Ribena berries bounce back on screen after 8-year absence

Ribena is bringing its iconic bouncing berries back to TV screens this month for the first time since 2014, raising brand awareness for retailers to help drive sales. The advert is returning as part of a long Summer of Fun for Ribena, including consumer PR, brand partnerships and events, to help it celebrate a magnificent 85 years on shelf.

The ad will run throughout the summer season across TV and video-on-demand, re-introducing the famous blackcurrant characters to the UK audience. It will reach almost 40 million people, who will see it on average ten times between June and August

The Ribena brand is a top 100 UK grocery brand worth nearly £120M . Ribena juice drinks are growing at 5.3 per cent YOY , adding value to retailers’ soft drinks category. The Ribena range includes seven 500ml SKUs available to the wholesale trade including best-selling Blackcurrant, Blackcurrant Light (growing 21 per cent YOY), Pineapple & Passion Fruit, Strawberry, and Mango & Lime. All flavours are available in both standard and PMP.

The advert returns as part of a huge £5M marketing investment in Ribena as part of its Summer of Fun, which will include a range of consumer PR, brand partnerships and events.

It features the iconic berry characters frolicking in the sunshine down on “Ribena Farm”, ensuring that one berry is catapulted to its destiny alongside a pile of other blackcurrants on the back of a farmer’s trailer. It highlights Ribena as being filled with “British blackcurrants bursting with berryness” and reaffirms the drink’s high Vitamin C content.

The advert was ranked as the 18th best soft drinks advert out of more than 350 tested on System 1’s Test Your Ad platform, helping to prove that shoppers love the iconic berry characters.

“Ribena has been loved and used by families across the UK for 85 years this year! We’re celebrating reaching this landmark with a full-on Summer of Fun!" said Sarah Fleetwood, Head of Ribena for Suntory Beverage & Food GB&I (SBF GB&I).

“The return of the mischievous and fun-loving berries onto TV screens is the perfect way to kick off Ribena’s Summer of Fun. We have regular requests to bring the berries back on air and are excited to have this special airing for the brand 85th Birthday milestone and we know our shoppers will be as well.

“Retailers should make sure they stock our best-selling range to take advantage of the increased awareness generated by our summer-long £5M marketing spend”.

For more information on ranging and category advice, retailers can visit SBF GB&I’s dedicated soft drink site, SimplySoftDrinks.com