Flagging beer sales prompt massive ad spend by S&N

Scottish & Newcastle UK is ploughing more than £18 million into advertising its brands

after reporting a 5 per cent decline in the beer market during the first half of the year, which it has blamed partly on the weather.

A £12 million promotional campaign for San Miguel

includes 30-second TV ads called Three Ships,

designed to stress the lager's Spanish heritage.

A £4 million outdoor ad campaign for Baltika, the first since the Russian brew was launched in the off-trade earlier this year, has rolled out in London, Brighton, Manchester and Glasgow.

The campaign carries the strapline From the Fall of the Iron Curtain Rises Russia's No 1 Beer.

Marketing manager Sharon Annette said: "The

campaign has been devised to introduce new drinkers to the brand by tapping into the positive energy that has powered the rebirth of Russia and, in turn, driven the success of Baltika in the UK in a relatively short space of time."

Foster's is being promoted with a £2 million digital marketing campaign. Laid Back Legends is targeted at 18 to 24-year-old men

and aims to find the nation's most popular "legend" through an online competition. Web users will be encouraged to upload video clips of their friends and nominate them as "legends". Every week the two top-rated nominees will go head

to

head for the chance to win a £50

tab at their bar of choice . One overall winner will get a £10,000 holiday.

The campaign is part of a £40 million wider marketing

spend for the brand.

Craig Clarkson, head of consumer marketing at S&N UK, said: "Laid Back Legends will create a great deal of interest and excitement around the brand

."

S&N has also launched a radio execution of its Total First Pint Refreshment campaign for Strongbow, which features a woman in a bar being ignored by a man because he is too busy enjoying his Strongbow .