Coke promo not available in NI

freddie_2

Bought a bottle of Diet coke in boots today. It was a bottle with a promotion on it (music or something) butwhen you read the T&Cs it is only available to GB and IOM.

Why do Coke not include NI and why sell it here when the promo isnt even valid? Not sure how to word it but I just find it annoying that yet again we miss out on something. (although as I cant even remember exactlt what the promo is it cant interest me too much but still....)

yorkie98

Coca cola is a brand owned by the Coca cola company but the actual production is licensed to various companies across the world.
In NI, all Coca cola brands are produces by Coca Cola bottlers (Ulster)Ltd. This was formally known as the Ulster Iced Drinks Company and Ulster Ice and Cold stores before obtaining a franchise to produce Coke.
They also produce drinks which can only be purchased this side of the water, such as Deep Riverock water and Powerade, Fruice and BPM.
This is an entirely different company from the one who produces Coca cola brands in GB.
For this reason, the promotions are always different from area to area, for example, the recent "win a diamond" cometition was run in NI only and not in GB.

If you bought a bottle of a Coca cola brand here but it was not not produced by Coca cola bottlers(Ulster) then it was obviously imported by the retailer or wholesale from GB. They are not strictly supposed to do this but many takeaway outlets import Coca cola products from elsewhere.
I can only guess that the retailer you bought this from has a supply chain which brings in Coke from GB, although I cant see how it can possibly be cheaper to import it than to buy it from the local supplier.

freddie_2

So should I blaming Boots for us not being able to take advantage of the promo as they arethe ones selling it here?

Do you know why they arent allowed to import it from GB?, is it because we have our own bottlers?

Gosh, cant believe I am even posting here about this but still......

Sigur_2

Too much time on your hands?

Jaime-V

Iceland normally sell GB coke too. Its shipped across with their orders to the distribution centres. Boots must do central distribution with all their products to their warehouse here and then onto the stores.

Our HO in Dublin send goods to England to be shipped back over to here for one of the multiples... madness!

yorkie98

I don't think its prohibited to buy Coke in from GB (or any EU country for that matter), but obviously Coke NI would prefer to have exclusive rights to sell here but that would go against free trade laws etc..
Large chains, such as Boots, Iceland etc obviously buy their Coke products in bulk from Coke GB and ship it over with all their other goods.
Only suppliers with an NI disribution centre would be more likely to sell NI coke, such as Tesco (who always try to source locally) and Musgrave (Centra and Supavalu).
This is obviously where the problem stems from.

marksimpson

Coca-Cola and Kelloggs are examples of two companies which deal with their advertising and promotions on an "Island of Ireland" basis.

This is why you see all Kelloggs adverts on UTV and C4 Northern Ireland with southern Irish voiceovers, and all other channels have UK voiceovers.

I wouldn't have any problem with this if at least occasionally the VO artists were from NorthernIreland...

peterdoherty

Was in boots on royal avenue today and they had a big stand full of this coke with promo mateiral alll around out. smart!!

Wee_Bargain_Hunter

I saw this comp advertised on TV & finally saw the small print at the bottom of the screen - need glasses :rolleyes:. Anyway there IS a comp for us here in Norn Iron. Here's the link for the no purchase entry route. The t&cs state only one entry per day. Good luck! Let us know if you win!

Ps There's a similar comp I saw advertised for Deep River Rock but when I checked the other day the NPN route wasn't up yet.

Ardsontour

Just to let you all know, we won a diamond yesterday!! Advised value of £3100 by Coke...happy days.

Wee_Bargain_Hunter

Hey that's fantastic! Well done :j

Any tips? Did you enter at a quiet time of day etc?