This March, Londoners will be given the opportunity to #LiveMoreYes with a free blindfolded food experience – based on research showing that, when the sense of sight is removed, taste is heightened. The ‘Bar of YES!’ will allow food lovers to challenge their taste buds, as they try to discern the flavour combinations of a series of delicious tasting plates while blindfolded.

The ‘Bar of YES!’ will be hosted by chef to the stars Nina Parker and will celebrate the launch of Nestlé‘s new brand, YES!, and it’s range of wholesome and delicious snacks. Nina, who counts Donatella Versace, Russell Brand and Stormzy among her clients, has designed a menu of five delicious vegetarian and vegan dishes, each inspired by the exciting flavour combinations and natural ingredients of the new YES! bars – including fruity blends like lemon, quinoa & chilli as well as nut-based combinations such as dark chocolate, sea salt & almond.

Visitors to the ‘Bar of YES!’ will enjoy an interactive blindfolded tasting experience of Nina’s food, before exploring the stylish surroundings of the pop up which will reflect the vibrant and wholesome philosophy behind the range. There will also be YES! bars available to taste, with samples offered to guests on departure.

Louisa Parrillo, Senior Brand Manager at YES! says, “As a new brand, we’re so excited to be opening our first pop up – the ‘Bar of YES!’ reflects our belief that the more we taste and explore in life, the more fulfilled we become. We want to celebrate the key ingredients of our bars which make the best of what nature has to offer – we’ve created our range of fruit and nut bars with exciting taste combinations that are both tasty and wholesome, so no compromise needs to be made on taste or satisfaction when choosing what to have as a snack. We hope people will take the plunge and ‘live more yes’ with our blindfolded tasting challenge!”

The ‘Bar of YES!’ will be open to the public on 13th to 14th of March, with chef appearances from Nina Parker at lunchtime and dinner services.

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Mondelēz International-owned cheese snack brand Dairylea, is offering families the chance to win ‘super cool’ or ‘cheesy’ prizes this summer.

Launched in July and running until the end of September, the on-pack activation will offer over 1,000 instant win prizes that are either ‘cool’ or ‘cheesy,’ including tablets, bikes, and karaoke kits. To find out if they’re a winner, consumers need to purchase a promotional pack then head to supercoolorsupercheesy.com to enter their barcode.

The promotion will feature on packs of Dairylea Dunkers, Snackers and Lunchables, and aims to drive category growth. It will be supported by significant investment across digital and social.

Rebecca Prout, Senior brand manager for Dairylea commented: “Being the leading snacking cheese brand, with a 65% share of snacking kits and 33% of kids’ snacks, we’re championing these segments with a unique promotion that will help retailers drive cheese sales throughout the summer and during the back-to-school period. The concept is based around the cool and cheesy things in life and we hope this promotion will create fun discussions in everyday family life!”

Mondelēz International is a global snacking company with 2017 net revenues of approximately $26 billion. Mondelēz International is a world leader in biscuits, chocolate, gum, candy and powdered beverages, with power brands such as Oreo and belVita biscuits; Cadbury Dairy Milk and Milka chocolate and Trident gum.

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Nestlé-owned ice lolly brand Fab is taking over Bernie Spain Gardens on London South Bank to launch its summer roadshow this Saturday, before taking the experiential activation around the UK over the next six weeks.

The #myfabland roadshow will be at Bernie Spain Gardens, a green space between Gabriel’s Wharf and the OXO Tower on the London South Bank, from 12.00pm – 6.00pm on July 7 2018 with a free event for families. Children will be able to experience exploding confetti sprinkles geysers, huge Fab lolly mazes, ball pit moats, supersized slides and more fab fun.

Alongside the #myfabland tour, there is also a competition running on Facebook offering a family of four the chance to win a VIP package to the Bristol Balloon Fiesta.

The #myfabland experience has been designed and managed by i2i Marketing.

After opening on the South Bank, #myfabland will be touring across the UK throughout July and August at the following locations:

• Bernie Spain Gardens, London South Bank: July 7, 12.00pm-6.00pm
• Birmingham Bullring: July 13-15, 10.00am-6.00pm (daily):
• Bournemouth: July 20-22, 10.00am-6.00pm (daily)
• Sunderland Air Show: July 28-29, 10.00am-6.00pm (daily)
• Nottingham Riverside Festival: August 4-5, 10.00am-6.00pm (daily)
• Bristol Balloon Fiesta: August 9-12, 12.00pm-8.00pm Thursday, 10.00am-6.00pm Friday – Sunday
• Plymouth Plaza: August 17-19, 10.00am-6.00pm (daily)

Further details are on the Fab Facebook page.

