The One and Only Newcastle Brown Ale (NBA) is nearly 80 years old and the best selling bottled ale in the UK. It is an international brand available in over 40 countries worldwide. The challenge was to increase their front of mind awareness and sustain brand strength in Newcastle.

With a limited budget and high expectations of increasing the huge affinity Newcastle Brown Ale has with its consumers in its homeland, a cross platform campaign with the Newcastle Journal and Chronicle was the way forward.

To increase their front of mind awareness and sustain brand strength in Newcastle, the brand sponsored the Newcastle Evening Chronicle's sport section, ran a partnership advertising campaign and sponsored the icNewcastle sport and blog page. The campaign also included interactive text messaging on the sports pages which encouraged participation from its audience. The press campaign consisted of a two page colour ad, Scottish and Newcastle backed an existing Evening Chronical campaign to tout the Tyneside credentials of both products.

Each element of the campaign delivered high levels of exposure for Newcastle Brown Ale. The press campaign reached 58%* of men aged 35-55, a key target for NBA, and the online element on icNewcastle generated 3.5 million page impressions. The Newcastle Evening Chronicle remains the primary source of local information and is complemented by icNewcastle for increased depth and updates.

The NCJ sponsorship allowed us to reinforce Newcastle Brown's historic affinity with consumers in the NBA homeland. We were encouraged by the combined impact of print and digital solutions which enabled us to communicate a consistent message to our various audiences. Douglas Cook, assistant brand manager NBA, Scottish & Newcastle UK Ltd