MEDIA: Tizer links to pop show

Tizer has emerged as the sponsor of ITV’s Saturday morning pop

chart programme CD:UK, in a deal worth pounds 500,000.

ITV has been seeking a sponsor since August last year when it rebranded

its overall Saturday morning line-up as SM:TV. At the time, it ditched

its long-running music feature, The Chart Show, and replaced it with

CD:UK, hosted by TV celebrities Ant & Dec.

The programme broadcasts a variety of live pop music between 11.30am and

12.30pm.

Tizer, which is owned by AG Barr Soft Drinks, spent pounds 284,000 on

advertising last year (ACN Meal). It plans to run several different

45-second idents per show. The idents will adopt a light-hearted tone

and will be aimed at CD:UK’s diverse audience of children and young

adults.

The new sponsorship, which begins on January 23,will run until January

2000. It was negotiated by CIA Medianetwork and ITV’s sales house

Granada Media.

The soft-drink brand had previously sponsored The Chart Show. A

spokeswoman for AG Barr said that Tizer had been happy with that deal

and would have almost certainly signed up for another series had ITV not

axed the show.

To tie-in with its sponsorship of The Chart Show, Tizer asked consumers,

through on-pack promotions, to send in photos of a nominated friend

whose head would be ’refreshed’ and shown in the idents.

AG Barr appointed Brand New Media to launch a web site to complement the

TV sponsorship.

In 1996 AG Barr dropped its classic circular logo for a modern-looking

blue can with a red top. At the same time a new catchline, ’Refresh your

head’, was introduced to replace the original ’The appetizer’

slogan.

The rethink was aimed at its core market of five- to 15-year-olds.

Prior to this, the drink had used Chris Evans, DJ and television

presenter, to endorse the brand.

AG Barr’s other brand, Irn-Bru, was signed up to sponsor TFI Friday, the

show hosted by Evans on Channel 4, in February last year.

AG Barr believes the new sponsorship will boost sales of its Tizer

brand.

According to figures from ACNielsen, Tizer does not feature in the list

of top 25 soft drinks. Irn-Bru is at number eight.

Nigel Dugdale, group marketing manager at AG Barr, said: ’During the

year, CD:UK will reach 91% of kids and 89% of 16- to 24-year-old adults,

a perfect blend for the Tizer brand.’

More recently, Tizer sponsored two one-off music events on ITV last

November; The MTV Europe Music Awards and The Noise.

This article was first published on Marketing