitting they would happily stump up £9.61 on average to avoid it – perhaps not surprising as they expect to spend an average of 1 hour 58 minutes wrapping all their gifts.

The survey of 2,000 Brits, commissioned by Greggs, also revealed that 1 in 10 of us (10%) leave wrapping presents right up to Christmas Eve, and some even to the morning of Christmas Day.

Hannah Squirrell, Customer Director at Greggs said: “Fitting everything in at Christmas can be a struggle, and we wanted to help our customers lighten the load. Our free gift-wrapping service means weary shoppers can take a break while our elves wrap their presents, and they can even pick up some gifts for the Greggs fan in their life (or themselves) with our limited edition range.”

All proceeds from Greggs’ gifts will be donated to the Greggs Foundation – a grant-making charity that improves the quality of life in local communities, aiming to make a difference to people in need.

Shops running the free gift-wrapping service and stocking gifts from 11^th – 13^th December, 4pm – 8pm, are:

• London – Stratford Shopping Centre
• Birmingham – High Street
• Manchester – Parker Street
• Newcastle – Grainger Street
• Glasgow – Buchanan Galleries shopping centre

The post Greggs offers free gift wrapping service appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

Mars Wrigley Confectionery UK has announced the return of its Sweet Sundays promotion for the seventh year running. The popular initiative offers consumers free cinema tickets if they collect 10 stars found on the promotional packs.

Led by Maltesers, the promotion features Mars Wrigley Confectionery’s family of best-selling bitesize products including M&M’s, Galaxy and Milky Way. As with last year, the promotion will also include bars to bites pouches, M&M’s Crispy and Chocolate More To Share pouches, and the ever-popular Galaxy and Maltesers Teasers Large and More To Share blocks.

Lauren George, Brand & Trade PR Manager at Mars Wrigley Confectionery UK said: “Sweet Sundays is a proven category growth opportunity, offering high value to shoppers by overcoming barriers to their favourite out of home activity. Going to the cinema remains the UK’s number one activity to do outside of the home, with the highest admissions at the weekend. Our Sweet Sundays promotion provides consumers with even more opportunities to get free cinema tickets, as well as unlocking cross-segment opportunities for retailers to boost sales.”

Sweet Sundays is set to benefit hugely from media investment across major participating brands including Maltesers and M&M’s, ensuring they are front of mind for consumers when they are in-store. Building on this, retailers will also have eye-catching new Point of Sale materials to support in-store activation and help boost sales. There will be even better product differentiation this year for customers to drive added interest in 2018.

In order to claim their free cinema ticket, consumers need to buy two promotional ‘More To Share’ pouches or blocks, or five promotional Standard pouches, and visit www.sweetsundays.co.uk to register the codes and select their preferred cinema chain. Promotional codes must be registered between 00:01 on 13^th August and 23:59 on 31^st October 2018.

The post Mars offers consumers free cinema tickets in the return of its Sweet Sundays initiative appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

Chiquita Brands International has launched a major marketing campaign for its Chiquita bananas, kicking off the activity with the offer of a free ride for Londoners in its branded cabs.

The campaign builds on the success of a 2017 campaign which achieved over 74 million global impressions, and is aimed at raising awareness of Chiquita bananas amongst the brand’s key target audience of UK mums and millennials.

Kicking off this week and running through until mid-August, the activity will again take over central London – giving black cabs and London buses on key central routes ‘We Are Bananas’ wrap-around makeovers, with designs featuring the brand’s iconic blue and yellow branding. The seven-week campaign will also be supported by digital and social activity across the brand’s channels.

To launch the campaign, Chiquita offered consumers who flagged down a Chiquita Bananas yellow cab on July 16th a free ride, so long as they could produce a Chiquita banana.

The yellow taxis were stationed around Covent Garden Piazza, on Henrietta Street and Southampton Street and Holborn tube station all day, offering free rides to anyone with the correct banana fare to anywhere in zones 1 and 2.

John Cockle, Sales and Market Director for Chiquita Brands International, UK and Ireland, comments: “As leaders in the industry, we’re confident that our ‘We are bananas’ campaign will once again put Chiquita bananas front of mind during the key summer period and encourage consumers to ‘think Chiquita’ when they’re making their purchasing decisions. This is the fourth time that we have run a high-profile summer campaign in London, which demonstrates our commitment to creating a vibrant banana category for UK retailers, as well continuing to build the Chiquita banana brand amongst UK consumers.”

Chiquita is a leading global produce company employing 20,000 people across 25 countries. Chiquita serves nearly 70 countries, providing consumers and customers with the highest quality of fruit and service and creating consistent value for the Chiquita brand, its customers, suppliers, associates and communities while respecting the environment.

