National Pub Football Week preview

National Pub Football Week is gearing up to take the trade by storm. We take a look ar what's in store.

Fans have been flocking to the pub to watch live football for years now, but poor old Joe Publican has been short-changed.

As the cost of screening satellite matches has soared, at the back of its collective mind, a thought has been nagging away at the trade: "Hey! Shouldn't we be making more out of this?"

If this strikes a chord with you, you're not alone - the feeling has bugged the boardrooms of many leading pub companies.

The feeling was so strong that they got together to talk about how, collectively rather than competitively, something could be done.

The result is National Pub Football Week, which starts on Saturday (September 6). Sports fans are eagerly anticipating seven days of live action in the pub, along with the chance to take part in promotions and competitions run by the biggest brand names in the business.

Already the event's website - www.nationalpubweek.co.uk - has reported 100,000 hits, largely thanks to coverage in magazines such as FourFourTwo, FHM and Loaded. A special page on the site which directs people to participating pubs in their area has proved to be a favourite.

The event is not without its celebrity backers including Gabby Logan, Gordon McQueen, Norman Whiteside and Viv Anderson, who have all said they want to see as many people as possible get involved in the week.

During the seven days the qualifying stages of the European Championships will approach their zenith. Each of the home nations will play twice.

In the case of England, victories are vital against Liechtenstein and Macedonia. But the real excitement of the week, in many a tipster's book, lies in the clash between Italy and Wales. Wales have chalked up a series of narrow victories against Italy in recent years and need yet another to set the seal on its Euro 2004 place.

But there's a lot more to National Pub Football Week than the usual punters turning up to agonize over England. This time, if he plays his cards right, Joe Publican will get something out of it.

At his disposal is an armoury of promotional weaponry the like of which has rarely, if ever, been available before.

Eleven leading drinks brands have got together with the pubcos to produce a plethora of promotions kits, ideas and competitions designed to give customers an experience they just couldn't match at home. It's this, more than anything else, which will make people want to come back and build up the pub as the place to watch football.

People get much more of a buzz watching football in a large group and the promotions, quizzes and prizes of National Pub Football Week will all add to the atmosphere.

The short-term hope is that customers will return to the pub to watch the final qualifiers on October 11, when England play Turkey.

The underlying fear in the minds of the pubcos was that unless something was done, people would start to drift back home to watch football. More people have Sky at home now and there are a number of other reasons why pubs lose out to the off-trade.

The challenge with international football is even sharper - almost all the matches are free to view on terrestrial television, so pubs have to find a way to persuade people to get out of their armchairs.

A lot of the competitions demand that customers stay to watch the game to find out if they've won. The mechanism is simple: buy a drink, receive a ticket with a number between one and 90 and if a goal is scored in the minute that matches your number, you win.

The prizes aren't bad either and include Premiership tickets, free bets, Premiership shirts, branded T-shirts, holdalls, caps and other stuff.

While the bulk of the 18,000 pubs at the centre of National Pub Football Week are tenants of national pubcos, freetraders and others can get involved by downloading kits from www.nationalpubweek.co.uk, or pubs can do their own thing.

Interest in National Pub Football Week has overwhelmed organisers and there are already plans to expand the event in 2004.

Brands with promotions​

Brands running promotions during the week include Holsten, Pepsi, Coke, WKD, Guinness, Smirnoff Ice, Carling, Carlsberg, Budweiser, Tennent's Lager, Strongbow and John Smith's. For full details of what's on offer, log on to www.nationalpubweek.co.uk.

Ten tips for a top football week​

• Advertise a prize draw at half-time and offer T-shirts, pints or a meal as prizes
• Sell box seats with the best view of the screen for a fixed price, or a donation to charity
• Run a sweepstake on the time of the first goal or goalscorer. It's a fun way to involve customers but remember it's illegal to make a profit out of it
• Sell four-pint pitchers to save customers having to visit the bar during the action. Use chalkboards to advertise the deal
• Have plenty of food available, such as crisps, sausages and sandwiches. Give it away or run a special match day offer
• Get your Football Week banner up now
• Create a display in a spot where most people will see it
• Hold a quiz before key matches to build up the atmosphere - a 50-question quiz is included in the free kits
• Advertise key matches on chalkboards and the empty belly posters in the kits.

Highlights​

National Pub Football Week will feature promotions around the Premiership, the Champions League, the UEFA Cup, the Scottish Premiership and the Nationwide League. But most people will have their eyes on the Euro 2004 qualifiers.

Saturday Sept 6 ​

• Scotland​ v Faroe Islands
• Ukraine v N. Ireland​
• Macedonia v England​
• Italy v Wales​
• Rep. of Ireland​ v Russia

Wednesday Sept 10​

• Germany v Scotland​
• N. Ireland​ v Armenia
• England​ v Liechtenstein
• Wales​ v Finland

Who's doing what?​

• The pubco​

Tenanted pub giant Pubmaster is backing the project because of a belief that, in the words of commercial director Nigel Sammons, "watching football at home just can't compete with the atmosphere a pub can create.

"By taking part in the initiative, our tenants can create a fantastic venue for their regulars to watch live matches, attract new customers and drive up drink and food sales during the European qualifiers," he added. "Important live games are a great opportunity for pubs to attract customers - not only for the atmosphere but by offering great promotions to add to the excitement."

During last year's World Cup, Pubmaster saw a 20 per cent uplift in outlets which ran decent promotions.

"When the pub looks the part inside and out, it's one of the key factors in driving fans into your pub and not the house down the road," said Nigel. "It can give you a vital competitive edge."

The brand​

Holsten is behind an imaginative free £5 bet promotion which will run in about 2,000 pubs. Anyone buying two bottles gets a slip with the bet details and odds for the England v Turkey game on October 11.

"Most of the bets are pretty realistic, such as Michael Owen scoring in a 2-0 England victory, to give people a real chance of winning," said marketing director Ben Peters. "Fans will feel at home in a bar where football is the absolute focus and they'll get to enjoy tons of promotions and great prizes."

"We also anticipate that outlets running the promotion will benefit from a big night on October 11."

The licen​