On to a winner

Alcohol and sport may not be the most obvious pairing, but sponsorship of events can create fantastic brand awareness. Adam Withrington investigates.

Sitting in the sunshine on Centre Court at the Queen's Tennis Club in London is a very nice way to spend a Friday afternoon I have to admit. But despite the best attempts of former world number one Andy Roddick, my focus is not completely on the tennis.

For every thundering ace (and this was the day when Mr Roddick managed to land the fastest serve in history - 153mph if you're interested), sturdy volley or breathtaking cross court winner, my line of vision could not escape two words: "Stella Artois".

The annual tennis championship at the Queen's Club, the traditional warm-up for Wimbledon, is simply known as the Stella Artois tournament and has been so since it started 26 years ago. The Belgian lager brand quite simply owns the event.

Sponsorship of sporting events by alcohol brands is an interesting paradox - it would be hard to argue that they are easy bedfellows. Drinking alcohol does not spur people on to great athletic performance (no matter what you think after four pints in the Dog and Duck on a Friday night) and so you cannot create the image that say, Lucozade creates with its advertising campaign with England striker Michael Owen.

So why do drinks brands invest so much in sport? Because it creates brand awareness to a level that outdoor and television advertising can only dream of.

Heineken is an interesting case. In 2002 it decided to alter its product in the UK, changing Heineken from a mass-produced standard lager to a premium five per cent ABV imported lager. The gap in the UK market for a standard lager, left by "old" Heineken was filled by fellow Heineken brand Amstel, which previously had not been widely available in the UK.

Getting this message across has proved challenging but the brand's massive investment in the two biggest club sports tournaments in Europe has given Heineken the platform to break it through.

For example it has achieved a level of Stella-esque dominance in the world of club rugby, something that particularly pleases UK on-trade sales manager Richard Bradbury. "The fact that the brand name is synonymous with the European Cup is very special for us," he said. "It has helped get our message about new Heineken across very well. It has all sorts of awareness benefits - often broadcasters advertise an upcoming Heineken Cup match during a live Premiership football match, and similarly with the rugby internationals. So we are mentioned a great deal."

Meanwhile, its sister lager brand Amstel this year celebrated 10 years of sponsoring the Champions League.

When Amstel first decided to sponsor the event it was not as established as it is now and many felt the brand was taking a risk, as international sponsorship manager for sports at Amstel, Arjen de Ruyter, explains.

"In the 1992/3 season, eight teams were in the Champions League and the sponsorship was worth about €70m. Everyone said we were investing a crazy amount of money and that it would never work. But no one could have imagined the size of the competition now. There are 32 teams, with 125 matches and it's now worth close to €700m." This has had a huge impact on awareness of Amstel in the UK, according to Simon Green, senior brand manager at Amstel UK.

"Awareness of Amstel in the UK has been huge for some years thanks to the Champions League sponsorship, but the lager was not always widely available. Now, thanks to the decision in 2002, the market potential that existed before is starting to become real."

Despite Heineken's success with its sponsorship, Danish lager brand Carlsberg believes it has its hands on a far more valuable sponsorship commodity: the English national team. Carlsberg is the official sponsor of the FA and Gareth Roberts, who heads up sponsorship strategy for Carlsberg UK believes they are on to a winner.

"We know from research that 85 per cent of the lager drinking market have an interest in England matches. The size of the audience is huge, particularly when the national team is involved.

"Look at the Rugby World Cup final last year - the overall television audience was 14.5 million people and participation with our Tetley brand was at nine million. Therefore there is huge interest in the England team, whatever the sport."

So would it be fair to say that perhaps it is actual long-term ownership, be it of an event like the Champions League or something that is focal of national interest like the England football team which is the holy grail for a drinks brand.

Well Arjen certainly thinks so. "We are very happy that we are sponsoring the Champions League and we would love to renew our contract with the UEFA. It's a seller's market - if we don't sponsor it then someone else will be in there quickly. If you can find me another product which is available nine months of the year with similar standards of quality then please tell me because I would love to know about it!"

How to 'own' an event​

• Champions League:​ launched special edition collectors cans, commemorating golden moments from the last 10 years. Special celebration bottles - 1.5-litre and magnum-sized.

Heineken Cup:​ in 2004 the winners, London Wasps (pictured)​, sprayed each other with magnums of Heineken. There were 80,000 pints of Heineken sold on the day in the stadium and 15 pubs around Twickenham were "Heinekenised".