Holidays are coming….to a town near you

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

This November, Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd (CCE) is spreading Christmas cheer with its three biggest festive brands to help retailers capitalise on their soft drinks opportunity. Coca-Cola, Schweppes and the Appletiser family will be more visible than ever with seasonal campaigns designed to help retailers maximise sales and motivate shoppers to purchase their favourite soft drink brands.

The fairy-lit trucks from the iconic Coca-Cola TV advert will also be touring through key cities nationwide  for four weeks throughout November and December. This will include a number of retailer stops and sampling activation to raise awareness and create excitement in the lead up to the special day.

Celebrate with Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola will signpost the start of the season with its iconic 'Holidays are coming' TV, outdoor and radio advertising, as well as the introduction of a new 'Snow Globe' outdoor and TV creative. In addition to the multi-media campaign, there will be targeted shopper communication and POS for every channel, including grocery, impulse and cash and carry, all part of a multi-million brand investment.

From 10th November to 10th December, Coca-Cola is giving away an X-Box bundle every hour including the new X-Box 360 with Kinect™ sensor and adventure game. Available on 500ml and 2L packs of Coke, diet Coke and Coke Zero, consumers can win by either texting or entering the on-pack unique code online at www.cokezone.co.uk, to be placed into the hourly draw [2]. 2L bottles of Coke, diet Coke and Coke Zero will also receive a festive makeover for strong shelf stand-out, with Father Christmas making an appearance on packs of Coke. To support the campaign, 2 x 2L bottles of Coke for £2.50 [3] price mark packs will also be available for retailers to offer their shoppers.

'Make it a sparkling Christmas' with Schweppes
Schweppes Mixers and Lemonade are an integral part of shoppers' purchasing habits at this time of year and the festive season is a key period to recruit new consumers.  Building off the back of Schweppes' highly successful multi-million pound summer activity, the brand is investing £1million this year on its new 'Make it a sparkling Christmas' campaign. This will include durable retailer 'Make it a sparkling Christmas' themed displays in-store including point of purchase and a 96 sheet poster campaign.

Christmas Cheer from the Appletiser family
Appletiser will be driving growth in the Adult Special Soft Drinks sector this winter with its 'Claim a FREE bottle of Appletiser with every two bottles purchased' on-pack promotion. Available from October 2010 to January 2011 on 2.2 million 750ml bottles, to enter consumers simply insert two unique codes online to claim their free bottle of Appletiser, which will also give them an opportunity to claim additional items such as fruit trees and cookware [4].

In addition, there will be promotional support through targeted display units, and multi-buy shelf deals across the Appletiser family as well as specific customer loyalty activity through Nectar and Tesco Clubcard. The brand's food-led media campaign will continue with its sponsorship of the Good Food Channel as well as a retailer and national press advertising campaign.

Selena Taylor, Trade Communications Manager at CCE, comments:
"Christmas is a big opportunity for retailers to increase sales of soft drinks and CCE wants to help our customers to enjoy strong festive sales. Our Open More Business best practice [5] on merchandising at Christmas will help drive sales not just for our brands, but for the whole category.

"Last year Coca-Cola and Schweppes created a £118m [6] opportunity for retailers over the Christmas season.  This year's campaign with increased investment and exciting new promotions offers a real opportunity for retailers to increase shoppers' basket spend with premium trusted brands such as Coca-Cola, Schweppes and the Appletiser family."

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For further information please contact Carly at Mercieca Ltd on
020 7485 0100 or carly@mercieca.co.uk

Notes to editors

Christmas 2009 - Soft Drinks Performance
Despite the challenging economic climate, Christmas 2009 was a great season with total retail till growth up 5.1% in the month leading up to Christmas . Soft drinks grew by over 4% in volume, driven by shoppers buying more per trip  and Cola was the fastest growing soft drinks sector at Christmas in value, driven by existing shoppers up-weighting their purchase .  The My Coke portfolio (Coca-Cola, diet Coke, Coke Zero) was worth £99m for Christmas 2009 , more than turkeys (£77m), brussel sprouts (£16m) and mince pies (£5m)  combined.

Brand Performance
In addition to Cola, the three top soft drink sectors by volume share over the festive season are Lemonades, Mixers and Adult Special . Of the CCE portfolio, Coca-Cola is the number one brand in Grocery , Schweppes is the number one Mixer brand , Schweppes Lemonade is the number one Lemonade brand  and Appletiser is the number two Adult Socialising Brand .

In 2009 Coke had the number one value sales at Christmas up 13.1% and the entire My Coke portfolio (including Coke, diet Coke and Coke Zero) was up 4.1% in volume and 6.4% in value .

