January 2008
MEET THE DARTS ACE WHO LOOKS PRETTY COOL IN PINK

Pink…not a colour people would normally associate with a top ranking, heavyweight international darts professional.

It came as something of a surprise then when Peter ‘one dart’ Manley stepped up to the oche for the opening round of this year’s World Darts Championship accompanied by his trademark anthem of Tony Christie’s Amarillo and a shocking pink shirt adorned with logos promoting his new sponsor Mr Porky.

The connection becomes slightly clearer when you realise Mr Porky is the UK’s best selling brand of pork scratchings and is to the colour pink what darts is to the phrase ‘one hundred and eighty’.

Peter’s new attire was the talk of the tournament amongst colleagues and commentators alike, and continued to be up until his exit in the quarter finals.

But they’ll need to get used to it, because Mr Porky is headline sponsor for the world number five for the duration of the 2008 Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) World Championship season.

PDC players compete in events all across the globe, including the UK, Europe, America and South Africa.  Many are televised via Sky Sports and ITV, broadcasting to an estimated worldwide audience of 300 million viewers.

That’s invaluable brand exposure for the humble pork scratching, plus its owner and manufacturer Red Mill Snack Foods.

Red Mill’s marketing and sales controller Sarah Nunn said: “We are tremendously excited about this new partnership to promote the Mr Porky range and we know Peter is enthusiastic about it too, even if the shirt is attracting as much attention as the dart throwing.

“Professional darts remains a hugely popular sport and a perfect match for the fun, quirky world of Mr Porky.  We also want to extend our association outside of the sport and into markets where we are keen to raise Mr Porky’s profile, including grocery retail and the licensed trade.

“Peter will be joining us at trade shows, meeting and playing customers in pubs stocking scratchings and assisting us with a national media campaign to promote Mr Porky.  It’s going to be an exciting year and we hope a successful season for Peter in the World Championships too.”

Red Mill manufactures 20 million bags of Mr Porky scratchings, crackles, crunch and bacon bites every year from its factory in Westhoughton, near Bolton.  The brand enjoys a massive 81 per cent market share and is underpinned by the catchy strapline ‘Great Taste, No Porkies’.

Peter Manley, nicknamed ‘one dart’ thanks to his knack of hitting doubles with his first throw, has been competing in the PDC World Championship since 1999.  He won the Las Vegas Desert Classic in 2003 and was three times runner up in the World Championship final.

Peter was born in Cheam in Surrey and now lives in Carlisle with his wife Crissy, also a professional darts player, and two daughters.