The UK drinks industry is positively fizzing at the moment. Harry and Meghan’s wedding in May gave sparkling wine sales a massive hike thanks to the combination of the wedding and the beautiful weather. According to IRI, sparkling wine sales in retail hit £20.7 m during the Wedding Week, 12.5% up over the previous seven days and 36.6% up on the same time last year.
David Beckham, Britain’s favourite ex-footballer was a guest at the Royal Wedding, which leads us to the World Cup. With over half the population planning to watch this year’s matches, to quote IRI’s Tim Eales, the World Cup can either provide a much-needed boost to UK retailers and food manufacturers, or if England don’t last beyond the group stage, they lose out too.
A sports tournament like the World Cup is generally a boost for drink sales, especially during a long hot summer and when games have evening kick-offs. Shoppers get into the party spirit and spend more around these times.
This World Cup is being held in Russia, which raises certain issues, but it’s business as usual for the global drinks brands, led by Budweiser, official beer sponsor of the World Cup for 32 years. Bud has unveiled Light up The World Cup, its biggest ever global campaign, ahead of the championships, with its creative focus on fan energy and full of beer delivery drones and high tech gizmos.
Coca-Cola European Partners also has activity kicking off ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup™ with a new on-pack promotion across its Coca-Cola portfolio. Coca-Cola’s new promotion with sports game EA SPORTS™ FIFA 18, sees unique codes printed on promotional packs of Coca-Cola Classic and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar to unlock exclusive in-game content within FIFA 18 for the Xbox One and PlayStation®4 consoles and a chance of winning a rare player and Coca-Cola jersey for their team.
PepsiCo’s brands have also come together to encourage shoppers to host their own big night in with PepsiCo’s beverages and snacks and get behind their favourite football team. The Power of One campaign features an on-pack promotion offering prizes across selected formats of Pepsi Max and PepsiCo’s snack brands.
As festivalgoers gear up for months of fun and music, local retailers near these events are set to clean up. and Strongbow is offering retailers a special on pack promotion to celebrate Strongbow’s official sponsorship of iconic festivals, including Kendal Calling, Isle of Wight Festival and Victorious. For a second year running, Strongbow is challenging customers to ‘Make an Epic Festival Entrance’ and win entry to the festivals for them and five friends.
And finally, it’s back to sparkling wine. New research conducted by the Prosecco trade body Consorzio Tutela Prosecco DOC reveals that the UK is the largest export market for Prosecco. With more men in the UK buying Prosecco DOC than women, if England do well in Russia, expect Prosecco sales to go skyrocketing.
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