Bottlegreen reaches out to national press

PR has previously concentrated on the ingredients and nature of its brands, but Bottlegreen marketing manager Matthew Langley said activity will attempt to attach a lifestyle message to products by talking about the occasions attached to drinking.

The PR campaign with a six-figure budget will position Bottlegreen’s cordials and pressés and its Bon Grape-branded lower-alcohol spritzers as ideal for occasions when people want an alternative to alcohol and caffeine, such as at lunch.

With a focus on women aged 25 and over, it will concentrate on alcohol avoidance, such as anti-drink-driving campaigns and post-Christmas health features, and raise the brands’ profiles in pregnancy titles.

Langley has hired London-based Clarion Communications to take over

PR for its portfolio from Kabassa Marketing Communications, which is based in Bristol. Clarion will start work in February 2005.

‘We needed a larger agency that could deal with our growth. It came down to the inside/outside London debate and Clarion’s access to national journalists attracted us,’ said Langley.

Bottlegreen was established in 1989 and has an annual turnover of around £6.5m. The company was buoyed last month by a contract win to produce lemon and apple drinks under the Prince of Wales’s Duchy Originals banner, and the August launch of its dairy and soya-free milk alternative Tiger White.

Langley said new brands would be launched into ‘completely different areas to what you would expect Bottlegreen to operate in’.