Pints, partners and performance

At any sports event, alcohol and fans are never far away from each other. Especially major sports events like UEFA EURO 2016. Whilst Nike and adidas teams compete on the pitch, beer brands will compete for attention and sales in fan zones, bars and supermarkets.

As ‘Official Beer of UEFA EURO 2016’ you would expect to see Carlsberg promoting their name on the perimeter advertising boards at all 10 stadia where 51 matches will be played. Not true. French law prohibits the Carlsberg name from appearing on LED boarding, hence the use of the word ‘probably’ that has featured in Carlsberg campaigns for many years. Having paid millions to sponsor EURO 2016, Carlsberg cannot promote their name on TV to football viewers around the world. A poor return on investment you might think…..

Actually, for the UK market with three teams playing at EURO 2016, England, Northern Ireland and Wales, the projections could not be more positive. With the expansion of the tournament from 16 to 24 teams there will be an additional 20 matches. As a result, an extra 40 million pints of beer will be served generating an estimated €75 million profit for UK pub operators. In the UK, one-third of all viewers watch EURO football matches in pubs. On Saturday 11 June when both Wales and England played on the same day, 14.6 million pints were served in one day! A successful run to the latter stages of the tournament by England could increase beer sales by as much as 17%. And, for those who enjoy English humour, a few playful sub-brands including ‘Back of the Net’, ‘Vardy Bombs’ and ‘Kane Koolers’ are also available. The latter is a mix of Smirnoff and Jägermeister….hope they do not serve those in pints!

Whilst Carlsberg has been the Official Beer since UEFA EURO 1988, their competitors Heineken have just embarked on a new partnership with Formula 1. Coincidentally, Heineken announced this new deal 24 hours before the first EURO match, at the Canadian Grand Prix. Having sponsored the UEFA Champions League since 2005, Heineken decided that F1 could deliver a different customer not engaged via football. Still, the advertising department at Heineken could not resist a small reference to football and the absence of the Dutch team at EURO 2016…

When it comes to serving punters with pints, it makes sense to evaluate the business performance of your sponsorship on and off the pitch. Whatever happens with the UEFA Official Partners, ‘probably’ the best team in the tournament will raise the Henri Delaunay Cup on Sunday 10 July as winners of EURO 2016! Cheers and enjoy responsibly.