I watched the British Comedy Awards last night – well most of it, until I couldn’t stand Wossy any longer – and I realised that part of the reason I was watching was to see how that nice lady from Highland Spring would get on this year.  I can’t remember how many years Highland Spring had been sponsoring this event, but I do remember a number of excrutiating moments when the Marketing Director (or whoever she was) would get up on stage next to the likes of Alan Carr and Russel Brand and be comedically torn to shreds.  Not to mention subsequently admonished by Ofcom for banging on about the product too much. 

It’s always been a wierd one, that.  Although the Comedy Awards are televised, they are, effectively just the comedy industry’s version of our Globe Awards or TTG Awards.  So, in theory, the idea of the sponsor getting up to plug his or her product shouldn’t be so strange (Chong and Chisholm do it ad nauseum to us).  But, because it’s on the tele, it grates.  And it makes us cringe.  And it’s also quite funny. 

But on a more serious note, what does it actually do for the brand?  Highland Spring did a pretty neat bit of creative with the ad bumpers (the bottle being made up in the green room – remember it?) which I’m sure upped the brand awareness a bit, but the brand’s association with Comedy was, at best, tenuous.  There’s nothing terribly amusing about a bottled water per se and, without anything else to support the messaging, we were left wondering about the relevance.  Presumably, the various celebs were drinking Highland Spring on their tables, and I’m sure it was delicious, but we viewers were left feeling it was probably one of those deals done because the CEO fancied a night out rubbing shoulders with the cast of The Office.

Clearly I hadn’t been reading my Marketing press religiously so imagine my surprise to see that Highland Spring has handed over the mantle to Halewood International’s new drinks brand; Crabbie’s Alcoholic Ginger Beer.  And, finally, it all makes sense.  The link with comedy suddenly works (because Crabbie’s have a retro, tongue-in-cheek, launch campaign running simultaneously), the suitably good looking, yet still corporate, guy who gets up to make the speech knows he is going to be lampooned (and consequently, isn’t), and we’re left with a warm feeling about the brand and, more importantly, a strong desire to see what the fuss is about (’Ginger Beer with booze in it?  And it’s Christmas. What a great idea’).  

So, well done Crabbie’s.  I think you pulled off a blinder.  It may be a one-off, in fact it probably should be, but it’s amazing how, with a little bit of marketing planning and a targeted deal, one  sponsor can totally out-fizz its predecessor.