The post Chiquita Bananas offers Londoners free rides for a banana appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

Toiletries and personal care brand Burt’s Bees is to run a ‘Honey Bee Health’ experiential campaign this weekend on London’s Southbank.

Burt’s Bees products make extensive use of honey and beeswax as ingredients, and last year the company partnered with the British Beekeepers Association on a #BringBackTheBees campaign aimed at encouraging consumers to help save bees, which have seen catastrophic collapses in numbers in recent years.

Experiential agency Ambient is working alongside Talon Outdoor and Omnicom Media Group’s PHD on the ‘Honey Bee Health’ activation, which will challenge consumers to ‘Be a True Force of Nature’ with a Burt’s Bees “Wall of Seeds” installation at the Queen’s Walk on London’s Southbank Centre on 26^th and 27^th May 2018 from 10.00am to 8.00pm. People will be able to collect their own bee-friendly wildflower seed packet to help support the #BringBackTheBees movement.

Burt’s Bees will be giving away 6,000 wildflower seed packets over the Bank Holiday weekend, making a total of 12 million seeds. Consumers will be told they do not need a large garden – they can sow the seeds on a balcony, porch, window box or patio plant pot create a thriving bee-friendly habitat.

Becci Dive, Media Group Manager at Omnicom Media Group’s PHD, says: “We took on board feedback from customers in 2017 that they wanted even more ways to be involved with the cause and help Burt’s Bees to bring back the bees. PHD’s campaign strategy was rooted in this, with the OOH activation acting as the perfect vehicle to do just this, equipping people with both seeds and information to make an impact on the crisis themselves.”

In addition to the experiential “Wall of Seeds”, the brand is launching a Limited Edition Bring Back the Bees Strawberry Lip Balm, and, in partnership with the British Beekeepers Association, will plant 5,000 bee-friendly wildflower seeds in selected areas nationwide.

Last year, Burt’s Bees #BringBackTheBees campaign resulted in 192,852,000 wildflower seeds being planted across the UK by the British Beekeepers Association.

Ambient is an award-winning marketing agency specialising in innovative ambient media, full-service experiential marketing and promotional staffing.

The post Burt’s Bees ‘Wall of Seeds’ experience on London’s Southbank. appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

Quaker Oats is rerunning its successful Overnight Oats on-pack promotion from last summer, but with a twist – consumers will now be able to choose the colour and design of the jar they get.

Last year’s promotion saw 40,000 Mason Jars despatched to consumers, but they had to choose from one of five different designs. In the latest version of the promotion, there are three designs, each in three colourways.

The promotion, running on 1kg packs of Quaker Oats, supports Quaker’s ongoing campaign tapping into the interest in ‘overnight oats’ (oats prepared by being soaked in milk or other liquids in the fridge overnight rather than being cooked). Because they are eaten chilled rather than hot, they are proving more popular during the summer months, traditionally a low period for cooked oats.

The promotion runs until the beginning of June. To claim their jars, consumers have to find the unique codes from promotional packs of 1kg Traditional and Jumbo Rolled Quaker Oats, enter them online at www.quaker.co.uk/overnight and pay postage and packing (which starts at £1.99 for one jar and goes up to £9.99 for nine jars). Each code entitles consumers to one jar, and there is a limit of nine jars per household.

Eric Williams, Quaker Oats Marketing Manager, says: “Last year, we gave away 40,000 mason jars as part of the on-pack promotion – a huge success! This year we are mixing things up by offering consumers the chance to interact with the designs. We know that overnight oats are an increasingly exciting breakfast trend continuing to gain momentum, so we expect some great engagement with the campaign. As 62% of cereal occasions include fruit, especially in overnight oat recipes, and a real skew towards fruit options in the summer months, there is a huge opportunity for retailers to drive sales outside of the usual porridge season.”

In addition to the on-pack promotion, Quaker will be showcasing new overnight oat recipes online to inspire shoppers. The brand will also encourage further interaction across social media channels and via a partnership with popular recipe video creators, TWISTED.

The Quaker Oats brand is owned by PepsiCo. PepsiCo generated more than $63 billion in net revenue in 2016, driven by a food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay and Walkers savoury snacks, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana drinks and Quaker. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

The post Quaker Oats ‘Overnight Oats’ free Mason Jar promotion returns appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

Cadbury and Merlin Entertainments’ partnership, offering consumers free tickets for memorable days out during summer, is set to continue for a third year running.