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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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For the first time ever, Cadbury is inviting UK consumers to ‘Go Madbury for Cadbury’ and create their very own Cadbury Dairy Milk bar, which could become the newest addition to the iconic Cadbury Dairy Milk range to sit alongside well-known variants such as Caramel, Fruit & Nut and Whole Nut.

Cadbury fans aged 16 or over from the UK or Republic of Ireland can submit their dream bar at cadburyinventor.com, where they can pick from a range of ingredients which will be added to Cadbury Dairy Milk, including caramel, brownie, popping candy, chilli, orange, mustard and cashews. There are more than 90,000 different available combinations to choose from.

After choosing up to three ingredients, entrants will be asked to name their bar and explain a bit about what inspired their creation before sending on their entry.

A heavyweight marketing campaign including TV and social media will reach 78% of all UK adults through activity across the Cadbury website, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest.

David Shepherd, Director of Research and Development at Cadbury, says: “At Cadbury we’ve been making delicious chocolate for over 100 years and are always looking for ways to innovate and excite the great British public with our products. So we thought what better way to create the next iconic bar than to ask the people that love it the most.

Shepherd adds: “This is the first time ever we’ve opened the doors to our fans to help us create the next bar and we can’t wait to see how creative they get. With different flavours, from nutty, herby and spicy and a wealth of fruity favourites to choose from, we’re encouraging the nation to go Madbury and be as bold as possible in what to choose. It’ll be great to see the imagination of our fans shine through and now we have the chance to make the first fan-based Cadbury Dairy Milk bar a reality for our lucky finalists.”

The promotion kicked off on July 1^st and closes on July 31st 2018. After the closing date, all entries will be put through a rigorous judging process with the finalists being selected based on taste and creativity. Three finalists will be selected and will be invited to visit Cadbury’s Chocolate Centre of Excellence in Bournville, the home of Cadbury, where they will work with chocolate experts to experiment with their creations and make their bar a reality.

All three bars will go on sale next year and will be sold to the public for the same amount of time and on the same channels. The products are anticipated to be on sale for between eight to 12 weeks from June 2019.

UK consumers will be able to show their support by buying their favourite new creation or voting on social media to determine which of the finalists will be crowned the ultimate winner. The winner will be chosen based 80% on Nielsen sales data for their bar and 20% on votes on social media.

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.

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Nature Valley, the official snack bar of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), is bringing back its ‘The Court is Yours’ campaign for the second year running, and has signed up Great Britain Davis Cup captain Leon Smith to front the activity alongside last year’s brand ambassador, British no. 1 Johanna Konta.

The campaign, put together by creative marketing agency Space, calls on the British public to pick up a racket and get playing. Designed to encourage people of all ages and abilities to get out and play tennis this summer, it follows last year’s successful campaign which resulted in Nature Valley becoming the No. 1 protein bar brand, and the fastest growing. This year’s campaign will focus on supporting 150,000 people to get out in nature and play tennis, proactively demonstrating how you can play wherever and whenever.

Johanna Konta and Leon Smith will provide inspiration and share their top tennis tips, encouraging people to make their own court wherever they are, with whatever they have at hand, such as using a bench as a net to make a court space between two trees.

The campaign is aiming for a reach of over 500m, tripling last year’s results through an integrated approach across shopper, digital, social and PR.

To bolster its grassroots credentials and get more people playing at tennis venues as well as on improvised courts, for the first time Nature Valley is also supporting the LTA’s Great British Tennis Weekend on July 21-22, a country-wide initiative to help tennis clubs and venues attract people from the local community to come and try their local tennis facilities and have a go at the sport.

In partnership with four clubs in Eastbourne, Birmingham, Nottingham and South West London, the weekend of play aims to make tennis more accessible for families across the country, encouraging them to visit their local courts and have fun with tennis. The clubs will be holding a range of free activities to demonstrate the many ways to get into tennis, from mini tennis for youngsters, opportunities for families to play together, and showcasing fitness sessions such as Cardio Tennis. The Nature Valley activity at the London club will also welcome Johanna to the event, where she will play with members of the public and share her top tips.

