Kraken rum hires punk poet John Cooper Clarke for Valentine’s Day promotion

Rum brand Kraken has recruited British punk poet John Cooper Clarke to encourage consumers to enter a competition to win a limited edition, pitch black rum bottle.

Best known as the Bard of Salford, Clarke’s poetry collection The Luckiest Guy Alive was published by Macmillan in 2018.

Kraken has recruited Clarke to create a ballad of his own, called Nine Line Valentine, and encourage people to enter a poetry competition to win a limited edition bottle of rum.

The bottle is described by the brand as the “the darkest and rarest bottles of Kraken Rum (or any other spirit we’ve seen) ever made.”

You can watch Clarke’s rendition of Nine Line Valentine below:

Hopeful poets have been asked to submit their own words to a dedicated website, and the winners will be selected at the end of the week, just in-time for Valentine’s Day.

The winners of the competition will be handed their prizes by Kraken’s branded “milk floats” on Friday 14 February in London and Glasgow.

Clarke said: “The mighty pen, like the mighty Kraken, can have a huge impact on the heart. You can find love anywhere, from the depths of the sea to the person sat beside you on your commute to work.

“If you can’t pluck up the courage to tell them how you feel in person or on one of the other 364 days of the year, then grab a pen, think of a line or two, and send it to us. It could change your life – just don’t blame me if it doesn’t work out…”

Having rose to prominence in the 70s when he toured with the likes of the Sex Pistols, Joy Division and New Order, Clarke has also collaborated with Plan B and the Arctic Monkeys. One of his most famous poems, I Wanna Be Yours was covered by the Arctic Monkeys on their critically acclaimed fifth studio album ‘AM’.