Launching on May 1^st and running through the summer to September, Cadbury promotional chocolate bags will offer a free ticket with every purchase of a full priced adult ticket to top UK attractions including Legoland Windsor Resort, Thorpe Park Resort, Chessington World of Adventures Resort and Sea Life centres.

The on-pack voucher entitles the holder to one free entry with one full paying adult at the attraction gate.

The promotion will be supported by a £1m marketing spend, including Out-Of-Home (OOH) and digital activity that will reach 80% of all adults, and should help drive further category growth in the chocolate bags segment.

The 2017 activity, which was extended to 32 pack variants, helped drive chocolate bag sales during the summer months, delivering a penetration growth of +3.7 percentage points with purchase frequency increasing to 2.7.

Chris Campbell, Brand Manager for Cadbury chocolate bags, says: “In partnership with Merlin Entertainments, we’re helping parents to spend quality time with their families during the holiday season with an instant saving. For 2018 we are making three million new more packs available to consumers – so there are even more opportunities for families to take advantage of the offer.”

The Cadbury brand is owned by Mondelēz International, the global snacking company with 2016 net revenues of approximately $26 billion. Mondelēz is a world leader in biscuits, chocolate, gum, candy and powdered beverages, with power brands including Oreo and belVita biscuits; Cadbury Dairy Milk and Milka chocolate; and Trident gum.

The post Cadbury and Merlin reunite for on-pack free ticket promotion appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

McCain has launched an on-pack promotion offering consumers free tickets to participating attractions across Britain.

The activities on offer include tree top adventures, go-karting, Segway tours, scuba diving and trampolining, at more than 1,000 locations including large venues and companies, such as Thorpe Park, Legoland, Awesome Walls and Team Sport, and small ones, such as the Bath Postal Museum or the Pencil Museum.

McCain says it wants to encourage families to “participate in activities they might not normally consider at the weekend”, and the promotion will run from April 1^st for 12 weeks. Promotional packs will be available across variants and pack formats within McCain’s frozen French Fries range.

To enter, customers need to purchase a promotional pack in-store and enter their quality code on the competition website www.mccainfreeticket.co.uk. They will then get a voucher which entitles them to claim a second ticket of equal or lower value when they purchase one (so if they buy an adult ticket, they can claim either an adult or child ticket for free; if they buy a child ticket, they can claim another child ticket).

Entry is only open to residents of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and excludes residents of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, as well as McCain employees and their immediate families of McCain Foods Ltd and anyone professionally connected to the promotion. Consumers can only claim once per promotional pack bought.

The promotion has been put together for McCain by Manchester-based marketing agency ZEAL Creative, with input from fixed fee company Umbrella and Cheshire-based digital agency DX Digital.

The post McCain launches ‘Dare to Do It’ free ticket on-pack offer appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

Persil UK has been encouraging families in London to get outdoors and active to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the launch of the brand’s ‘Dirt is Good’ marketing platform with ‘Get Out Here’, a Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) activation delivering content triggered by the weather in real-time.

Running on Ocean’s full motion Eat Street screen at Westfield London, the campaign uses live weather data to trigger video content allowing the display to show current temperatures, weather conditions and the walking distance to Holland Park, their nearest source of outdoor fun.

Families can connect to the screen’s Wi-Fi to access a map and directions to the park, which is a short walk from the shopping centre.

Get Out Here reflects Persil’s commitment to get families outdoors and embrace dirt. The brand cites consumer research which reveals that dogs are five times more likely to be taken out to the park than children – and that only one in three kids has ever climbed a tree.

Created by MullenLowe London, Get Out Here was one of the commercial winners of Ocean Outdoor’s eighth annual digital creative competition, which aims to reward great creative concepts that push the boundaries of digital out of home (DOOH) advertising.

Video footage on the screen will also include a dynamic count of fun activities families can enjoy in the 22.5 hectare park, including the number of birds to count, muddy puddles to jump in and snowmen to build.

The idea is that families will break out of the urban jungle to experience the freedom of the real outdoors like kids used to, playing on Persil’s 10th anniversary of “Dirt is Good.” The campaign broke on March 1st 2018 and runs for two weeks.

Jennifer King, Senior Brand Manager for Persil UK, says: “Families love getting outdoors but we know that life can get in the way. This is an innovative way to nudge us all to embrace the outdoors and make more happy memories.”

Alex Okada, Global Executive Creative Director for Dirt is Good, adds: “Sometimes we are so immersed in our busy lives, distracted by the always on digital world that we don’t stop to think how close and accessible nature is to us. The idea is to use technology and data in order to remind and inspire people to enjoy the outdoors. Not having enough time outdoors is not a only problem for kids, but also a problem for all of us.”

