Carlsberg's tournament highlights:
- Stadia beer sales up 40% compared to 2008
- 6,688,676 visitors to tournament fan zones
- Unprecedented television audiences for the Final (Spain: 15 million, Italy: 22 million, Germany: 20 million, UK: 14 million, Poland: 10 million) resulting in higher visibility of Carlsberg perimeter advertising
- Over 1,000,000 cups of beer sold at half-time during the Final
- 300,000 Carlsberg wigs distributed
- 20 tonnes of plastic cups recycled in Polish fan zones
- Carlsberg's EURO 2012 mobile app reaches 3 million users
- 375,000 pledge to drink responsibly and wear the 'Drink Responsibly’ wristbands
Carlsberg has a rich heritage in supporting football at all levels of the game and has been a committed sponsor of the last seven European Football Championships (EUROs). UEFA EURO 2012™ has more than surpassed all expectations for the tournament and has set new standards for Carlsberg in terms of fan engagement and beer sales.
Commenting on Carlsberg's performance during the tournament, Carsten Buhl, Carlsberg’s UEFA EURO 2012™ Senior Project Manager and a veteran of numerous EUROs, says: "This tournament has been a great success for Carlsberg. We’ve successfully navigated the challenges of working across two large countries, delivering record volumes of Carlsberg to all eight stadia and fan zones, culminating in delivering over 1,000,000 cups of Carlsberg during the half time break at the Kiev Stadium, across the fan zones and other public viewing areas.”
“Beer sales across the eight stadia and fan zones have exceeded that of UEFA EURO 2008™, with consumption up 40% per spectator in stadia. The fan zones have been a great success, with over 6.6 million fans visiting. The Kiev fan zone was increased in size for the Final accommodating 200,000 spectators with our bars consistently delivering Carlsberg to the fans.”
The UEFA EURO 2012™ campaign has also been creating new records for the Carlsberg brand beyond the tournament host markets of Poland and Ukraine. Carsten Buhl commented, “We are especially pleased with the number of Carlsberg markets that have chosen to run campaigns around the EUROs. Our markets across Europe and Asia have developed football specific campaigns this summer engaging millions of fans. One of our most visible and successful activation tactics has been the distribution of Carlsberg wigs. We’ve created new records by distributing 300,000 fan wigs across all the host venues and a number of domestic markets – allowing fans to show their colours and passion for football and their team”.
“We’ve also been delighted with the TV audiences across the world. The EUROs gains in popularity and this year we’ve seen record TV figures in a number of counties, including an all-time record for Spain that saw 15.5 million viewers tune in for the final (83.4% audience share), peaking at 17.9 million (90% audience share).
Khalil Younes, Carlsberg’s Senior Vice President for Sales, Marketing and Innovation adds, “As we continue to work hard to iconise the Carlsberg brand and reinforce the tagline, 'That calls for a Carlsberg', we have been especially pleased to see the traction our refreshed football specific branding and packaging has had across all the host cities and also further afield.”
"Our activations plans, before and during the Championships, were executed effectively and new initiatives – particularly within the digital and social media space – allowed us to really engage and connect with our target audiences.”
“We have also been encouraged to see the impact of our recycling and 'Drink Responsibly' initiatives. Over the duration of the EUROs we’ve distributed over 375,000 wrist bands to fans pledging to have a responsible attitude to drinking. We’ve also created new records for recycling and across fan zones we created branded recycling bins. In Poland alone we’ve recycled over 20 tonnes of plastic cups.”
Finally, Carlsberg's UEFA EURO 2012™ campaign was supported by one of the greats of European football, Denmark's Peter Schmeichel, who said, “It seems like only yesterday that I was in Kiev for the draw and now it’s all over! Both Poland and Ukraine have stepped up and done a really fantastic job in hosting this great tournament.”
“I believe this to have been the best EUROs ever. We’ve seen some outstanding games and stunning individual performances from many players. In the end, the best team won and created history by winning back to back tournaments.”
“At the beginning of the tournament UEFA launched the tournament slogan, Creating History Together. Looking back, that’s exactly what has been delivered. That calls for a Carlsberg.”
