Muddler Cocktails at the NBLS this week! Plus loads more exciting stuff!

Muddler Cocktails will be at the National License Business Show (NLBS) in Birmingham at the NEC this week.

After some last minute negotiations we have taken a stand at the NLBS in what we hope will be a great opportunity to meet some of our contemporaries and people who can help expand Muddler Cocktails beyond independent pubs, bars and clubs.

More on this at the end of the week as this is just one of the many things that got under way last week.

We have just kicked off our drive on the Off-Trade which saw us getting PR in The Grocer last week. (I'll attach the article but currently having some technical difficulties with uploading images!)

This was a great way to start our campaign for 'Real fruit cocktails, whenever and wherever you are' and really take Muddler Cocktails to the people. To keep the momentum going we have just signed off on some more activity with The Grocer which will be coming out in the next 3 weeks so Alex our designer is busy working on this. We are also contacting some select Off-Trade partners in a bid to take Muddler Cocktails beyond the On-Trade in the New Year.

It also looks like we are now going to be partnering Oasis clothes store for the launch of their new store in Manchester at the Trafford Centre! Oasis contacted us directly and were really keen to get us on board to help them launch in style. For us this is a great opportunity, as not only are Oasis such an established and credible high street brand but they also appeal to the more mature and sophisticated market that Muddler Cocktails also aspire to reach.

As if this wasn't enough we are also looking at doing some advertising which will be linked into a targeted pre-Christmas campaign focused on driving volume through the on-trade. Alex was briefed this morning and is looking at some more artworks this week, details on this will follow shortly.

Oh and how could I forget, Saturday night is the official Muddler Cocktails launch party! We've got a great venue lined up and we've invited all our friends and people who have been invovled along the way to come and officially mark this momentous occasion!

So as you can see lots going on at the minute which is just the way we like it.For now though our focus is on the NLBS. Rupert is currently on his way here in a van full of stock as we are setting up this afternoon in preparation for the start tomorrow. It should be a fun week, if you can make it pop in and have a delicious real fruit cocktail on us!

Friday afternoon Oddjob fun...

... fun for you lot, not me! I'm no chicken, so here are some choice photos of me dressed as Oddjob last week:

Yep they are in time order... so you get the one of me pristine having just got ready!It was 80s themed... but I lived up to tradition and continued to go to fancy dress parties dressed as Oddjob. What better way to kick-off the evening than with a Muddler!

If you thought I looked bad, trying being a massive blonde/ bald Dutch man trying to look like the mini-man that is Prince, or being caught with your mouth in a funny position!

I didn't know that the Chuckle Brothers wore sweat bands.What am I looking at?

The Miami-vice styled Chuckle Brothers must die!

Its all his fault... Chris Jackson the balding man that had got a little bit older!

Nobody was harmed in the taking of these photos... well not physically anyway!

Early tomorrow I'm off to France to catch England's rugby world cup opener... so photos of that next week me thinks.

I know what everyone is asking? Will this blog just turn into shots of Rupert socialising and looking stupid... I have a feeling it is going that way!

The next James Bond 'Odd Job Returns'

First things first, where are the pictures of Rupert dressed up as Odd Job that's what I want to know.
Rups it could be your big break, Pinewood studios might get straight on the phone to ask you to star in the next James Bond, 'Odd Job Returns'! Just think your evil trade mark could be opening bottles of Muddler Cocktails with your bare hands and then throwing the bottle tops at people, like a throwing star, a match made in heaven.....maybe not, but lets see a couple of photos anyway, it's always good for a laugh.
So what has been happening at Muddler HQ? Well since the excitement of the press releases, yesterday we saw our executive director, and voice of reason, Malcolm Jessop. Two and a half hours later we emerged, having been put through our paces, with a detailed plan of action and a renewed energy and focus on the goals we want to achieve before Christmas.
This really is exciting as it involves going to the next stage of our launch and includes among other things, organising collaborative events with bars and a high street brand, investing in an advertising campaign, developing our next flavour and of course growing our distribution further. More details will follow on these activities nearer the time.
We have certainly got a lot to do, as Malcolm said there really is no reason why we shouldn't be working 7 days a week at the moment and we're all for this. The slight problem is that the rugby world cup starts today and Rupert is actually going to most of the games! I can't complain because Rupert has actually invited me along to one of these, but we wont be letting this slow us down. I can envisage a certain amount of tag going on between us to keep the Muddler Cocktails campaign rolling forward 24/7. It's going to be a full on 3 months ahead but we're relishing the prospects of what opportunities it might bring and of course if things from time to time get a little too much one can always find time to sit back and relax with a delicious real fruit cocktail.

Muddler hits the national press!

As promised the Daily Mail has published a bit about Muddler today, so we are now officially a Fashion Food:

For something you can actually read:

No mention of a pour over ice, but apart from that we're really happy as they seem to have hit the nail on the head.

We've managed to track down a copy of the trade publication the National Bartender (July/ August edition) which also mentions us and puts in a shot of the bottle and drink:

The next trade publication that we know we are featuring in is the Caterer and Licensee (a trade publication) so another 20,000 people get to hear about the wonders of Muddler... we'll have to wait to see what this one looks like.

So it is now time for stage 2 of the press assault.... well more to the point we better work out what I mean by that.... which publications will get excited about 'Real Fruit Cocktails'?