Summer is finally here and what better way to enjoy the season than having a bottle of cool drinks and winning some exciting gifts from your favorite brand? Somersby is offering a great summer drinks promotion this year! Buy any 2 Somersby and get a free beach mat!
Somersby created a simple but effective summer drinks promotion by offering customers a free branded beach mat when they bought any two Somersby drinks. It is a clear gift-with-purchase mechanic, easy for shoppers to understand and attractive enough to encourage an extra purchase.
This campaign is a good example of how beverage brands can connect their product with a lifestyle moment. Instead of offering a random free item, Somersby chose a gift that fits summer behaviour, outdoor occasions, and social drinking moments.
Why This Summer Drinks Promotion Works
A strong drinks promotion does not always need a complicated mechanism. Sometimes, the simplest offer works best because customers can understand the value immediately.
In this case, the message is clear: buy two Somersby drinks and receive a free beach mat. The customer does not need to join a long registration process or wait for a later reward. The gift is available at the point of purchase, which makes the promotion easier to act on.
Summer Drinks Promotion
This is a simple yet very engaging drinks marketing idea. The free item encourages customers to make a decision right on the spot. This is because the branded gift with purchase is perceived as something they can easily obtain at no additional cost.
The gift is a branded beach mat that customers can use at the beach, picnics, music fests, and other outdoor gatherings. It is branded with Somersby logo in the middle, making it easier to remember the brand name. Although many people cannot go out to experience the beach due to the pandemic, this gift can still be a great way to look forward to their next summer or camping with friends.
A Relevant Gift for a Seasonal Campaign
One of the strongest parts of this promotion is the product choice. A beach mat feels natural for a summer drinks promotion because it connects directly to the season.
Summer is linked with outdoor relaxation, travel, beach visits, festivals, barbecues, and picnics. A branded beach mat supports these activities while keeping the brand visible in real-life settings.
This is important because promotional gifts should not feel disconnected from the product. For a drinks brand, the best merchandise often fits one of these moments:
- Outdoor drinking occasions
- Social gatherings
- Travel and leisure
- Music festivals
- Beach and poolside events
- Bar and restaurant promotions
- Retail gift-with-purchase campaigns
Somersby’s beach mat works because it extends the drinking occasion beyond the bottle. It gives customers a useful item that belongs in the same lifestyle space as the brand.
The Beach Mat Creates Long-Term Brand Visibility
Unlike disposable promotional items, a beach mat can be used many times. Customers may bring it to the beach, parks, camping trips, or outdoor events. Each use creates another brand exposure opportunity.
The Somersby logo is placed clearly in the middle of the mat. This makes the branding visible without making the product feel too complicated. For beverage brands, this balance is important. The gift should be branded enough to support recall, but still attractive enough for customers to actually use.
A practical summer gift can create more value than a short-term discount because the item stays with the customer after the purchase. Every time the beach mat is used, it reminds the customer of the brand and the original experience.
The POP Display Helps the Offer Get Noticed
The promotion was supported by a point-of-purchase display. This is a smart move because even the best gift-with-purchase campaign can be missed if the offer is not clearly presented.
The display featured a wooden base with Carlsberg’s iconic hop leaf logo and a clear plastic section for the promotional message. This type of menu or tabletop display is especially useful in bars and restaurants, where customers often scan their surroundings while waiting for food or drinks.
A good POP display can help brands:
- Draw attention to the promotion
- Explain the offer quickly
- Encourage impulse decisions
- Support staff when promoting the campaign
- Keep the brand visible at the table, bar counter, or retail shelf
For drinks brands, this is a key lesson. The gift is only one part of the campaign. The display, messaging, placement, and purchase mechanic all work together to drive results.
Why Gift-With-Purchase Works for Beverage Brands
Gift-with-purchase promotions are popular in the beverage industry because they give customers an immediate reason to choose one brand over another.
In competitive drinks categories, customers may compare similar products based on price, flavour, packaging, or brand familiarity. A useful branded gift can become the extra push that drives the sale.
A summer drinks promotion with a GWP can help brands:
- Increase purchase quantity
- Encourage trial among new customers
- Reward existing customers
- Improve visibility in-store or on-premise
- Build a stronger lifestyle association
- Make seasonal campaigns more memorable
In Somersby’s case, the “buy any two” mechanic encourages customers to purchase more than one drink. This can help increase basket size while giving the customer a clear reward.
