A promotional agreement between Clearly Canadian and Warner Lambert has resulted in a higher profile and increased distribution in the u.s. for the Vancouver-based beverage company.
‘We’re real pleased,’ says Jonathan Cronin, vice-president of marketing at Clearly Canadian Beverage. ‘It’s something that doesn’t come along often for a company our size.’
Cronin is referring to a deal that’s put a free five-stick sample pack of Cherry Trident on three million one-litre bottles of Clearly Canadian’s sparkling flavored water, distributed in grocery and convenience stores throughout the u.s.
He says the Morris Plains, n.j. company approached Clearly Canadian after conducting studies that showed a high incidence of cross-usage between the two products. Warner-Lambert is spending $22 million to promote the new gum flavor, already available in Canada, to the u.s. market.
‘It’s a tremendous value (for Clearly Canadian),’ says Cronin. ‘Trident’s a great brand name and the cross-association is really good.’ Not only does Clearly Canadian get to benefit from the packaged goods giant’s huge promotional campaign, to which it’s adding in-store marketing support with p-o-s displays featuring the tag line ‘Chew on This!’, but it’s also benefiting from a healthy dose of respect on the distribution front.
‘The Trident promotion is helping us build distribution,’ says Cronin, adding that stores are only too happy to carry the two-in-one product because it is certain to be popular with customers. He would not provide any figures to support the improved distribution claim.
