Diageo's wine division Percy Fox plans to end winter gloom and brighten up the wine category with Blossom Hill's £1.2m Taste the Sunshine campaign.

The press and outdoor activity will break on 15 February and marks a record spend for Blossom Hill, which is the UK's biggest wine brand according to The Grocer's Top Products Survey.

An on-pack promotion will run alongside the push giving consumers £50 off selected holiday packages with each purchase of Blossom Hill Californian Red or Californian White. Consumers can collect up to four £50 tokens, making it a "high-incentive prize", according to Percy Fox.

"Taste the Sunshine has been introduced to help add value into wine," said Joanne Morgan, brand manager at Blossom Hill Communications. "Currently, many promotions within the category are driven by price alone, but this campaign offers consumers a compelling incentive to purchase."

The eight-week campaign would give the category an injection of news and a "fast start" to 2011, she said, calling it Blossom Hill's "most generous and compelling offer yet".

Last year the brand pulled back from deep promotions in a bid to drive long-term value, according to marketing manager Liz Ashdown, speaking in the 18 December issue of The Grocer. Sales of Blossom Hill grew 1.1% to £287.2m in 2010 [Nielsen MAT 2 October], compared with growth of 11.7% in 2009.

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