Vimto

History

Vimto was created in 1908 at 19 Granby Row in the centre of Manchester England, by (John) Noel Nichols of Blackburn, Lancashire (1883–1966), a wholesaler of herbs, spices and medicines. He saw the market opening for soft drinks due to the temperance movement and the passage of the 1908 Licensing Act. It was originally sold under the name Vim Tonic, which Nichols shortened to Vimto in 1912. Vimto was originally registered as a health tonic or medicine, which was then re-registered in 1913 as a cordial. In 1910, because the Granby Row premises had become too small, they moved to a warehouse at Chapel Street, Salford, then to Old Trafford (1927) and finally (1971) to a state of the art plant in Wythenshawe, Manchester.

In the 1990s, Vimto print advertisements used the cartoon character Purple Ronnie, along with slightly rude poems by Giles Andreae, the creator of Purple Ronnie. In 2003, Purple Ronnie was dropped, and a new creative direction was adopted, revolving around the benefits of 'Shlurpling the Purple'. This, in turn, led to the launch in 2006 of Billy and his Dad's Pants – a modern-day morality story in which, despite turning up at the swimming pool with his Dad's pants in the middle of his rolled up towel, Billy wins out with ingenuity and humour. The theme tune 'Dad's Pants' become something of a cult classic, and was based on the Loudon Wainwright III song, "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road". A sculpture entitled "A Monument to Vimto" (1992), carved out of an oak tree from a sustainable forest by Kerry Morrison, is on Granby Row in central Manchester. The statue was restored and repainted in 2011. The sculpture commemorates the fact that Vimto was originally produced on this site.

Manufacture

Vimto is currently produced by Cott Beverages in both Leicestershire and Yorkshire on behalf of Vimto Soft Drinks, a division of Nichols plc. Nichols moved out of manufacturing in 2003 when it closed its final production site in Golborne. Vimto is also manufactured under licence in Saudi Arabia in Dammam City, Yemen and The Gambia. A Sunday Times article claims that it is considered to be the most popular drink during the holy month of Ramadan in some Arab countries.

The drink was also made under licence in the United Kingdom by A.G. Barr in 1996.

In 2014 the recipe of Vimto Fizzy was changed to include Acesulfame K and Sucralose.

Ellis Wilkinson Mineral Water facilitated the production of drinks for Vimto in their early days of trading.

Company

A subsidiary of Nichols plc, Cabana is the distribution arm of the company, and operates via a UK-wide network of distributors that are, in the main, independent. In Scotland and Sussex, the distributor is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cabana: (Scotland - Cariel, and Sussex - Beacon Drinks). Vimto is currently available in sixty-five countries and the number of countries in which it is on sale is growing.

Variations

Both a still, dilutable version ("Vimto Cordial") and a carbonated premixed version ("Fizzy Vimto") are available in the UK. While Vimto has its origins in Northern England it can now be found both nationally and internationally. The Cordial version is more widely sold, and is available in concentrate and ready-to-drink varieties.

Vimto is also available in a slush variety alongside many other different Vimto confectionery products, such as Vimto bars, lollipops, Rip Rolls and candy sprays.

Vimto is also available in a summer flavour, containing ingredients such as orange and apple both of which are cordial products. Vimto was the UK's fastest growing soft drinks brand by value in 2006 (as measured by ACNielsen).

A cocktail known as the Cheeky Vimto or "Crazy Vimto" is also drunk in the UK. However, Vimto is not an ingredient of this beverage, the name comes from its resemblance to the original product; instead, it contains port and Blue WKD. There is also a variant of this cocktail called "Dirty Vimto" that replaces the port with Buckfast Tonic Wine.

Vimto is also often made as a hot beverage by simply adding boiling water to the concentrate, and is very popular in this form throughout the North of England. Vimto is often made with hot water especially during the winter months. It is also taken to sporting events in vacuum flasks by spectators as a warming drink to fend off the winter chill.

Various alternate-flavoured variants of Vimto were introduced over the years; cherry- and strawberry-flavoured variants, known as "Cherry Vimto" and "Strawberry Vimto" have become part of the range. A recent new variant, "Vimto Remix", uses a new variation of the Vimto flavour mix - mango, strawberry and pineapple. A second variation of Vimto Remix was also released - raspberry, orange and passionfruit.

Advertising

There have been several major advertising campaigns to promote Vimto.

Derek Griffiths

Derek Griffiths sang a song on the piano about Vimto.

Dad's Pants

The "Dad's Pants" television commercials featured a school boy who mistakenly took his dad's underwear to a swimming lesson. The song was originally written by comedian John Warburton (based on the tune of "Dead Skunk" by Loudon Wainwright III) after executives from Cheetham Bell JWT saw him performing musical comedy at a club in Manchester. The song was sung by Manchester soul singer Matt Wolff.

Purple Ronnie

Purple Ronnie was a crudely drawn stick figure cartoon character designed by Giles Andreae, although originally created by Jo Dobbs. The figure is now used on greetings cards.

Vimto Cluedo

A specialist game of Cluedo commemorated the 100th anniversary of the fruit drink.

Shlurple the Purple

These advertisements, aired in 2005 featured a person drinking Vimto to find a strange thing happens to them (like a man's head shrinking or another man's ears stretch out). The same slogan is featured at the end of 'Dad's Pants'.

Seriously Mixed Up Fruit

Seriously Mixed Up Fruit is the new strapline for Vimto and replaced Shlurple the Purple in 2009. This campaign features anthropomorphised raspberry, grape and blackcurrant characters of unspecified East European/Russian origin, engaging in various activities which inevitably ends up with them being 'splatted'... thus becoming the drink.

The character voices are performed by UK voiceover artist Christopher Finney.

On 26 April 2014, as part of a rebrand, the fruits were replaced by the "Vimtoad", an anthropomorphic red toad in a Hawaiian shirt that likes the taste of Vimto, which he describes as being "fan-flippin'-tastic!".

Foreign markets

In the Arabian Peninsula, Vimto has enjoyed over 80 years of dominance as the beverage of choice for the iftar or sunset feast during the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan. As of 2013, Aujan, the local bottler in Saudi Arabia, producing over 20 million bottles per year for the GCC market. An article in The Sunday Times mentioned some 15 million bottles were sold during the one-month season in 2007.

In Saudi Arabia, Vimto is manufactured under licence by the Aujan Industrial Company and enjoys a 90% market share in the cordial concentrated drinks market. Every year, the company launches aggressive marketing campaigns on Arab satellite TV channels that in recent years have become very popular, and achieved cult status with viral marketing videos exchanged on the Internet.

Vimto was introduced to The Gambia and Senegal in the 1980s and remains popular there.

In 2011 Vimto once again became widely available throughout the Republic of Ireland, through Tesco and the local version of Iceland shops.

In Pakistan, Vimto is produced, under licence, by Mehran Bottlers.

In Nepal recently Vimto is manufactured under licence by Himganga Beverage Pvt Ltd.