BARR's IRN BRU , "FANNY"

The famous IRN BRU can!

IRN BRU, a very well known soft drink from Scotland made by BARR's just seem to have the best television adverts known to man. Yes this may be a little bit bias being a massive fan of IRN BRU, the reason for this probables being my dad, who seems to drink 4 litres + a day (Ohh and he's Scottish). Studying Marketing and Advertising Management, I thought that this would be relevant to my degree (some how) & an interest of mine (or should I say I just have a healthy addiction too IRN BRU).

A whole line of fannys

One of the most recent IRN BRU adverts I've seen is the "Fanny" advert, which mixes Scottish humour with the revealing taste of their product. This ad involves a family that have just given birth to a baby girl, which the family decide in the end to name Fanny.

" Advertising can be used to ahieve a number of DRIP- based outcomes. It can be used to Diffrentiate and position position brands, it can be used to reinforce brand messages, and it can easily inform and even persuade audiences to think and behave about and around products, services, brands and organisations." (Chris Fill, 2009)

BARR created this advert very well, taking into account all aspects of DRIP "Diffrentiate, Remind/Reassure, Inform and Persaude". They differentiate through the use of the Scottish humour, reminded those of their product "IRN BRU", informed the public of how IRN BRU can "Calm your nerves" essentially (not an actual trait of IRN BRU realisticly) and persuade you to go out and buy their product! They use this humour in their other adverts, and is what differentiates them from the competitors such as coke. An advert like this also causes contraversy, which is a very good thing if you use the term "any publicity is good publicity", as although  some complaints are made, it gets it into the spotlight and gets more and more people onto the "FANNY" craze!!!

One downside I guess you could say about the IRN BRU adverts is the Scottish twist too it. Although the majority of people who have the advert broadcasted to them ( UK) will understand any slang used or the accent of the actors in the Ad's, not everyone would, me knowing this through personal experience (people not having a clue what my dad says lol), but other than that, BARR's, keep em coming!!!

BARR and their PR

Aswell as their ad campaign, BARR's also cleverly started a PR campaign to indirectly fight back at one of their main competitors, Coca-cola. Coca-Cola started the "share a coke" campaign several weeks back in the UK after it being succesful in other countries in the past. the share a coke campaign involves putting peoples names onto the labels of their coke bottles, trying to push people to go into the store and look through the shelves to find their name on a coke can/bottle, or to even give a coke to someone as a gift (obviously with that persons name on). BARR's saw an oppertunity, and cleverly took it with a very witty "comeback" at their competitors, with the release of the "FANNY" can as seen below. Why get a coke bottle with your name on it, when you can get the great taste of an IRN BRU can with fanny on it, ey?

Coca-Cola's "share a coke" campaign

IRN BRU Fanny can

But no, BARR's haven't stopped their fanny'en about there, they've even started a "Fanny of the week" which involves a person being picked each week to be the IRN BRU Fanny of the week, that will feature on their facebook page, talk about interacting with the public?! Fanny of the week involves members of the public emailing in a picture, your name, adress, date of birth to contact@agbarr.co.uk .... might just do that myself! (Found at http://www.irn-bru.co.uk/news/fanny-wee)

So whats my view on BARR's advertising and PR? Well where to I start, interaction, humour, promotion, competitiveness and an amazing product... what more could you ask for? Each advert I see just get's me bad laughing I cant help myself! All I have to say is keep at what your doing BARR, keep your ginger tasting like it does, and keep on being fanny's! As for the other soft drink manufactureres like the Coca-Cola company, what are you playing at? Yes you might have that chilled out image, but where is your sense of humor??

Ohh and if by any chance a member of the IRN BRU marketing department creep upon this blog post, just tell me where to sign up!