Ocean Outdoor head of marketing Helen Haines comments: “Get Out Here is a really simple idea that actually works in all sorts of environments and out of home locations. It’s a fun execution and a wonderful way to encourage more families to go play and get messy. That’s why it was chosen as an Ocean competition winner.”

The post Persil celebrates 10th anniversary of ‘Dirt is Good’ with real-time DOOH park push appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

Confectionery company Mondelez has enlisted the help of basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neal to help it celebrate the ‘birthday’ of its OREO brand on March 6th by giving away one million OREO Chocolate Candy Bars in a US-wide promotion.

O’Neal – who shares March 6th as a birthday – kicked off the celebrations by hosting a one-day-only pop-up “Snack Shaq” at Atlantic Station in his adopted hometown of Atlanta where he handed out free OREO Chocolate Candy Bars.

OREO fans who can’t make it to Atlanta can go online to OREOBirthdayGiveaway.com and enter their details. The first million fans to enter their names and addresses on the website will get a voucher redeemable for a free OREO Chocolate Candy Bar, worth up to 99¢.

The promotion is open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. states (and the District of Columbia) aged 18 or older. The promotion ends at midnight Eastern Standard Time March 12th 2018, or when 1,000,000 participants register for the giveaway, whichever comes first.

Mondelez launched its OREO Chocolate Candy Bars in the US on a limited basis in November 2016, with a full roll-out in January 2017. They combine Oreo cookie pieces in a vanilla crème filling, enrobed in European Milka chocolate. In the recent Kantar TNS US Product of the Year Awards 2018, the new range won Product of the Year 2018 in the Candy Bar category. The product was launched in Europe prior to the US launch, again using Milka chocolate (Milka is the best-selling chocolate brand in Europe) except in the UK, where it uses Cadbury chocolate. However, Mondelez cannot sell Cadbury products in the US as rival confectionery company Hershey has the US rights to the Cadbury name.

The post Mondelez US gives away one million Oreo chocolate bars appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

AB InBev, the world’s biggest beer company, has been supporting its new alcohol-free beer, Budweiser Prohibition, with a UK anti-drink drive digital and Out Of Home campaign, plus a sampling drive through Tesco.

A major ad campaign centres on people getting home safely for Christmas. The global beer brand is supporting the Department for Transport (DfT) for its THINK! Christmas campaign, designed to tackle drink driving.

The OOH ads and the digital push run until December 31st 2017, delivering a series of festive but pertinent messages encouraging people to make smart drinking choices during the festive period and get home safely for Christmas.

A key part of the campaign is a nationwide giveaway of Budweiser Prohibition, via a digital Budweiser Christmas card from www.budprohibition.com, to be redeemed in Tesco outlets.

Rowan Chidgey, Marketing Manager for Budweiser UK, says: “As an iconic global beer brand, we not only have a responsibility to help fight important issues like drink driving, but also to make it easier for people to make smart drinking choices. We’re really pleased to be supporting THINK! to keep safety front of mind this Christmas and proud to make great products like Budweiser Prohibition, so party-goers can enjoy beer as well as moderation. We’ve put it at the heart of our responsible drinking campaign this year, so as many people as possible can celebrate this Christmas and get home safely.”

The THINK! drink drive campaign coincides with the National Police enforcement campaign, which runs throughout December.

While road casualties caused by drink driving have fallen dramatically in recent years, the latest statistics recorded 5,730 accidents and 8,470 casualties in England and Wales in 2015 due to drink driving.

Road Safety Minister Jesse Norman said: “Thanks to generations of THINK! campaigns, drink driving has become socially unacceptable, with an 88% drop in fatalities over the last three decades. This year’s THINK! campaign builds on that record, working to prevent this devastating behaviour, which puts so many lives at risk.”

This year’s Budweiser campaign is part of AB InBev’s Global Smart Drinking Goals, which seek to reduce the harmful use of alcohol with an investment of one billion dollars across the globe in marketing campaigns to influence social norms and change behaviours – to measurably decrease harmful alcohol use over the next ten years. One of the goals is for 20% of AB InBev’s volumes to be low-to-no alcohol by 2025. Budweiser Prohibition will be a major contributor to this goal as an alcohol-free beer.

AB InBev is a founding member of the UK self-regulatory body for alcohol marketing, the Portman Group, and a major funder of the independent Drinkaware Trust.

The post Budweiser Prohibition no-alcohol beer in Tesco sampling for Xmas driving safety push appeared first on IPM Bitesize.