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Carlsberg was Part of the Game for the Fans at EURO 2008

  More than 1,500,000 litres of beer sold in Fanzones in Austria and Switzerland The UEFA EURO 2008 is looking to become Carlsberg’s best EURO ever since Carlsberg started sponsoring the EURO back in 1988.    “We are very satisfied with this event. We and our guests along with millions of fans have experienced football at its best. The multiple Fanzones in Austria and Switzerland as well as across the world were very successful,” said Keld Strudahl, International Marketing Director and head of Carlsberg’s sponsorship activities. Swiss Fans in St. Jakob Park, Basel, watching the match Switzerland vs. Portugal on 15 June 2008 (Image: ActionImages) The Fanzones in the eight host cities lived up to expectations with 4 million visitors. Further to this 1 million fans visited the Swiss UBS fan parks, which were also established in collaboration with Carlsberg. In total, 5 million fans visited these Carlsberg sponsored public viewing areas in Austria and Switzerland.  Further more, fan parks with Carlsberg participation were highly successful in many other countries, most notably the Berlin Fanmeile, where 500,000 were reported to attend Germany’s semi-final and 650,000 attended the final. Beer sales in the fan zones in Austria and Switzerland were on level with expectations reaching more than 1.500.000 litres. “As a brewery we are obviously satisfied with the sales of beer, which fully lived up to our expectations. But even more so we were pleased to experience how the fan parks encouraged a lot of good party atmosphere, high spirits and no violence – all in the true spirit of football,” said Keld Strudahl. Carlsberg’s operation in all fan parks worked like a Swiss clockwork. All bars and every single beer tap had Carlsberg beer all the time. Brand visibility is important to Carlsberg, thus the bar staff was wearing Carlsberg t-shirts and caps during all 23 tournament days. The 31 matches during the UEFA EURO 2008 were attended by 1.1 million spectators – 100,000 fewer than in Portugal 2004, since the Austrian and Swiss stadia were smaller than the Portuguese. Regardless, Carlsberg’s non alcoholic beer sales in total volume in the stadia only were up by close to 30% compared to Portugal. Measured per person in the stadia, beer sales were around 36% higher than in Portugal. “We are very satisfied with the sales of non-alcoholic beer in the stadia. The significant increase obviously documents that fans appreciate the taste of the product, and also due to improved service and increased efficiency at the point of sales in the stadia,” said Keld Strudahl. As one of the leading and fastest growing brewing groups in the world, Carlsberg’s partnership with UEFA EURO 2008 is an important element in increasing brand awareness among consumers. To this end, the UEFA EURO 2008 was also highly successful for Carlsberg. The TV figures and market share that have been reported so far are very satisfying. The TV exposure has lived up to Carlsberg’s expectations in the markets so far reported, and it is estimated that the Carlsberg perimeter boards were visible on TV in more than 20 minutes per match. Also, many TV stations broadcast their pre-match, halftime and during programmes from the official Fanzones, which further increased the TV visibility for Carlsberg. One of Carlsberg’s and UEFA’s unique collaborative activities was the “Carlsberg Man of the Match” award that was presented after each match by a Carlsberg consumer to the best player. This became a hugely successful event with elaborate press coverage especially in winner home countries.   Further information Keld Strudahl – International Marketing Director - +45 40 60 49 01