Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) has linked up with video game publisher EA and its market leading football game FIFA 18, for a massive on-pack promotion celebrating the soft drink brand’s sponsorship of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Running across the whole Coca-Cola portfolio, the promotion – designed to appeal to the 14 million people expected to tune in for each game – will see unique codes printed on promotional packs of Coca-Cola Classic and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar from now until June 17th. Consumers can enter the codes online to unlock exclusive in-game content within FIFA 18 for the Xbox One and PlayStation4 consoles. They will also be entered into a draw to win a rare player and Coca-Cola jersey for their team.

CCEP says research shows that more than half the UK population are planning to watch this year’s World Cup.

The promotion will be supported by a £2.5 million marketing campaign that includes POS, digital, social and out-of-home advertising.

Simon Harrison, customer marketing director at Coca-Cola European Partners, says: “89% of consumers watched the 2016 UEFA Euros at home and 33% consumed soft drinks during matches. Our latest promotion is designed to capture the excitement of the nation ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup by partnering with the world’s biggest sporting game.”

Coca-Cola European Partners is the world’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler. CCEP is the sole licensed bottler for products of The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) in Andorra, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Luxemburg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

CCEP makes, sells and delivers the following products in GB for TCCC: Coca-Cola Classic, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Fanta, Dr Pepper, Sprite, Schweppes, Fuze Tea, HONEST, AdeZ, Abbey Well, glacéau smartwater, Powerade, Oasis and Appletiser. In GB, it also makes, sells or delivers Monster, Relentless and Capri-Sun.

The Coca-Cola Company is one of the longest-standing corporate partners of FIFA, with a formal association since 1974 and an official sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup that began in 1978. Coca-Cola has had stadium advertising at every FIFA World Cup since 1950. FIFA and The Coca-Cola Company have now extended their long-time partnership to 2030.

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Mobile phone network Three will be running a pop-up ‘All You Can Pug’ brunch to celebrate Puggerfly, the star of its latest ad campaign and, the network claims, the world’s first Augmented Reality (AR) pet.

Three has teamed up with the Pug Café, UK’s leading pop-up event provider for pugs, to create an immersive experience for dog owners and admirers alike. A limited number of tickets are available, priced at £5, which entitles the holder to one 75-minute brunch slot including one main breakfast dish, bottomless pastries, prosecco and coffee or tea, as well as food for their dog, if they bring one.

All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Pug Dog Welfare & Rescue Association.

The pop-up ‘All You Can Pug’ brunch, which will take place on Saturday May 12th, follows the recent announcement that Three has added Snapchat to its range of services offered as part of Go Binge, allowing customers to snap, chat and share without using their data allowance. Three also unveiled the new star of its ad campaign, Puggerfly, a squishy-faced, purple-winged pug, created, according to the network, to embody all things social and fun.

Puggerfly allows users to access different consecutive Snapchat lenses across seven days, letting them nurture and love their Puggerfly as he grows from a ball-chasing, rainbow-pooping puppyfly right through to a fully-fledged flying Puggerfly. Snap’s 12 million UK daily active users can interact with the animated dog, no matter what network they are on. Users can feed Puggerfly treats, play ball with it, enjoy sloppy dog kisses and even watch it twerk to dance music. The seven lenses launched on April 26th, one per day; after the seven days are up, they will be available to Snapchat users via Snapcodes that will be incorporated into Three’s UK wide advertising and media campaign.

The Pug Brunch was created and managed by Three’s PR agency, W Communications.

Three’s ‘All You Can Pug Brunch’ will take place simultaneously in London and Liverpool, with dog owners and admirers invited to head to Covent Garden Grind in London and Love Thy Neighbour in Liverpool for bottomless brunch dishes and the chance to pet pugs. Guests also have the opportunity to capture photos of themselves with Puggerfly’s giant rainbow poo statue (recently seen roaming London’s capital’s streets), dress up their pampered pooches as Puggerfly, or sample all seven Puggerfly Snap codes.

