We’re delighted to have been awarded two top prizes at this year’s national Beer and Cider Marketing Awards.

Held at the historic Old Truman Brewery in London, we were shortlisted in the “Best Advertising Campaign” category for our Hot Air Balloon TV advert. We were not only thrilled to win this category, but also go on to be awarded “Best Cider Marketing of the Year.”

The awards are in their fourth year and aim to celebrate the best in beer and cider marketing, with judges including trade operators, journalists, bloggers and marketeers.

Thatchers Hot Air Balloon TV advert was launched in June 2017 and was produced with our creative agency Joint London. The affectionate, humorous and warm-hearted ad features beautifully shot scenes of Somerset, was directed by Declan Lowney, who has directed many of the UK’s best loved TV comedies and commercials for some of the world’s biggest brands.

Featuring the What Cider’s Supposed to Taste Like strapline, the message of the film is that the Thatcher family is utterly uncompromising about the quality of its cider. Both fourth generation Martin Thatcher and chief cidermaker Richard Johnson, feature in the advert, which has been followed up with a series of short films running on demand.

Head of Marketing at Thatchers, Philip McTeer, who was presented with the awards on the night said,

“What a fantastic accolade to pick up not just one, but two awards from our marketing peers at this highly regarded industry event. We’re thrilled that our advert has appealed to the judges and that they singled it out from some stiff competition. It’s a real honour to be able to share the awards with everyone at our Somerset cidery at Myrtle Farm.”

It was a great evening for the West Country, with St Austell Brewery taking home the top prize, the Grand Prix Beer and Cider Marketer of the Year, 2018.

Beer and Cider Marketing Awards co-founder and head judge Pete Brown commented, “The spread of entries we’ve had this year was the best yet. Together they showcase a real broadening of creative ideas in the beer and cider market – and it really is in both beer and cider. After somewhat muted debut in the awards last year, cider has come through very strongly this year. The judges’ discussion was robust and yet mostly positive – it kept us busy well into the evening! There are going to be lots of insights to be learned from this year’s winners.”

You can view the advert here:

It has been a great week for Thatchers, also being named Family Business of the Year in the 2018 Business Leader Awards.