26 Feb 2010
In an exclusive interview with Sportindustry.biz, Rob Hollis, brand
manager at Carling, has revealed that the beer brand is investing
heavily in digital marketing for this Sunday’s Carling Cup Final at
Wembley between Manchester United and Aston Villa.
How has your approach to marketing the Cup changed from last year?
This year we are pushing it as the first digital final - giving fans the opportunity to become really involved in the game with the digital role of honour (100 fans’ names screened around the stadium when the winning captain lifts the trophy), and using Twitter with screens in the ground and in Wembley way showing various supporters tweets.
Carling always has strong digital presence, we have a great website and we were the first beer brand to release an iPhone app – the iPint. We continue to believe that it’s a strong area for us and the digital aspect of the Carling Cup will help us progress in this area. At last year’s Final people really got behind noise bar that we introduced and it really worked.
There is also the opportunity for fans to vote for the music that will be played during the award ceremony. Also, for the first time ever we have used some on-pack activity to promote the competition.
What’s Carling’s marketing plans for the day?
The Carling Cup Final day is known as the ‘Fans Final’, they get 30,000 more tickets than any other domestic final – so our main focus on the day is to get the fans as close to the action as possible, and we will look to do this with the digital aspects we are offering.
How do you face the challenge of generating interest in the Carling Cup as it is sometimes seen as secondary to FA Cup?
If you go back prior to our involvement I think that may have been the case. But in the last five years attendance has gone up significantly and the media interest has been fantastic.
Also, you just have to look at the two semi-finals, you had a brilliant Manchester derby in one and a cracking 6-4, second leg match, between Villa and Blackburn in the other, these games really were a testament to the competition.
Obviously there is the European place up for grabs and the tournament is celebrating its 50th year which goes to show what an important competition it is.
Government alcohol sponsorship plans have become more stringent, is this a problem for Carling and can you envisage a time when your hands become tied completely?
I think, in terms of sponsorship, ours is aimed at building awareness to males aged 20 -25 males. But we think that marketing and education have a key role to play in our brand - we are partners of the Drinkaware campaign. We have been involved in football for 16/17 years and our aim is to enhance the enjoyment of the sport for the fans.
How successful has the partnership with the League Cup been?
Very successful over the years that we have been involved. We are now in our 7th season of sponsorship with the Cup which clearly shows the competition does a really good job for building a strong affinity with our target group.
Also the BBC getting involved this year has been great as there has been additional terrestrial coverage and the audience has grown by three and a half times the amount over the last season. So the Cup is a really strong part of our mix here at Carling.
What exactly do you feel your involvement in the Cup gains your brand?
It gives us the opportunity to communicate with our market about what they are interested which is key in our strategy. It also gives us very strong media coverage and strong associations with football.
Who do you think will win on Sunday?
I have to confess that I’m a United fan so obviously I would love United to win. But from a professional point of view I think that both teams have got a real shot at it.
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