Consumers can book tickets for the one day pop-up pug cafes via https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/Liverpool/ and https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/London/.

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Hot chocolate brand Options is offering consumers one month’s free membership with the online magazine app Readly, worth £7.99, in its latest on-pack promotion.

Options, which according to Nielsen Scantrack data is the UK’s leading instant hot chocolate brand, is owned by tea and hot beverages company R. Twining & Company Ltd.

The promotion which runs from now until December 31^st, 2017, was created by brand activation specialist Toucan, in partnership with Readly. Consumers can claim one month’s free membership of the UK’s No 1 magazine app worth £7.99, by redeeming the unique codes which feature on jars across five flavours of Options hot chocolate (Belgian Choc, Mint, Orange, White Choc and Salted Caramel). Options hot chocolate jars 220g retail at £3.99.

Claimants are directed to an Options branded landing page where they can set up a Readly account and gain access to over 2,000 magazines across five different devices (so family members can share) without submitting their bank details. The initial one-month subscription can be extended twice for a maximum of three months by buying another two jars.

Andy Corris, Senior Brand Manager for Options said “Options is all about having your hot chocolate moment your way. Our drinkers love the wide range of hot chocolate flavours we produce and partnering with Readly offers something for everyone, really allowing our consumers to tailor their perfect hot chocolate moment.”

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To celebrate Mother’s Day in the US, KFC is giving away a free romance novella, ‘Tender Wings of Desire’, featuring founder (and now brand character) Colonel Harland Sanders as the love interest.

The company has made the novella available as an e-book, which can be downloaded for free for a limited time on Amazon.com. KFC also plans to surprise 100 fans on Facebook with the chance to win dinner and a hard copy of the book.

The novella is being given away for free with the KFC $20 Fill Up, which includes eight pieces of Extra Crispy Chicken, a large coleslaw, four biscuits and two large helpings of mashed potatoes and gravy.

George Felix, director of advertising for KFC U.S., said: “The only thing better than being swept away by the deliciousness of our Extra Crispy Chicken is being swept away by Harland Sanders himself. So this Mother’s Day, the bucket of chicken I get for my wife will come with a side of steamy romance novella. Dinner is taken care of and she’ll have the time to escape her busy schedule.”

Set in Victorian England, the novella follows rebellious Lady Madeline Parker, who finally feels like she is in control of her life after running away from Parker Manor and a loveless betrothal. When she finds herself swept into the arms of Harland, a handsome sailor with a mysterious past, she realizes she cannot control how she feels. Madeline must choose between a life of order and a man of passion.

Mother’s Day in the US falls on the second Sunday in May every year (so in 2017 it is May 14) and is KFC’s best-selling day of the year. The restaurant chain says it sees a 40% sales jump, serving about 380,000 families each year on Mother’s Day.

KFC Corporation, based in Louisville, Ky., is the world’s most popular chicken restaurant chain and is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc.

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Rockstar, the energy drink made by AG Barr, has teamed up with new console game ‘Gears of War 4’ for an Xbox on-pack promotion.

Running across one million cans of 500ml Rockstar Original (plain and 99p price-marked packs) throughout October and November, the promotion gives UK consumers the chance to win a pack containing an Xbox One S console, Gears of War 4 game and gaming headset every day for 61 days.

A separate daily draw will select three consumers who will each win a digital copy of the game.

Entry is by inputting the unique codes found on can ringpulls at gears4.rockstarenergy.com/gb/

In addition, the ringpull codes also enable consumers to claim in-game rewards for Gears of War 4, including game skins, weapons and extra Experience Points.

Finally, the promotional cans are limited edition, design by US graphic artist Jessie Hernandez.

AG Barr’s head of marketing Adrian Troy says: “Gears of War 4 is set to be the biggest launch from Xbox this year, supported by a £4m marketing spend. With over 33 million gamers in the UK spending an average of 13 hours gaming each week, this on-pack promotion will really strike a chord with energy drinkers.”

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