LONDON (Brand Republic) 鈥 Blue Nun, the famously naff German wine that featured a nun in a bouncy blue habit and was the favourite of Seventies suburbanites, is being readied for a summer relaunch and an advertising campaign.
Owner Langguth Sichel wants to take the 80-year old brand upmarket and square up to stiff competition from cheap good-quality European and New World wines, which have flooded the UK market since Blue Nun鈥檚 heyday in the Seventies and Eighties.
It has created a new range of wines for the more sophisticated palate -- including Blue Nun Merlot, Blue Nun Cabernet Sauvignon and Blue Nun Dry Riesling -- as well as more contemporary packaging.
Originally, the sweet white Liebfraumilch wine brand was a popular way for people to be introduced to wine and, at its peak in 1982, Blue Nun sold 30m bottles worldwide. But it could never shake off its kitsch image and by 1995 sales fell to £5m.
London agency Spirit Advertising was appointed in November 1999 to relaunch the brand, focusing on younger consumers. The campaign will run in key markets such as the US, UK, Canada, Japan and China.
The ads promote the new, drier version of Blue Nun鈥檚 classic white wine and the tagline 鈥淛ust you, me and a bottle of Blue Nun鈥 and feature three summer weddings.
The ads depict shots of a crowded room, blurred apart from a couple enjoying Blue Nun. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the special feeling you get when you drink with friends and everything else blurs,鈥 Richard Hammond, managing partner of Spirit, says.
The company slashed its advertising spend during the early Nineties in the face of a depressed wine market. It later made a U-turn on its decision to run only local PR and promotional activity by appointing Cowing Balmforth Trendall to run a national TV campaign in 1993. This positioned it as a refreshing summer drink.
The brand was acquired the following year by IDV, which managed to steady a 30% decline in sales year on year. However, after just one year IDV sold the brand to the Ehrmanns Group, which also attempted a relaunch.