The Kraft Heinz Company, the world’s 5^th largest food and beverage company, has brought in shopper marketing specialist Live & Breathe to run its entire UK integrated shopper account and act as primary shopper marketing partner across all its brands.

The appointment, following a competitive pitch, ties in with the 150th anniversary of Heinz, which takes place in 2019. Live & Breathe will partner with Kraft Heinz to define an integrated shopper strategy across the entire grocery retail sector, in particular promoting soup, ketchup, baked beans, salad cream and mayonnaise as the group’s ‘hero products’.

The agency’s role for 2019 and beyond involves developing creative, technology-based solutions for the common challenges faced by food brands and retailers, overcoming barriers and finding new approaches to the traditional grocery shopper missions.

Nicolas Aranguren, Head of Sales Execution at The Kraft Heinz Company, commented: “2019 is a colossal year for the Kraft Heinz family of food brands and we were keen to ensure we had exemplary shopper marketing support, with an agency that could partner with us at the highest level.

“Live & Breathe combines in-depth understanding of retail with a keen eye for seeking out creative uses of technology and routes to market, which is exactly what we wanted.”

Nick Gray, MD of Live & Breathe, added: “This is an immense opportunity to work with a forward-thinking FMCG business as well as food brands that have been category leaders for decades. We plan to help Kraft Heinz develop shopper marketing strategies and platforms that will benefit its brands not just in 2019, but for years to come.”

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First Bus Scotland has delivered a first for Glasgow by unveiling the world’s largest ‘model’ bus in the city’s famous George Square. The ‘bus-in-a-box’ experiential stunt was used as the launch pad for First Bus Scotland to announce the arrival of 75 new buses into the city.

The activation was designed, delivered and managed by creative brand and strategy agency MadeBrave, which was appointed in July as First Bus Scotland’s sole creative agency. The eye-catching, interactive ‘bus-in-a-box’ display aims to help the city’s largest bus operator engage with customers and get them on board the new buses, which include free WiFi and USB charging points.

The 16-foot structure was the focal point of a customer awareness day and the first stop for a far-reaching integrated creative marketing programme that runs for the next three months with the aim of changing people’s perception of bus travel in the city.

This latest activity follows the “kids go free” campaign that ran over the summer, with MadeBrave developing a creative campaign to promote the free travel initiative.

Andrew Jarvis, Managing Director for First Scotland, says: “MadeBrave has created an eye-catching campaign that will allow us to communicate to customers the significant investment that we’re making to bus services in Glasgow, and ultimately help us to attract more people on board our services.”

Andrew Dobbie, founder of MadeBrave, adds: “First Bus Scotland appointed MadeBrave to drive a change in customer behaviour and help the business shift its focus more on to the customer, through its creative communications. The bus-in-a-box initiative was designed to enable First Bus Scotland to have some fun with its customers and present the humble bus as a more playful ‘toy’, just like the ones we all had when we were kids.”

The second phase of the multichannel campaign sees a creative programme of activity delivered across outdoor, radio, print, digital and social channels, as well as on and in buses across First Bus Scotland’s fleet.

MadeBrave is an award-winning agency based in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. It works with UK national and international brands across several sectors, including the BBC, Hard Rock Hotels, Naked Grouse, Jacobs Engineering, Vango and Distell. MadeBrave acquired content production agency Campfire in July 2018, creating the BornOriginal Group to further enhance its client service offering and help drive group turnover to a projected £2.3m for 2018.

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Nespresso, the pod coffee machine system from Nestle, has launched its latest campaign featuring Hollywood star, George Clooney, with a fully integrated campaign featuring TV and online advertising, plus a content-rich landing page including behind the scenes footage and consumer engagement through interactive image filters and gamification and prize promotions on the brand’s social channels.

Launched September 25^th 2016 at www.nespresso.com/whatelse, the light-hearted campaign sees George embark on a rough night as he looks to protect his precious coffee. Starting in the stylish Nespresso boutique on London’s Regent Street, George’s adventure begins as he strikes up conversation with an attractive female over a cup of Nespresso coffee. Sadly for him, she is the wife of the ‘boss’, who demands Clooney’s Nespresso as punishment.

And so ensues an eventful evening, courtesy of the ‘boss’, played by ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘Deadwood’ star, Ian McShane, which sees Clooney take a trip through the backstreets of London. The following morning we see a battered and bruised George in his home savouring his Nespresso coffee, as he lets the audience and his maid know that he ‘wouldn’t change a thing’ about his Nespresso experience. As the maid walks off, she comments: “Must be some coffee…”

The campaign was created with McCann Worldgroup and kicked off with a teaser phase earlier in September with consumers were invited to guess what fate awaited George Clooney.