To further support tennis in British, tennis fans will be able to keep their energy levels up by trying a variety of Nature Valley bars with more than 50,000 bars given away during the summer.

Arjoon Bose, Marketing Head UK & Northern Europe for Häagen-Dazs, Nature Valley and Fibre One, says: “Our ambition is for everyone in Britain to include a Nature Valley bar in their tennis kit bag. We are excited about continuing our journey with British Tennis by working with both our ambassadors and helping make tennis more accessible to people across the country. We want to demonstrate the power of sport to connect with our audience and show that tennis can be enjoyed by everyone, anywhere.”

Last year’s campaign (which won Gold in the Most Effective Sponsorship category at the IPM Awards 2018 last week) saw total brand sales grow +19% on the previous year, and generated the brand’s highest ever penetration at 15.2% – contributing 70% of total segment growth in the category. It generated a 76% lift in sales for Nature Valley’s protein line, resulting in record share and penetration.

This year’s campaign will also include bespoke initiatives with Tesco and Sainsbury’s, giving shoppers the chance to win equipment and skills such as a coaching session, tennis kit signed by Johanna Konta and professional Babolat rackets and balls. The British no. 1 will also appear in person at supermarkets in Birmingham, Eastbourne and Nottingham.

David Atkinson, Managing Partner at Space, adds: “The Court is Yours is an inspirational campaign with a true purpose. It’s a long-term and powerful platform designed to create real change for good that we can evolve year on year to align with Nature Valley’s ambitions to encourage more people to get involved with the sport by providing inspiration and practical support.”

Newly-signed brand ambassador Leon Smith has been the Great Britain Davis Cup captain since 2010, leading the team to Davis Cup victory in 2015. He coached Andy Murray during his early years and has been devoted to developing and growing the new generation of British tennis talent in his Davis Cup capacity.

Nature Valley is owned by international food group General Mills. In the UK, Nature Valley is the #1 cereal bar brand and is a major partner of British Tennis as title sponsor of the prestigious ATP and WTA grass-court tournaments of the LTA at the Nature Valley Open (Nottingham), the Nature Valley Classic (Birmingham) and the Nature Valley International (Eastbourne) with British #1 Johanna Konta as its brand ambassador. Nature Valley is also an official global partner of the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals at London O2.

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is the National Governing Body for tennis in Great Britain, responsible for developing and promoting the sport, with a mission to get more people playing tennis more often. The LTA runs and supports a network of 11,500 approved tournaments for players of all ages, the corner-stones of which are the premier grass court events leading up to Wimbledon: the Nature Valley Open at Nottingham, the Nature Valley Classic at Birmingham, the Fever-Tree Championships at Queens Club and the Nature Valley International Eastbourne.

Space is an award-winning integrated marketing agency which works across social, mobile, outdoor, in store, on-pack, in print, live or virtually. Clients include Heineken, Arla Foods, William Grant & Sons, General Mills, Eurostar, Sky, Coral, Bundesliga, UEFA, NBA and AELTC.

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Nestlé has partnered with hundreds of venues across the UK and Ireland to encourage families to spend more time together and do something fun, as part of a new ‘Kids Go Free’ on-pack promotion.

Families will have the opportunity to get a free kids ticket when buying any promotional pack of Nestlé confectionery products, such as Smarties, Rowntree’s or Milkybar.

All participating packs contain a unique code that can be exchanged for one free child ticket when buying a full priced adult ticket (or two child tickets for the price of one) at hundreds of venues across the UK and Ireland.

Indoor and outdoor adventures on offer include days out to zoos, safaris, museums and castles to activities such as kayaking, canoeing and dry ski slopes.

Lucy Fawcett, Brand Manager, ‘Kids Go Free’ promotion, says: “’Kids Go Free’ is all about motivating families to enjoy time spent together. We know that entertaining children can be a challenge sometimes and we hope that this promotion gives families that inspiration and value for money to enjoy a quality time together as well as making memories. There are hundreds of activities to choose from and we hope that the whole families will find the promotion exciting, fun and even educational.”

The promotion will run for a year from the end of May 2018 until 30^th April 2019 and will be supported by a digital media campaign, including online advertising and social media.

Earlier this month, Nestlé UK and Ireland partnered with online streaming service NOW TV as part of an on-pack promotion to offer consumers the chance to win either a monthly Sky Cinema, Entertainment or Kids pass, or Sky Sports day pass, with 1,000 passes up for grabs every hour for eight weeks.

