Irn-Bru has always embraced its Scottish roots, as its early strapline 'Brewed in Scotland from girders' demonstrated. Indeed, it is practically the national drink north of the border, where its sales have outstripped even Coke.
However, Britvic's latest Soft Drinks Category Report will make worrying reading for the AG Barr-owned brand, revealing a 3% fall in take-home volumes of the drink.
Irn-Bru, alongside its stablemate Tizer and deep-fried Mars bars, has found itself the butt of many jokes about the Scottish diet; not an ideal position to be in at a time of rising consumer awareness of healthy eating.
Irn-Bru is operating in a crowded market and although it has diversified by introducing diet and energy variants, it is often viewed as unhealthy.
The brand has played heavily on its heritage and the mythology surrounding its recipe. According to the company, the ingredients have remained a secret since the Barr family began producing Irn-Bru in 1901. However, the drink, which is popular among schoolchildren, has been criticised by the Food Commission for its levels of artificial colours and sweeteners.
Along with other carbonated drinks, Irn-Bru is losing market share to products that consumers view as more healthy, including mineral waters and juices. Sales of carbonates declined by 5.2% in 2004 to 6251m litres, according to Mintel, while market value fell 4.4%.
Irn-Bru has been renowned for its headline-grabbing advertising - but not in a positive way. In January last year, it ran an ad showing a policeman being wrestled to the ground by a group of stalkers, which was criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority for being shown during children's programming.
The brand had already hit the headlines in 2004 as the result of an ad set in a 50s household, showing a mother playing the piano and singing about how much she enjoyed Irn-Bru. The song ended with the line 'Even though I used to be a man', while the final scene showed the woman having a shave. The execution drew complaints from the transsexual community.
We asked Bridget Angear, deputy head of planning at Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, who works on Pepsi, and Will Arnold-Baker, brand director at Publicis, who has worked with Coca-Cola, how Irn-Bru can reverse its slide.
DIAGNOSIS 1 - BRIDGET ANGEAR DEPUTY HEAD OF PLANNING, ABBOTT MEAD VICKERS BBDO
Irn-Bru has strong competition with deep pockets. Moreover, it operates in a tough market where health and wellness concerns have had an impact.
At its best, the brand differentiated itself from its rivals by being quirky, original and proud of its roots.
Irn-Bru's strength lies, quite literally, in its name, which has in-built toughness both in product terms (ironess) and in provenance (no one is harder than the Scots). It is a name that just has to be spoken in a Scottish accent - an aspect that was captured brilliantly in the strapline 'Made in Scotland from girders'. All in all, it was a brand that seemed proud to be Scotland's national drink.
But there is a whole generation of consumers who may grow up not knowing this. The brand seems to have walked away from this unique proposition to a more category-generic one centred on taste.
This is a brave call when the category leader Coke has made a virtue out of being 'the real thing', which is drunk 'just for the taste of it'.
REMEDY
- Go back to what built the brand and made it famous.
- Consolidate in areas of strength, and re-connect the brand to its loyal fan base.
- Act like a challenger in all areas of the marketing mix, not just advertising, including new product development, packaging and media channel selection.
- Consider how to use the brand's in-built strength to deliver a more everyday version of an energy drink.
DIAGNOSIS 2 - WILL ARNOLD-BAKER BRAND DIRECTOR, PUBLICIS
Irn-Bru is at a crossroads. Robert Barr's sickly sweet and virtually fluorescent concoction of 1901 looks likely to fall prey to a society falling in line with healthier eating trends, as the government obsesses about national obesity.
The big corporations are responding. Coca-Cola is rapidly building its water and juice businesses to supplement its core caffeinated soft-drinks offering. Walkers, meanwhile, has effectively switched from proclaiming the crisp brand's moreishness to positioning Gary Lineker as a health spokesman for a reformulated product.
Irn-Bru does offer diet and energy variants, but neither will guarantee the brand's future, especially when it has to compete for chiller space with waters, smoothies and functional juices.
Its packaging and brand behaviour feels unreconstructed; a glance at its website confirms a feeling that the brand is stuck in the Beano world of the 50s.
Its advertising heritage could prove its best asset. In the past it has poked fun at the establishment. As the nanny state intensifies, this could prove key.
REMEDY
- Build on the brand's anti-establishment credentials and underpin this with long-term brand behaviour. Irn-Bru's energy variant, for example, should do something similar to Coke's football sponsorship, perhaps backing the underdogs.
- Make variants work harder. How about a drink that really contains iron as well as, say, ginseng and plant phytosterols?
- Return to high-profile ads. 'I love Irn-Bru and so do my bitches' is still fresh in my mind.