Alfonso Gonzalez, Chief Customer Officer for Nespresso, explains: “Our relationship with George strengthens year on year, and in our twelfth collaboration, we have created a storyline that shows Clooney at his best. He is a true partner for the brand, and here we see just how far he is willing to go for that incomparable Nespresso coffee experience”.

The full TV advertising campaign from Nespresso, entitled Change Nothing debuted worldwide (excluding US and Canada) from September 25^th. It can be viewed on YouTube or via the Nespresso website, www.nespresso.com/whatelse.

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Europe’s “first chia seed based drink”, wow, has appointed Diffusion as its retained agency to handle its launch in the UK, following a competitive pitch.

wow is made by cold-pressing fruit and vegetables and adding hydrated chia seeds. As a ‘superfood’, chia seeds are supposed to help hydrate the body, boost metabolism and activate glycogen, which burns fat and provides a feeling of fullness, according to the brand.

Diffusion has been chosen to build brand awareness for wow with a content-driven campaign. The team will develop and implement an integrated campaign to convey wow’s “Made Amazing” proposition.

Working alongside the brand’s internal marketing and comms team, Diffusion will create a series of consumer activations, provide a press office function, and run events as well as experiential, blogger, vlogger and influencer engagement programmes to “inspire and excite” the brand’s target audience.

Oliver Dickinson, co-founder of Wow Food & Drinks, the company behind wow, said: “As the first offering of its kind in Europe, we needed an agency with a fresh and creative approach to build awareness for wow and capture the imagination our target audience. The Diffusion team has strong experience in the food and drink category and with new FMCG product launches.”

Remy Le Fèvre, head of consumer at Diffusion, added: “As the first chia seed based drink in the UK, we’re really excited to introduce wow to consumers and the industry. It’s no secret that the UK drinks market is hugely competitive which is why it’s essential for brands such as wow to build meaningful and authentic relationships with consumers. Diffusion’s campaign will draw on our experience working with challenger brands in the food and drink space, and our extensive network of media and influencers.”

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Strongbow – the UK’s number one cider brand – has launched a multi-million pound campaign as part of its exclusive sponsorship of Team GB ahead of Rio 2016, including an on-pack competition to win limited edition glasses.

The ‘Let’s Own It’ integrated campaign issues a rallying cry to the nation to get together and roar on Team GB this summer. The campaign will run across a range of media channels including TV, out of home, video on demand, radio, digital and social.

The new TV ad will run from July 14th and will kick off a six week campaign across the nation with a stirring 30-second spot that highlights the tension, excitement and elation of cheering on Team GB.

Out Of Home advertising will ignite the emotions of supporters, featuring the most captivating elements of the games; unity, tension and the thrill of being lost in the moment.

Strongbow’s British heritage and brand values of pride, unity and respect make it a perfect fit with the Team GB ethos. Whilst all eyes are on Rio, Strongbow is firmly positioning itself at the heart of the action with the fans in the UK.

Cindy Tervoort, marketing director at brand owners Heineken, said: “We want to bring back the excitement we all felt during London 2012 and rally the nation to get behind Team GB. The pride and enthusiasm we experienced as a nation in 2012 was incredibly special, and we anticipate that our campaign will help the nation feel it once again.”

This is the first campaign to run across all Strongbow variants which include Strongbow Original, Strongbow Dark Fruit and Strongbow Cloudy Apple. It is supported in-store with special Team GB packaging across the whole range as well as a chance for consumers to win limited edition Strongbow Cloudy Apple pint glasses.

The new TV commercial can be viewed on Strongbow UK’s YouTube channel.

Headquartered in Edinburgh, Heineken employs around 2,000 people. In addition to being Britain’s leading cider and beer business, the company owns around 1,100 pubs through its Star Pubs & Bars business. Its portfolio of brands includes Foster’s, Heineken, Strongbow, Desperados, Kronenbourg1664, John Smith’s and Bulmers, plus backed by a full range of niche and specialty brands

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MATRADE, the Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation, has launched a 10 part Malaysian cookery series on UK TV, featuring Masterchef’s popular presenter, Australian chef John Torode.

The show follows Torode as he travels throughout Malaysia from Kuala Lumpur through to Langkawi Island off the northern coast. He cooks with local chefs, visits colourful night markets and explores the impact of history and culture on the evolution of Malaysian food.

