New advertising campaign for Bombardier takes the biscuit

Charles Wells has stepped up support for its Bombardier brand with the launch of a new advertising campaign.

The Bedford-based brewer's crusade to make St George's Day a national bank holiday has been replaced with a similarly patriotic "Really Rather English" campaign.

The new adverts, which will run all year round rather than just for St George's Day, feature the iconic Bombardier pint combined with quintessentially English icons such as a gnome, a dunking biscuit and a jam jar lid.

Each has an individual humorous strap-line using typically English phrases such as "Spiffingly English" and "Frightfully English".

Guy Shreeves, marketing manager at Charles Wells, said: "Bombardier is enjoying a tremendously successful time, our previous advertising has been exceptionally well received and opened many doors to major national listings within pub groups and multiple retailers. But we wanted to take the advertising a stage further by having a national presence all year round."

The new campaign, which will be launched in the run-up to St George's Day on April 23 in national newspapers, will be supported with a number of initiatives in pubs. In addition to drip mats with finger holes that enable drinkers to recreate St George's battle against the dragon, pub-goers will be offered the chance to win a made-to-measure suit of armour.

lMeanwhile, Charles Wells is looking to tap into the niche demand for fruit beers with the launch of Banana Bread beer.

Originally launched as part of the seasonal range, the banana-flavoured brew is to be relaunched in both cask (4.5 per cent ABV) and bottle (5.5 per cent) formats.

"We wanted to do something a bit quirky but keep it premium. We see it as a long term plan rather than a gimmick and our aim is for it to be a permanent addition to the Charles Wells portfolio," said Mr Shreeves.