pladis-owned snacks brand McVitie’s is running an interactive experience to back its ‘Sweeter Together’ Masterbrand advertising and marketing campaign. In keeping with the TV ad, featuring a crane driver, the Sweeter Together Challenge requires two consumers to work together to operate a model crane to grab a giant McVitie’s ‘prize’ Nibble, to instantly win prizes that are ‘sweeter when enjoyed together’.

pladis has appointed promotional marketing agency whynot! think people to deliver the interactive challenge, which will be appearing at Westfield Stratford City between until April 23rd April. It then moves to the Manchester Arndale Centre between April 25th and May 1st before finishing at the Cardiff St. David’s mall from May 4th to 7th. It will also be appearing at key London railway stations, including Waterloo, Paddington, Victoria and Euston.

The activity, which will also see the distribution of 800,000 samples of the  Nibbles product, is part of the re-launch of the McVitie’s brand, which is being backed with a £12m multi-media Masterbrand campaign, exploring the importance of real human connections and showing how the simple act of sharing a biscuit has the power to bring people together. It launched in mid March with the 60-second animated TV ad, titled ‘Crane’, showing a tower crane operator going about his work dozens of metres above the ground. Below him, he sees his colleagues enjoying the camaraderie of a tea break, complete with McVitie’s biscuits. He waves but is not seen.

As the day wears on, the operator becomes gloomy, craving some company – even if it’s only from passing birds. When he is convinced that everyone’s forgotten about him he gets a surprise: the latest steel beam he lifts has been loaded with a cup of tea and some McVitie’s biscuits. He looks down and sees his colleagues waving and smiling at him and his mood instantly lifts. The ad ends with a simple message: “Sometimes the little things are actually the really big things”.

A second TV ad will air later this year. Social and in-store activity also features as part of the integrated campaign.

Sarah Heynen, Marketing Vice President, pladis UK & Ireland, says: “whynot! think people have done an incredible job of bringing both the fun sharing attributes of Nibbles, and our Sweeter Together campaign, to life.  The challenge element physically executes our new brand purpose – enabling everyday moments of real human connections. We are confident that this brand experience will tap into our consumers’ love for our brands as well as supporting our efforts to drive penetration and repeat purchase of our Nibbles range.”

David Ryan, Creative Director, whynot! think people, adds: “Our Nibble twist on the iconic crane game is the perfect fit for a legendary brand such as McVitie’s. The Sweeter Together Challenge brings to life the new brand purpose, not only visually but by bringing people together to enjoy moments of sharing, the sweet spot for Nibbles.”

The Sweeter Together Challenges will be filmed and edited, with content featuring on outward facing TV screens at the events, as well as being used as part of a social media campaign to amplify the activation, extending campaign reach and driving footfall to future events.

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pladis-owned snacks brand McVitie’s has launched a brand-new Masterbrand campaign, ‘Sweeter Together’. The campaign explores the importance of real human connections and shows how the simple act of sharing a biscuit has the power to bring people together.

The £9.7m campaign launches with a TV ad campaign bringing to life the significant role the humble biscuit plays in everyday lives. A second ad will air later this year. Social and in-store activity will also feature as part of this integrated campaign.

As part of the launch, a major in-store promotion will be running across all McVitie’s Biscuits. Consumers will have the opportunity to win prizes including dream family holidays, weekend breaks and family days out. To enter, shoppers must buy any packet of McVitie’s biscuits and text ‘SWEETERTOGETHER’ to 66644 to find out if they have won.

The 60-second animated TV ad, titled ‘Crane’, shows a tower crane operator going about his work dozens of metres above the ground. Below him, he can see his colleagues enjoying the camaraderie of a tea break, complete with McVitie’s biscuits. He waves but is not seen.

As the day wears on, the operator becomes gloomy, craving some company – even if it’s only from passing birds. When he is convinced that everyone’s forgotten about him he gets a surprise: the latest steel beam he lifts has been loaded with a cup of tea and some McVitie’s biscuits. He looks down and sees his colleagues waving and smiling at him and his mood instantly lifts.

The ad ends with a simple message: “Sometimes the little things are actually the really big things”.

Sarah Heynen, Vice President of Marketing at pladis UK & Ireland, the global snacking company behind McVitie’s, said: “We know that despite being more connected than ever before digitally, we’re drifting further away from those real human connections that can mean the most. That’s why we’re so excited about our new ‘Sweeter Together’ campaign; because it has a very real message about the importance of togetherness. And we truly believe McVitie’s enables these moments every day.”

A second TV ad, ‘Brows’, will air later this year as part of the Sweeter Together campaign, telling the tale of a woman feeling nervous during her first day in a new job. Her sense of isolation disappears, however, when a new colleague breaks the ice with a joke and a packet of McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes is shared around.

The campaign has also been extended to convenience retailers, offering them a chance to win £1000. Retailers must first request a ‘Win Big Together’ POS kit from betterbiscuits@pladisglobal.com. They must then build a high-impact display that makes buying easy for shoppers and send images of the display back with a chance to win. In wholesale depots, the campaign will be executed through high impact displays and point of sale driven by the Field Sales team at pladis.

Pladis was established in January 2016 after Turkish conglomerate Yıldız Holding merged food companies United Biscuits, Ulker, Godiva Chocolatier and DeMet’s Candy Company into one global business. pladis is now one of the world’s leading snacking companies with brands including McVitie’s, Ulker and Godiva Chocolatier. pladis delights consumers with products across the snacking category including sweet and savoury biscuits, wafer, cake, chocolate, gum and candy. pladis has a 26,000-strong global workforce in 34 factories in 13 countries, with annual revenues of £2.2 billion.

The company has already delivered a series of successful product innovations in the biscuit and chocolate categories since the group was created, which include Godiva for retail, McVitie’s Nibbles and McVitie’s Chocolate Digestive Thins – products which have fast become firm favourites in pladis’ anchor markets.

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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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