Back in the UK, he re-imagines Malaysian cuisine inspired by his journey and creates an array of recipes for viewers to try themselves. He also gets top tips from celebrity restaurateurs and chefs based in the UK, such as the previous Malaysia Kitchen Brand Ambassador and UK MasterChef 2014 winner, Ping Coombes.

Viewers are also encouraged to pick up Malaysian ingredients needed to recreate the dishes with a 25% discount at the Malaysia Kitchen shop on online grocery store Ocado.

The TV show is the latest addition to MATRADE’s six year old integrated Malaysia Kitchen campaign, which has been using a range of different marketing techniques to bring the sights, sounds and tastes of Malaysia into UK homes and onto UK streets.

The Malaysia Kitchen campaign was created for MATRADE by UK integrated marketing agency whynot!

whynot! also developed the concept for the new TV series and bought together UKTV’s Good Food Channel and producers Cactus TV, makers of popular morning TV show, Saturday Kitchen.  The cookery series has been filmed through the dramatic and varied landscape of Malaysia and also in the UK, documenting the renowned chef’s highly individual take on Malaysian cuisine.

whynot! developed and implemented a full media plan across national newspapers, foodie magazines, outdoor media including London Underground, digital banners, John Torode and Good Food Channel websites, and a spectrum of social media to ensure mass awareness of the show.

The long-running Malaysia Kitchen campaign has been extremely successful in raising the profile of Malaysian cuisine in the UK and driving sales of Malaysian products amongst more adventurous UK households. It runs a number of events around the country, including a Malaysian Spring Market Food Fair in London’s South Bank quarter and Malaysia Night in Trafalgar Square, both of which attract thousands of people.

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The United Kingdom has the most shortlisted entries in this year’s IMC European Awards for Integrated Marketing Communications, with 16 campaigns getting through to the finals.

Next in line was Ireland (15) followed by Belgium (12), Italy (10), Spain (3), Czech Republic (3), Germany (1) and the Netherlands (1).

The IMC European Awards are open to any campaign which has first won a Gold or equivalent in its national awards programme. In the UK, the Institute of Promotional Marketing‘s annual IPM Awards are the only route to enter the IMC Awards.

Carey Trevill, managing director of the IPM, says: “The fact that UK agencies have the most entries on this year’s IMC Awards shortlist is testament to the strength of promotional marketing in this country.”

The UK winners will be announced at an event organised by the IPM in the next few weeks.

The UK agencies appearing most on the shortlists are experiential specialists TRO, with four nominations, and integrated agency Leith, also with four. Arc has five shortlisted entries, but two are shared with other Leo Burnett Group agencies.

The agency with the most shortlisted entries across all the countries involved is BBDO (Belgium) with nine nominations – three for “Unpaid Bills”, three for “Stalker” and three for “5 Euro”. Next most shortlisted agency is Ireland’s Guns and Knives with four nominations – three for “Heineken DAMOC Coolers” and one for “’We’re So Local’ Regional Campaign”.

The first round selection was made by a jury panel made up of 60 leading industry professionals across Europe. The second round jury, comprised of IMCC Council member representatives, took place in Prague on 11th September. This year’s winners will be announced in December.

IMCC Chairman Ondrej Gottwald says: “This year’s campaigns in the IMC European Awards were the most interesting I have seen during my chairmanship and presence in the jury. I am delighted that our industry is doing well and the work across Europe is of such high quality. Aside from the commercial campaigns, I always appreciate the increasing amount of very successful social and corporate responsibility campaigns and commercial campaigns with a positive social impact. To see these campaigns being recognised and rewarded by industry professionals is very satisfying.”

The full list of shortlisted campaigns in the IMC European Awards for Integrated Marketing Communications is on the IPM site. 

The IMCC – the Integrated Marketing Communications Council Europe – represents the integrated marketing communications agencies and agency associations in Europe and is part of the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA).

The IMCC acts as a central source of information for the industry and assists in the development of the reputation and professionalism of the industry across Europe by focusing on four key areas: best practice, lobbying, recognition via the IMC European Awards and education through the IMCC International Diploma, which was developed for the body by the UK’s IPM.

EACA is a Brussels-based organisation which represents full-service commercial communications, media agencies and agency associations in Europe. The IPM is a member.

EACA promotes honest, effective advertising, high professional standards and awareness of the contribution of advertising in a free market economy and encourages close co-operation between agencies, advertisers and media in European advertising bodies.

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