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Nestlé UK and Ireland has partnered with online streaming service NOW TV to launch a brand new on-pack promotion which will feature on some of its favourite confectionery brands including KitKat, Aero, Yorkie, Toffee Crisp and Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles.

The promotion, which went live this week, offer consumers the chance to win either a monthly Sky Cinema, Entertainment or Kids pass, or Sky Sports day pass, with 1,000 passes to be won every hour for eight weeks.

The promotion can be entered from 8.00am to midnight every day from May 21^st to July 15^th, with 1,000 winning moments each hour. Entries outside these daily start and finish times will not be accepted.

To enter, consumers need to go online to the promotional site – www.nestle-promotions.co.uk/nowtv – and input a code found on the inside of a promotional wrapper. They will then be told instantly if they are a winner; if they are, they will be able to select the pass that they prefer. Consumers who win will be asked for their card details as part of setting up a free subscription; they will have to cancel the subscription or they will be charged once the free period has run out.

In the Republic of Ireland, companies can only run prize draws linked to purchase if they partner with a charity which has a lottery licence; for this promotion, Nestlé has partnered with Down Syndrome Ireland.

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PepsiCo brands are coming together this summer to encourage shoppers to host their own big night in with its range of snacks and beverages and get behind their favourite football team. The ‘Power of One’ campaign features an on-pack promotion offering prizes across selected formats of Walkers Tear ‘n’ Share, Walkers Stax, Doritos and Pepsi Max.

PepsiCo is not an official partner of the FIFA World Cup 2018, being held in Russia this summer – arch rival Coca-Cola has partnership rights. Like many other companies, however, PepsiCo is looking to tap in to the football fever likely to take hold across the UK shortly, without infringing on any rights held by FIFA or Coca-Cola.

In the ‘Power of One’ promotion, for the chance to win prizes, shoppers need to purchase any two items from the range, register online at one of the respective brands’ dedicated websites (walkers.co.uk/perfectmatch, doritos.co.uk/perfectmatch or pepsi.co.uk/perfectmatch) and enter the codes found on-pack. Consumers can then spin the carousel to see if they can score the Perfect Match (3 matching icons) and win a prize to enjoy in front of the next game. There is a No Purchase Necessary route for consumers in Northern Ireland.

The prize pool includes 49″ LG Smart 4K Ultra HD LED TV, Walkers Snack Bowl & Pepsi Max Glasses bundles, coupons for a free pack of Walkers or Doritos or coupons for a free bottle of Pepsi Max.

Andy Hawkswell, Walkers Marketing Manager, says, “With over 80,000 prizes up for grabs, we are excited to be launching our biggest ever Power of One promotion to really help the nation get together and cheer on their favourite team. We have recruited Lionel Messi, Dele Alli and Gary Lineker who will be appearing on packs to maximise awareness and capture the nation’s love of the beautiful game.”

Global drinks and snacks company PepsiCo generated approximately $63 billion in net revenue in 2016, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. 22 of its brands generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

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Walkers, the UK’s leading savoury snacking brand, has launched an on-pack promotion offering shoppers 25% off Virgin Experience Days over the summer period.

The promotion will appear on the top five snack lines in the market, Walkers Quavers, Wotsits, Monster Munch, Squares and French Fries, in multi and single-serve packs.

This exclusive discount is available with every pack and can be used on the Virgin Experience Days product range, which includes over 2,000 activities to choose from. The on-pack promotion will run up until October 14th, 2018, driving sales of the products throughout the summer.

To enter, shoppers need to visit the promotional site stated on the back of their promotional pack to register for an instant unique code. The code then allows them to book any Virgin Experience Days activity of their choice and receive a 25% discount at checkout.

Walkers says that up to 60% of people plan summer activities at least three months in advance, and its promotion will help shoppers make the most of the British summertime, whatever the weather.

Rachel Holms, Walkers Marketing Director, comments: “We’re really looking forward to kicking off our latest on-pack promotion as we will be helping Walkers fans fill their holidays with exciting activities at a reduced cost. 45% of households in the UK already buy into the Walkers snacks range and purchase on average seven times a year, so we are confident that the activity will be a success.”

The launch of the Walkers and Virgin Experience Days partnership will be accompanied by major in-store support across both grocery and impulse channels.

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

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