St Helier is more than a me-too

When any consumer goods category explodes to life unexpectedly the one thing you can bet your life on is a group of previously uninterested brand owners suddenly trying to get a piece of the action.

Just go to your local supermarket and look at the smoothie category - where Innocent innovated, now everyone wants a piece.

It's the same in cider. The explosion of that category led by C&C from Ireland and its Magners brand, as well as by Scottish & Newcastle's (S&N) purchase of the Bulmers cider portfolio in 2003, has led to similar behaviour from brand owners.

Where the marketing team at Halewood International would not have been seen dead next to a bottle of cider three years ago, we now have Maguires and +46.

Similarly, Intercontinental Brands (ICB), the producer of a range of spirit mixes such as Vodkat and Cactus Jack, has eagerly jumped on the bandwagon and launched its own cider - St Helier pear cider.

However, this is where the similarities must end, because the pear cider brand has arguably been the most interesting launch during the cider revolution of the past two years.

Where other new brands (and even traditional, regional brands) have been scratching around, desperately looking for marketing momentum, St Helier has come flying out of the traps. In the past 12 months alone the brand has taken high-profile sponsorship deals with ITV - putting its name to screenings of American show Entourage and, most impressively, ITV's highlights coverage of Championship football on Sunday mornings.

This is serious stuff for a start-up brand - while he won't give specifics, Paul Burton, joint managing director of ICB, says the sponsorship deal cost a "significant seven-figure sum".

Paul adds: "We probably seem to punch above our weight with St Helier. We don't have the deep pockets of a C&C or an S&N. So we back our judgement and are prepared to throw what money we have at an idea or innovation.

"Our judgement is that, if we are seen to be investing, people will react favourably and look at listing us."

It seems to be working - the brand has already been listed by several major wholesalers and by two major managed pub chains, Slug and Lettuce and Pitcher & Piano.

He believes that associating the brand with football is a natural fit and gives St Helier a much-needed boost in a very overcrowded marketplace.

"We are looking for visibility at a very early stage of the product's life cycle," he says. "The association with football has worked very well for other brands in our portfolio and other cider brands have aligned themselves successfully in the past with sport - for example: Strongbow and Leeds United, Scrumpy Jack and rugby.

"We want more of the same - more of what we have enjoyed this year."

Talking to Paul, it is quite clear how much pride he has in the immediate success of St Helier. He says: "Historically ICB has been an off-trade business - St Helier has catapulted us into the on-trade in a meaningful way for the first time."

ICB has been quick to bring further innovation to market, particularly a range of cider flavours. However, this has not gone down particularly well with many in the cider fraternity.

Indeed, there was criticism in the pages of The Publican after ICB unveiled St Helier Blueberry - the feeling held by all was this flavour was moving cider too far away from its roots and shifting it towards the easier-drinking ready-to-drink (RTD) category.

Paul is having none of it. "We have been careful enough to maintain the cider character of the product - in no way does it taste like an RTD," he insists. "We have given the consumer what they really want - otherwise they wouldn't be buying it!"

And what does Paul think of the future for the market? The naysayers will continue to call it a fad and are waiting for the first signs of weakness in the cider category. Paul thinks they will have to wait for some time.

"The data speaks for itself in terms of market performance," he says. "It is still in growth. So long as the big boys keep investing in the premium end of the market it will continue to flourish."