How to market alcohol-free beer during football season
Using the current sporting calendar and a host of city-based drinking hotspots as a hook, the team at non-alcoholic drinks company Dionilife have shown how to boost interest in the category. db finds out more.
The activation, which saw more than 2,000 cans of Mash Gang Chug IPA given away for free in Manchester last weekend, assisted the company in encouraging trial of its portfolio during England’s World Cup matches.
Ahead of England’s game against Panama, Dionilife took to the streets of central Manchester with a giant inflatable football, challenging England fans to sing iconic football anthems such as: Three Lions; Waka Waka; World in Motion; Vindaloo and All Together Now.
Social media and merchandise follow-up
The giant inflatable football visited everywhere from the Northern Quarter to Piccadilly, Victoria and Media City, with live location clues being shared via the company’s Mash Gang Instagram and TikTok channels.
Participants won free beer for every sticker stuck to the giant roaming football along with a raft of further prizes such as Mash Gang T-shirts and inflatable footballs and with further promotions also available in Manchester venues such as: Dog Town, Grub, the Piccadilly Tap and the Victoria Tap.
Speaking to the drinks business about making the most of the opportunity to introduce people to an alcohol-free beer, Dionilife global head of marketing Jo Taylor said: “When it’s a long hot day, like Saturday, including some alcohol-free beer in a drinking session helps fans keep hydrated and energetic for being able to handle the trials and tribulations of watching England, especially for a late-starting match.”
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A chance to try one of the best alcohol-free beers in the world
Taylor told db that it made sense to give out the beers, choosing one from the range that was award-winning and would hit the mark on a hot day and highlighted that “Chug is one of the very best alcohol-free beers in the world, having just won the World Beer Cup in America against the finest brewers from around the world”.
Held only once every two years in the US, the World Beer Cup saw more than 8,000 beers from over 1,600 breweries being entered this year. Describing the recent win, Dionilife founder and CEO Damian McKinney said: “Alcohol-free beer has come a long way in the last few years, with a step-change across the board. Our research shows that only a fraction of the beer drinking population has yet to find a non-alcoholic beer they love, and our role is to convert this huge segment of the population to Mash Gang by meeting their discerning palates and lifestyles.”
Demand high for ‘refreshing celebratory beers’
Referencing the Dionilife marketing activations that followed, Taylor explained: “We wanted to support the hospitality trade, as well as the whole city of Manchester, with a big thank you in the shape of free beer, on one of the hottest days of the year. With the recent heatwave and England’s match against Panama, we knew demand would be high for refreshing celebratory beers.”
Taylor also pointed out that, along with a dose of goodwill, the team at Dionilife saw a prime opportunity to really boost the beer’s visability and as well as the fact that they ”wanted fans to enjoy their day with Chug” they also wanted to give people a reason to try the beer. Taylor added that, what better brew to kick them off with than “the alcohol-free beer that expert judges felt is the very best beer of its kind in the world this year”?
Dionilife bought Mash Gang in 2004 from Jordan Childs, Michael Baggs, James Loveday, and Alex Loveday after they had set up the business originally as a homebrewing project to create alcohol-free beers in 2020 during the pandemic.
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