Morgan's Spiced gets £3m UK ad campaign

This summer, Diageo GB is investing £3 million on an awareness campagne for its Morgan’s Spiced rum brand. The campaign includes a humorous new advert for television and cinema – the first television advertising campaign for the brand in more than five years, and will be supported by a full press and online campaign.

Diageo says the theme of the Morgan’s Spiced campaign is The Modern Adventurer, and its essence is "finding adventure in the everyday".

"The Modern Adventurer knows that to be a ‘conqueror’ today requires a different kind of attitude - an adventurer in the 21st Century means rediscovering your own backyard," the company says.

The tongue-in-cheek television ad features men preparing for a visit to a new local pub in their town. The epic and adventurous journey they undertake features such challenges as navigating through the local park, avoiding aggressive geese, and avoiding hazardous weather conditions in the form of a leaf blower.

The advertising campaign will launch on TV and in cinemas on July 6across Scotland & North England (Yorkshire, Granada and Tyne Tees). It will run through July and August 2009 and then again in March 2010.

In addition to television and cinema, the campaign will continue in print and outdoor executions, continuing the Modern Adventurer theme. A brand new, dedicated website, www.morgans-spiced.co.uk will launch where the Morgan’s Spiced brand team will offer prizes and drinks vouchers for consumers that register to be part of the programme.


Additional spend
Alongside the advertising campaign, Diageo GB will be investing £800,000 to drive trial and awareness of Morgan’s Spiced.  The campaign will focus on the simple and great-tasting Morgan’s Spiced & Cola long mixed spirit serve and uses the Modern Adventurer theme. Select on-trade outlets will host interactive sampling experiences, giving consumers the chance to taste Morgan’s Spiced & Cola.

Specifically for the off-trade, the Morgan’s Spiced brand team will be focusing on the recently released 35cl SKU.  The 35cl will cater for the ‘something for tonight’ occasion, when consumers visit a supermarket looking specifically to purchase for that evening, or for the ‘top up shop’ as opposed to the weekly shop. It will also provide consumers with a lower price point SKU for trial of Morgan’s Spiced. Bespoke POS is available to retailers to increase visibility of the brand.  

Julie Bramham, Morgan’s Spiced marketing manager at Diageo GB, says: “We’re really excited to be investing significantly more behind the Morgan’s Spiced brand this year and bringing it back on television.  The brand is in fantastic growth across the trade at the moment1 and while it remains very popular in its Scotland heartland, we’re seeing real interest and growth in England and Wales.  We’re confident the Modern Adventurer campaign will drive the mass awareness television ad campaigns are proven to do and help to increase purchase of the brand for retailers across Great Britain.”

1 June 2009 - Felicity Murray