Ambient juice Rubicon is reinforcing its large ethnic consumer fan base with a £5m marketing investment for 2010, including sponsorship of Sky Sports cricket coverage this summer.
It was the brand's biggest-ever marketing investment and heralded a long-term association between Rubicon and cricket, according to Irn-Bru manufacturer AG Barr, which bought the brand in 2008.
Cricket enjoyed "huge engagement levels" within Rubicon's key consumer base of ethnic communities, said the company this week.
The sponsorship runs from 30 April until 2 June and will cover Sky Sports' coverage of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup and South Africa's tour of the West Indies.
"We know cricket is very important to our consumers and is the second-most popular sport on TV in the UK," said AG Barr head of marketing Adrian Troy. "We expect the massively increased exposure to further boost buoyant sales for the brand."
As a value ambient brand, Rubicon was benefiting from the ongoing economic gloom as consumers continued to trade down from smoothies and premium juice drinks, said senior brand manager Ben Anderson.
While sales of juices and smoothies have fallen 3.7% over the past year, Rubicon sales are up 4.5% to £14.3m, with volumes up 8.6% [IRI 52w/e 23 January 2010].
"The key thing is we've invested [in marketing] over the past year. Other brands such as Del Monte [down 71%] and Five Alive [down 6.9%] have latent awareness but haven't invested for quite a few years," added Anderson.
It was the brand's biggest-ever marketing investment and heralded a long-term association between Rubicon and cricket, according to Irn-Bru manufacturer AG Barr, which bought the brand in 2008.
Cricket enjoyed "huge engagement levels" within Rubicon's key consumer base of ethnic communities, said the company this week.
The sponsorship runs from 30 April until 2 June and will cover Sky Sports' coverage of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup and South Africa's tour of the West Indies.
"We know cricket is very important to our consumers and is the second-most popular sport on TV in the UK," said AG Barr head of marketing Adrian Troy. "We expect the massively increased exposure to further boost buoyant sales for the brand."
As a value ambient brand, Rubicon was benefiting from the ongoing economic gloom as consumers continued to trade down from smoothies and premium juice drinks, said senior brand manager Ben Anderson.
While sales of juices and smoothies have fallen 3.7% over the past year, Rubicon sales are up 4.5% to £14.3m, with volumes up 8.6% [IRI 52w/e 23 January 2010].
"The key thing is we've invested [in marketing] over the past year. Other brands such as Del Monte [down 71%] and Five Alive [down 6.9%] have latent awareness but haven't invested for quite a few years," added Anderson.
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