Thistly Cross launches first outdoor campaign with new agency Fantasticate

Thistly Cross, which became Scotland’s first cidermaker when it started out in 2008, has launched its first out-of-home campaign, backed by paid social and on-trade point-of-sale material.

The work is also the first to come from Fantasticate, the creative start-up that Andy Tucker and Kirsty North set up earlier this year. The agency was brought in to help define and scale the brand, and has handled everything from overall strategy, built on quantitative and qualitative research, to concept development, media planning and execution.

Thistly Cross already has a loyal fan base and established distribution through supermarkets and pubs, but awareness remains relatively low, leaving room for brand advertising to drive growth. The new “THIStly is our cider” platform takes aim at familiar cider category clichés and presents the brand’s products and approach in a distinctly Scottish way.

Whisky, oak and mild disbelief

Large-format posters put the spotlight on the brand’s lead product, Whisky Cask cider, with lines such as “Welcome to cider country. Yes, really.” and “Scottish cider. With subtle notes of whisky, oak and mild disbelief”. The 6-sheets also feature the draught Traditional cider, described as ideal “For summer days. Both of them.”

Alongside the outdoor work, which runs in June and July, there will be on-trade POS and a paid social campaign featuring a short film and cutdowns that show fans’ take on “our cider”.

The hero film uses a road trip format, following founder Peter Stuart through the Highlands and Scotland’s urban central belt as he calls in at well-known pubs and meets a varied group of Thistly Cross converts. It sidesteps the category’s usual imagery of sunlit orchards and tanned young drinkers in beer gardens, leaning instead into the quirks of the founder, the products and the fans.

Danny Bonnar shot the film during a real three-day road trip. Nobody in the cast is a professional actor; it features genuine fans ranging from new drinkers to long-standing stockists, along with members of the team.

“Something very Scottish and irreverent”

Andy Tucker, co-founder of Fantasticate, said: “Scotland isn’t known for its cider. People tend to be genuinely gobsmacked to discover it’s something we actually make here. But those who do know Thistly, seriously love it. So we wanted to tap into that passion and pride – this is our cider, made right here – and also do something different to all the clichéd cider ads out there. Something very Scottish and irreverent.”

Thistly Cross Cider’s head of marketing, Emily Clarke, said: “This is a really big deal for us as a business – we’ve never done anything on this scale before. But after gaining such strong distribution across the country, it’s time to make the most of that and make Thistly famous.”

She added: “Thistly Cross is so much about place and people, and we’re really excited about this new platform which really captures that in a way that’s distinctive, and flexible enough to run with well into the future.”

The launch campaign appears across supersize, 48-sheet and 6-sheet sites, together with paid and organic social on Meta, throughout June and July.