DS Smith RRP helps ‘Bring Out The Branston’ on supermarket shelves

Branston Pickle has teamed up with DS Smith Packaging to help re-launch its ‘Bring out the Branston’ campaign.

The 90-year-old Branston Pickle brand was sold by Premier Foods to Japanese firm Mizkan for £92.5m in February 2013.

The new owners are investing heavily in Branston; as well as launching the product’s first TV ad in seven years, Mizkan has also run a promotion where alongside a cap printed with a bread design, they created two different labels for the Branston pickle jars – one reading ‘Bring Out’ the other ‘Branston’.

Created as a novel and fun way to engage customers, the two new labels also aim to increase the average basket purchase from one to two jars.

Getting retail-ready

“The idea is that shoppers buy both special-edition jars and have both in their kitchen cupboard to enjoy the ‘Bring out (the) Branston’ humour at home,” explains Jeena Patel, spokesman for Mizkan.

“Because of this, it was vitally important that the RRP we developed supportedthe campaign and communicated the message. The two label design has been created as a novel and fun way to engage customers and increase the average basket purchase from one to two jars.”

Although the two labels campaign was launched in February 2014, it wasn’t until December 2013 that Mizkan approached DS Smith to develop the RRP for the new look jars.

“The Christmas and New Year period is very busy, and getting the two label designs ready in time was difficult, so when it came to the RRP, we needed to be able to turn them around quickly,” said Jeena.

“We approached DS Smith and they made everything very simple and straight forward. We commissioned the new design in December and the RRP trayswere designed, printed and ready to go in time for the launch in February,” she said.

Tony Foster, Sector Director, DS Smith Packaging, said that being involved in the re-launch of one of the country’s best loved products was a great opportunity.

He said: “Time was of the essence in this project, and through the skill of our people we were able to quickly turn around RRP that not only works efficiently in transit, but is also effective in supporting sales success.”

“RRP is the last chance to reach the shopper during the crucial ‘moment of truth’ when they’re selecting their purchase on the shelf. When it’s well designed and consistent with the rest of the brand it’s a hugely effective part of the marketing mix.”

Next steps

The response to the ‘Bring Out the Branston’ campaign has been very positive for Mizkan, and as a result, the company may look to make some of the special edition designs a more permanent feature.

Although the company has run in-store price promotions before, this is the first time it has undertaken an in-store product promotion, and Jeena Patel says they are now keen to do more.

“This was a big step, and the response has been great so we could look at making a permanent change,” she said.

“This will include lots of NPD and of course, new designs for our packaging, so there should be lots of opportunity to collaborate with DS Smith in future.”

Tony Foster concludes, “We are keen to work with Mizkan on new ideas and designs for RRP that will really make a difference, and will continue to support and build on the success of the Branston campaign. Packaging shouldn’t be complicated, what we have seen with this work is that simple, effective packaging that’s executed well can reduce waste, improve efficiency andboost sales.”