What Makes the Somersby Beach Mat Memorable
Many summer beverage campaigns use common promotional items such as towels, sunglasses, tote bags, drawstring bags, bottle openers, or coolers. These items can still work well, but they are also widely used.
A beach mat feels slightly more unexpected. It is practical, seasonal, and strongly connected to outdoor leisure. This makes the promotion easier to remember.
The best promotional products often have three qualities:
- They fit the campaign theme.
- They are useful for the target audience.
- They create visible brand exposure.
Somersby’s beach mat covers all three. It supports the summer theme, gives customers something practical, and keeps the brand visible in outdoor settings.
What Makes this Summer Drinks Promotion Stand Out?
1. Eye-Catching POP display
We find this summer drinks promotion simple yet very engaging. Somersby Cider is manufactured by the Danish brewery, Carlsberg. We learned of their promotion after seeing their menu display. It has a wooden base, which features Carlberg’s iconic Hop leaf logo, and a clear plastic display that allows merchandisers to easily change the poster.
Using a menu stand is a smart move. When seated at a bar or restaurant, our attention tends to wander. Without anything to do, we often scan displays and even posters to pass the time while waiting for our food and drinks to be served. By using your menu stands to advertise important announcements, promotions, and other important messages, you are able to create an instant connection with your customers. This is why Somersby’s campaign is simple, yet so effective.
2. Relevant Gift
Another reason this promotion works is that they have chosen the appropriate gift to offer their customers. Summer means vacation at the beach or picnic with friends at the park. But since many of us cannot go out to enjoy the waves due to the pandemic, the custom giveaway item can still be used at home. This is perfect for a barbecue night with family in your yard.
Summer Drinks Promotion
3. Memorable
When it comes to summer promotions, beverage companies usually offer items such as promotional towels, drawstring bags, tote bags, and custom-branded sunglasses. It is rare to see them offer a beach mat as a gift with purchase. This is why we believe people will remember Somersby for their unique gift.
As seen from our example, it features the drinks’ logo to further enhance their brand recall.
Summer Drinks Promotion
4. A Win-Win for Both the Brand and the Customers
This is a win-win for both the brand and the customers. Aside from incentivising buyers, such promotions can give brands a great opportunity to increase their sales and build a stronger market base. Many people think that offering free items will cost them a lot. But what they do not know is that the ROI could be much greater than the production cost.
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Find out how Somersby Cider’s seasonal gifts with purchase have helped influence their customers’ buying behavior.
Drink coasters are easily one of the best promotional products out there. It costs relatively little to manufacture so this one is an effective and inexpensive promotional idea.
We certainly love this tall glass giveaway by Somersby. Not only is it high-quality, but it also goes well with the product on offer.
How ODM Can Help With Summer Drinks Promotions
Inspired by this Somersby beach mat campaign? ODM can help brands develop custom promotional gifts for seasonal beverage campaigns, retail activations, bars, restaurants, supermarkets, duty-free stores, and event promotions.
The ODM Group supports brands from concept through delivery. Our team can help with product ideation, design, sourcing, sampling, production management through our trusted factory network, quality control, and logistics.
From branded beach mats and cooler bags to POS displays, gift sets, drinkware, bottle glorifiers, and retail-ready promotional kits, ODM can help turn a campaign idea into a practical product solution.
Contact the ODM team to start planning your next summer drinks promotion.
Final Thoughts
Somersby’s beach mat campaign shows how a simple summer drinks promotion can become more memorable when the gift matches the season, the product, and the customer’s lifestyle. The beach mat is practical, easy to use, and strongly connected to outdoor moments such as beach trips, picnics, camping, and summer gatherings.
What makes this campaign effective is not only the free gift. It is the full promotional setup: a clear buy-two mechanic, a relevant branded item, and a visible POP display that helps customers notice the offer at the right moment.
For beverage brands, this is a useful reminder that seasonal promotions work best when the merchandise feels natural to the occasion. A well-chosen gift can encourage impulse purchases, improve brand recall, and keep the brand visible long after the drink has been enjoyed.
ODM can help brands develop similar summer promotional products, from beach mats and cooler bags to drinkware, POS displays, and complete gift-with-purchase campaigns. With support across design, sourcing, sampling, quality control, and logistics, ODM helps turn creative campaign ideas into retail-ready promotional solutions.
