Carlsberg gears up its World Cup support

Official England sponsor Carlsberg has unveiled a huge line-up of support aimed at driving football fans into the pub in the build-up to the World Cup.

Featuring a series of roadshows for licensees and a 'Team Talk' promotion aimed at inviting supporters to offer up their own half-time talk for the England team, the campaign is the main focus of a £30m marketing spend earmarked for the brand this year.

Carlsberg customer marketing director David Scott said the brewer wants to give its customers every opportunity to capitalise on what research house CGA estimates will be an incremental £125m of beer sales across the on-trade this summer (CGA).

The brewer has built its support for pubs around four key principles: raising awareness; building atmosphere; making the most of sound and vision; and ensuring the best speed of serve possible during busy games.

More than 600 licensees will get the opportunity to attend dedicated We Deliver More Live Sport events this spring - the first of which took place in Hayes, Middlesex yesterday - featuring business-building advice around football.

As well as getting the opportunity to become an Official Carlsberg Match Day venue - with a dedicated plaque - licensees attending will be able to obtain material including external banners, internal blackboards and fixture guides and posters.

Material will also be available via the www.carlsbergwedelivermore.co.uk​ website.

Carlsberg's tips on ensuring speed of serve during busy matches. include:

• siting bottle bars away from the main bar to relieve pressure

• setting up dedicated 'lager lanes' at the bar

• setting 'round-pound' pricing to prevent staff having to fiddle with change

• sending out barstaff with 'jet packs' to enable dispense at tables.

Scott said: "Our key priority is to help our customers drive up consumer spend, and ensure that their own customers are spending more time in their outlet. We really think we can help them achieve this."