Crabbie's to sponsor the Grand National

The partnership, which was signed for an undisclosed sum, will run until 2016 and gives the brand naming rights for  three races during the Grand National Festival: the Crabbie’s Fox Hunters’ Chase (Thursday, Grand Opening Day), the Crabbie’s Topham Chase (Friday, Ladies’ Day) and the Crabbie’s Grand National (Saturday, Grand National Day).

Marketing Plans​

Owner Halewood International said that the agreement would become “the cornerstone” of the marketing programme for Crabbie’s for the duration of the deal.

“The Grand National is a unique race with massive global reach and represents a perfect partnership for Crabbie’s and our UK and international ambitions,” said deputy chairman, Peter Eaton.

“The brand is already enjoying considerable success in the USA, Canada and Australia and is the number one bottled ale in the UK and from a company and family perspective, we are delighted to renew our longstanding relationship with Aintree.”

Family ties​

The Halewood family have a longstanding relationship with Aintree, the racecourse in Liverpool where the Grand National is held.

The company’s founder, the late John Halewood, owned Amberleigh House, he horse which won the 2004 Grand National and the 2001 Becher Chase.

John’s partner and now chairwoman of Halewood International, Judy Halewood said she was “delighted” with the sponsorship and that the family connection with the Grand National and racing continues to grow. 

Market opportunities​

Next year the event will take place between Thursday 3rd to Saturday 5th April 2014. It usually pulls in an estimated 600 million TV viewers worldwide, and more than 150,000 attend over the three days.

Last month Halewood announced it was extending the Crabbie’s brand out of ginger for the first time, with the launch of a lemon variant, Crabbie’s Cloudy Alcoholic Lemonade.

The company also confirmed last week that it had reached an agreement with microbrewer TicketyBrew over the similarities between Halewood’s trademark “Tickety Boo” and an application to trademark TicketyBrew.