Bulmers' campaign scoops award in its own good time

Bulmers' advertising has been judged the most effective in the Irish market because it has reversed the negative image of the cider brand and increased Bulmers' share of the beer/ cider market from 6 per cent in 1997 to 10 per cent in 2000. At the IAPI Advertising Effectiveness Awards this week, the advertising strategy, which was devised by Young Advertising, took the gold medal in the long-term campaign category as well as the grand prix.

Showerings' commitment to changing the brand's image began 10 years ago when cider had an almost entirely negative image. According to Mr Brian Hayes, account director at Young, the research at that time showed its image was so bad most pubs refused to sell it.

The majority of people said while they had nothing against the product itself, they would be embarrassed to be seen drinking it. By 1996 this had largely been reversed. The "Nothing added but time" campaign, which emphasised the product's naturalness and its heritage, had worked and Bulmers was making it into the drink repertoire of ABC1 drinkers. That year, Young won IAPI's advertising effectiveness award but there were significant new threats in the market for Bulmers. Alcopops had arrived, Guinness had launched Hudson Blue and the lager market was growing.

In response, Young developed a three-pronged strategy. For outdoor advertising, it devised a series of seasonal posters focusing on the orchards and vats that consumers now link with the Bulmers brand; the pint bottle was heavily promoted through outdoor sites and television; and a new creative approach for TV was devised, focusing on people who were dedicated to their craft. Now Bulmers has an 88 per cent share of the cider market (up from 84 per cent in 1997) and has achieved a 4 per cent growth in share of the beer-cider market in the same period.

Young's closest competitor for the Grand Prix award was Irish International, which won a gold award for its work on Hibernian Insurance. Other winners included the same agency for Walkers' crisps, DDFH&B for Smirnoff Ice and Persil Tabs and McCann Erickson for an NTL recruitment campaign.

However, while there is considerable information in the case studies compiled by IAPI relating to the campaigns and their bottom line effects, there is very little, or in some cases no information at all on the advertising budgets. Awards were also given for the effectiveness of the Irish campaigns for Smirnoff Ice, Persil Tab and Walkers, all of which are international brands but there was no mention of the effect of these brands' UK-generated advertising, which would be familiar to an Irish audience.