In 2009 Mixers gained a 38%  uplift over the eight weeks to Christmas, representing a £23.1m opportunity, and Schweppes accounted for 54% of this . Lemonade also showed a significant 17%  uplift over the same time period, representing a £24.1m opportunity and Schweppes accounted for 49%  of this.

Open More Business Guide to Christmas Merchandising

• Create maximum visibility in-store and in-depot with POS to drive extra sales
• Retailers should consider secondary siting when merchandising their stores in the lead up to Christmas. For example, stocking Schweppes mixers alongside core spirit brands to encourage link purchase and stocking Coca-Cola next to other products such as confectionery sharing tins and premium snacks purchased around Christmas party time
• The build up to Christmas starts at the end of October, peaking in the final four weeks. In store CCE would advise retailers that keeping fully stocked will ensure that they won't miss out on lost sales
• It is essential to start stocking product from the beginning of November to boost and maintain sales increase throughout the Christmas period. Retailers should focus on targeting heavy consumers to maintain sales and also encourage occasional consumers with visibility of product displays early in the season to encourage purchase

About Coca-Cola Enterprises:
Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd (CCE) is a UK based subsidiary of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc, the world's largest marketer, producer and distributor of The Coca-Cola Company's (TCCC) products.

CCE manufactures and distributes products for TCCC as well as products for other brand-owners, throughout England, Scotland and Wales, employing around 4,500 people in Great Britain across seven manufacturing sites and a number of regional offices and depots.

CCE is committed to minimising the environmental impact of its products and operations, with a particular focus on sustainable packaging, water stewardship, and energy and climate protection.

CCE manufactures and distributes the following TCCC brands: Coca-Cola, diet Coke, Coke Zero, Fanta, Dr Pepper, Sprite, Schweppes, Schweppes Abbeywell, glaceau, Relentless, Powerade, Oasis and 5 Alive. In addition, CCE also distributes Monster, Appletiser, Ocean Spray (from 2010) and Capri-Sun on behalf of other brand owners.

CCE has the largest share of soft drinks in the UK  with on-going brand and product innovation continuing to reinforce this position of leadership within the category. Coca-Cola is the UK's number one selling soft drink  and remains one of the most innovative brands in the world today.

• Coca-Cola, Coke, diet Coke, diet Coca-Cola and Coke Zero are all registered trademarks of The Coca-Cola Company
• Schweppes is a registered trademark of Atlantic Industries
• Appletiser, Peartiser & Fruitiser are registered trademarks of SAB Miller International B.V

[1]Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, London, Bristol. Cities and dates are subject to change.
[2]Hourly draws from 10/11/10 to 10/12/10 inclusive. Entrants must be 12 yrs or over (under 16s require parental/guardian consent). See promotional packs for more information and visit www.cokezone.co.uk for full T&Cs. Promoter: Coca-Cola Great Britain, 1 Queen Caroline Street, London W6 9HQ. ©
[3]Compared to Manufacturer's Suggested Selling Price for 2 x 2 litre bottles of Coke, diet Coke, Coke Zero subject to availability. 2 for £2.50 will also be available on diet Coke, Coke Zero, Fanta Orange, Sprite and Dr Pepper

[4]Terms and conditions: October 2010 to January 2011 inclusive. Purchases required - to participate, register as a Member on the Appletiser Coinks® run website and enter the Coinks Code found on Promotional Packs to start collecting Points. Entrants must be 16 years old or over and residents of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man or Channel Islands. Promoter: Coca-Cola Enterprises, Charter Place, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 1 EZ
[5]Reference - Open More Business in Notes to Editors
[6]Nielsen Scantrack, Grocery Multiples 8 weeks to w/e 26.12.09
[7]Total till growth, 4 week to w/e 27.12.09
[8]Nielsen total sales across Grocery Mults & Co-Ops to w/e 27.12/09
[9]BWS fastest growing category 4 weeks and 8 weeks to 27.12.09
[10]Nielsen Scantrack, Grocery Multiples 8 weeks to w/e 26.12.09
[11]Nielsen Scantrack, Grocery Multiples 8 weeks to w/e 26.12.09

[12]Nielsen Multiples and Co-ops 4 weeks to w/e 26.12.09
[13]Nielsen Total Coverage MAT  to w/e 26.12.09
[14]TNS Total Coverage MAT 26.12.09
[15]TNS Total Coverage MAT 26.12.09
[16]Nielsen Total Coverage + Total Brewer value sales, full year 2009
[17]Nielsen Total Coverage 8 weeks to 26.12.09 vs YAG
[18]Nielsen, Total Coverage, value sales, 44 weeks to 31st October 2009
[19]Nielsen Total Coverage , value sales, 8 weeks to 26th December 2009
[20]Nielsen Total Coverage, value sales, 44 weeks to 31st October 2009
[21[Nielsen Total Coverage, value sales, 8 weeks to 26th December 2009