If everything in life was fair Elvis would still be alive and his impersonators would be dead but life’s not like that, I know.
Even so, it has been something of a downer to witness the true extent of our abysmal summer weather as C&C – last year’s ‘most likely to’ in the UK’s long drinks category – fails to follow through on its initial magnificent success over there judging by second quarter sales.
In truth, the company could not have done much more than it did and while C&C may have been taken by surprise by Scottish & Newcastle’s robust marketing response to its initial onslaught into the cider market there, this again highlights the dangers of taking too seasonal-an-approach to the product.
Sales of C&C brand Magners Cider in the UK have fallen by around 45 per cent year-on-year to July 2007.
Bad weather and heightened competition have been blamed for the reverse in the cider brand’s fortunes which led to the issuing of two profit warnings and an announcement of 70 temporary layoffs in Clonmel.
A knock-on effect into August is anticipated as ‘seasoned drinkers’ and new converts to cider-drinking alike continue to reduce their initial intake levels.
The Bulmers brand is owned by Scottish & Newcastle in the UK which has put a heavyweight marketing campaign behind its product in response to the growth of cider drinking there, championed originally by C&C with Magners.
And the trouble doesn’t end there. Reports have appeared indicating that Tesco will be putting cans of Magners on special offer here in Ireland in a ‘three for two’ deal. Tesco has been able to pick up ‘overs’ from the UK at greatly reduced prices, it’s believed.
The recent downturn in Magners’ fortunes this Summer has been described as a ‘four month blip’ by a spokeswoman for C&C.
But it does hammer home the fact that like Baileys – which was only too aware of its seasonal shortcomings and did something about it – any brand that depends too heavily on seasonality will come a cropper now and again.
But knowing C&C and having seen how hard it has worked on and invested in its hugely successful Bulmers brand here and this brand in the UK, we needn’t look to sunset in the orchards of Clonmel quite yet.
