Footfall fever
The start of the premiership season is just a few short weeks away, so its time to prepare for those match days to lift your takings into the next league, says Simon Creasey
For many licensees the end of the 2007-8 Premier League football season feels ages away at the moment. Some have managed to keep the tills ticking over throughout Euro 2008 thanks to creative marketing tactics, with others making the most of the pre-season friendlies featured on Setanta Sports 1, but the majority can't wait for 16 August to roll around, when the new season kicks off in earnest.
The reason for this optimism is obvious when you glance at the statistics. According to a report produced by TNS, drinkers watching sport in the pub spend an average 48% more than those not watching TV.
But despite the potential cash cow that football promises, there are still a number of licensees who make simple mistakes and as a result miss an open goal when it comes to screening live football. So what kind of thing should licensees be doing to make sure they're onto a winner?
The first and probably most important step towards successfully screening Premier League football is to evaluate whether or not the move will be well received by your target audience, and if as a result of showing games you risk alienating punters and losing business.
Steve Martin, beer and cider category manager at Punch Taverns, believes that with trading conditions tighter than ever, licensees need to seriously evaluate whether the investment in a satellite subscription package is worth it, based on the individual establishment's needs.
"There are too many pubs in the UK with Sky and on average it costs £6,000 per year, even though for the best part of May, June and July there's no football," says Martin. "Sky in the right pubs is 100% the right thing and we support and promote it, but we want customers to make sure that they are getting value for money."
He adds that a cheaper and perhaps more sensible investment for some premises would be to pay for a Freeview box, which comes with Sky Sports News free of charge.
"Most of the time people just want to see the highlights of the games and Sky Sports News offers you goals, on top of goals, on top of goals, in addition to transfer rumours. A Freeview box can cost as little as £30, and there are some pubs out there with a Sky box that could get away with only having Freeview."
However, if you decide to go the whole hog and screen live football matches, then the key thing to bear in mind from the off is that you must heavily promote the fact that you are going to show live games.
This may sound like obvious advice, but far too many licensees fail to advertise properly, which can have a negative impact on two different fronts: firstly, regular punters wanting a quiet drink may end up going elsewhere if they turn up and find, to their surprise, that a match is being watched by a rowdy crowd; and, secondly, you may miss out on that crowd's money if they're unaware you're showing the games.
Games should be advertised well in advance both inside and outside the premises, according to John
Coe, head of sales and marketing
at Enterprise Inns. "Use as many routes as possible," advises Coe. "Banners, posters, 'A' boards and, maybe for big matches, leaflets
distributed in the local area or text messages to an established database of consumers."
Promotional material should be erected in areas that are highly visible and attract plenty of footfall — outside the pub this could be on a moveable sandwich board or blackboard/banner fixed to the wall, and inside the premises the best places are typically the toilets, behind the bar and in the smoking area.
This material should look as professional as possible to add credibility to the venue — fixture lists cut out of the newspaper do not pass muster — and the good news is that there are plenty of cheap or even free options for licensees to choose from.
For instance, Budweiser provides professionally-produced fixture lists and belly posters in addition to other point-of-sale material to help licensees promote their football offer. Most pubcos have also forged tie-ups with drink suppliers to provide high quality promotional kits.
"Often these kits are of high value and are sold to retailers at a considerable discount," says Enterprise's Coe. "This gives all retailers the chance to obtain marketing support and not just the bigger, high-volume pubs."
Punch Taverns offers licensees support through its Carlsberg Sports Viewing Club, which, in addition to providing useful advice about promoting sport in pubs, also supplies subscribers with fixture posters, belly posters, credit card-sized fixture guides to give to customers and drip mats with fixture lists, all for just £40+VAT per year.
"The kit is sent to the pub every month and it contains material that promotes every game on Sky for that particular month," says Punch's Martin. "You only have to sell a couple of extra pints a week off the back of it and it pays for itself."
Once you've got the promotion right, something else that needs serious consideration in the run-up to the screening of live games is the type of broadcasting kit you own.
The quality of your equipment adds to the ambience that you create in the pub and nowadays people are so much more discerning about it. You can no longer get away with a crusty old square TV propped on the corner of the bar or an LCD widescreen in a dark corner, according to Andrew Cooney, marketing director at Marston's.
"Make sure that the telly is in a place where viewers can see the screen, but is not blocking entries, exits or access to the bar or AWPs," advises Cooney.
Having numerous screens in more than one room helps, but if you're on a fairly low budget then one well-positioned screen will suffice — regardless of the number of screens, you need to ensure that they are out of reach of daylight as nothing dampens the football-viewing public's pleasure more than a screen partially bathed in sunlight.
In addition to making sure that on the day of the game itself, you've got staffing levels and stocks of beer prepared. To truly make the most of the occasion, you have to see it as an opportunity to make money beyond the 90 minutes during which the match will take place.
Enterprise's Coe recommends encouraging customers to come early to soak up the atmosphere. "Retailers could show DVDs of previous or famous matches and have the first part of a quiz with the second part at half-time and the conclusion after the match," he suggests.
Punch Taverns' Martin says that Wii competitions are particularly popular with customers at the moment and that licensees could make these tournaments football-themed with punters playing against one another either before, during half-time or after the game. "Sky is a big cost, as is a widescreen projector or a big plasma, so it's about getting as much use out of it as you can," explains Martin.
Further ways of enhancing the big-game atmosphere include organising competitions so that even those supporters whose teams are not participating in a particular game can still have a vested interest in the outcome. This could include setting up a pub fantasy-football league and for one-off games organising "guess the score" or "golden goal" competitions for the time of the first and the last goal.
Another good way of drawing punters in early is through a food offer, according to Marston's Cooney. "Not only does it keep the customers in your pub and add turnover, it also makes for a more controlled drinking environment."
The food offer could come in the form of a pre- or even a post-match meal — the aim is to try and get customers to the pub early or encourage them to stick around after the game. You can also link drinks to food by selling a pint plus burger and chips as part of a fixed price deal, for example. For the big games it's likely to be standing room only, so it's also worth offering foods that customers can eat standing up, such as hot dogs.
Durin
