All long established brands face the same challenge: how to stay culturally relevant without forgetting what made you famous? One risk is brand stagnation and decline. Another risk is being too radical and ditching your distinctive brand assets, as we suggested Jaguar has done here.
IRN-BRU and agency Lucky Generals have pulled off a brilliant brand balancing act in a new campaign for the drink. Instead of reinventing itself, the brand has doubled down on its core brand idea and refreshed it to punch through today. In the film, a quietly defiant ginger haired boy in a Glasgow corner shop takes offence at IRN-BRU being labeled a mere soft drink. “This is not a soft drink”, he protests, before giving a passionate and rousing speech on what the brand really stands for. “This is telling your boss their jokes aren’t funny. This is running into the freezing cold sea, in just your granny pants. It’s showing how you feel. No guts, no glory, showing the world who you truly are… No, no, no, pal, this is Irn-Bru… and it’s Made in Scotland from Girders.”
[For non-UK readers, IRN-BRU is the UK’s third-biggest selling soft drink, after Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Sales in 2025 were bigger than those of Lilt, Sprite and Tango combined accord to owner AG Barr (1) ]What can we learn from this new campaign?
1. Look back at what made you famous
AG Barr and Lucky Generals have done a great job at what we call “brand archeology”: digging into the past to find some buried brand treasure.
For many years until the 1990s, IRN-BRU used a campaign with a slightly strange but highly distinctive idea: Made in Scotland. From girders. Campaigns tapped into the Scottish sense of humour and also national pride. “Why the hell say made from iron girders!?”, you may ask. Well, the drink does, just about, contain trace amounts of iron, in the form of 0.002% of ammonium ferric citrate (2). And the drink was supposedly invented for Scottish steelworkers who were drinking too much beer on the job. Owner AG Barr created something just as tasty but much safer for them! But perhaps most importantly, it’s a humorous reference to the hardiness of the Scots who drink it.
In the new campaign, the brand idea is brought back to life. This taps into mental availability built over years with people who know the brand. But it’s strong enough an idea in its own right to recruit new, younger drinkers. “We wanted to do something that respected and celebrated our brand’s heritage,” said Kenny Nicholson, Brand Director. “Made in Scotland from Girders’ is one of the most iconic lines in advertising, and this campaign brings it back.” (3) We also have the brand character shining through in all it’s glory:
- Proudly different
- Rebellious in a cheeky way
- Emotionally bold rather than functionally worthy
The new film even pays homage to the protagonist of the 1980s campaign, with a wee ginger haired boy in a starring role!
2. Refresh what made you famous
Crucially, this isn’t a nostalgic trip down memory lane. Instead, it refreshes the same core idea with new energy. “All the personality of the Irn-Bru of yesterday – and the brave spirit of tomorrow,” explained Kenny Nicholson (3).
Firstly, bravery is reframed as inner confidence, not physical strength. The 1980s campaign showed a young boy hard at work digging and knocking a bottle of Irn Bru under an oncoming steam roller. The bottle of IRN-BRU was strong enough to survive! The new campaign taps into cultural insight about what being “strong and brave” means in today’s UK. Challenging your employer when they’re wrong, revealing genuine emotions to someone and skinny dipping, all featured in the flim, are signs of modern day bravery, according to research with 2,000 adults (4).
3. Integrate your brand and product
This campaign is a great example of how to beautifully blend product “sausage” and emotional “sizzle”. Importantly, the IRN-BRU brand isn’t treated like a badge slapped on in the end frame. Rather, it plays a central heroic role from the very start. The whole story is triggered by the boy believing the brand has been mislabelled in the shop as a soft drink. The boy is a human manifestation of the brand’s character and beliefs: saying what you mean, showing who you are, backing yourself. This is all supported by the brand truths, including the brand name and being “Made in Scotland from Girders”.
4. Grow the core
The campaign isn’t trying to stretch Irn-Bru into new territories or explain new credentials. It’s doing the hardest and most valuable job in marketing: making the core more desirable. The brand stays focused on what actually drives profit and growth: selling more stuff by sharpening the brand, not cluttering it.
5. Craft the execution with care
What really elevates this campaign is how well it’s crafted. The script is tight, confident and funny. I love the clever play on words with the central line of “This is not a soft drink.” At one level, the protagonist explains that the brand stands for much more than just a drink. In a nod to the brand’s heritage, it also suggests it’s not soft as in weak and wishy-washy.
The casting is simply a work of genius, from the boy to the granny to the shopkeeper. The direction builds momentum and lets key moments breathe instead of over-explaining the jokes. The humour doesn’t exhaust itself on first viewing. It rewards repeat exposure, which is exactly what great advertising should do.
In conclusion, this IRN-BRU campaign is a textbook example of how to renovate a famous brand properly. The team have looked back at the brand idea, attitude and character that built success and refreshed these with contemporary execution. They have stayed focused on growing the core and crafted a campaign with real creative excellence.
FUN FACT
The drink’s makers, A.G. Barr, were forced to change the name of the drink from Iron Brew in 1946, following law change stipulating that the marketing of products be “literally true”. As the drink was not literally made from iron girders nor was it brewed, the company changed the name to IRN-BRU (2). This was a great result as the revised name is much more distinctive!
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