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Sporting success How to make the most of live sport in your pub
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Foreword | Sporting Success
Matt Eley, editor
Summer of sport All the big fixtures coming to your screen this summer and beyond
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Whether you are watching or participating, there are few things that bring people together in the way that sport does. The highs of victory, the lows of defeat and the sense of belonging to something make it one of life’s real pleasures. And where better to enjoy a communal experience of joy or commiseration than in a pub? This supplement, supported by our partners at Sky, BT Sport and Heineken, gives you further insight into how you can enhance your sporting offer. Whether it is showing big games, attracting sports clubs and associations to your pub or just keeping the fans in for a little longer, we have some of the answers. We also have a rundown of the best sporting action taking place this summer. There’s plenty to keep your customers on the edge of their seats and… in need of refreshment. Enjoy…
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Sport in the community Pub sport is for playing as well as watching
Big match snacks Feed the fans with these tricks of the trade
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Marketing your matches Get online and get your pub known as the place to be for the big game
How to make the most of sport
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Sporting Success | The big fixtures
Summer of sport Settle in for a summer of thrills and spills, with your guide to the greatest action on the box
Footballers will either have their feet up on the beach or will soon be returning for preseason training. Aside from a plethora of half-paced friendlies and tours to far-flung lucrative markets, what else will there be to watch when it comes to sport for the rest of the summer? Rather a lot, it turns out. Whether you have the full works with Sky and BT or you just like to have a box in the corner with the terrestrial action turned on, there’s something for you. Here’s our rundown of some of the must-watch action coming to your pub over the next few months.
Football
It’s been nearly a whole month since England played Scotland, but thankfully you need wait no more. The football season is back — and this one has a World Cup at the end of it. First things first — the domestic season is just about to start.
Rugby
By the time you receive this supplement the Lions tour of new Zealand will be drawing to a close. Reputations will have been enhanced or eroded by the drama on the other side of the world. And while the men will be resting in preparation for a new season, our women head to Ireland for a World Cup — can England defend their title? Meanwhile, the rugby league season is reaching its conclusion before the World Cup takes place in Australia and new Zealand in the winter.
Soon July 8 Lions v All Black, Third Test, Auckland, 8.35am, Sky Sports (RU) Aug 9-16
Rugby World Cup, Women’s, ITV (RU)
Aug 26 Challenge Cup Final, BBC (RL)
Soon Aug 11 EFL season begins Aug 6 Chelsea v Arsenal, Community Shield, BT Sport Aug 8 Real Madrid v Man U European Super Cup, BT Sport
LATER oct 7 Super League Finale, old Trafford, Sky Sports (RL) oct 27 Rugby League World Cup, Australia and new Zealand, BBC (RL)
Aug 12 Premier League season begins
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Dec 2 Rugby League World Cup, Australia and new Zealand, BBC (RL)
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The big fixtures | Sporting Success
Tennis
F1
Whether you think F1 is the best thing since the invention of the motorcar or about as exciting as being stuck on the M25 at rush hour, there can be no denying that this season has thrown up a few surprises. Did anyone really think Ferrari would be the frontrunners at this stage or that Lewis Hamilton would not have it all his own way with the retirement of rosberg? there’ll be more drama throughout the summer, most notably when the tour arrives at Silverstone.
Soon July 16 British Grand Prix, C4 and Sky Sports
remind me, is it 2017 or 2007? roger Federer appears to be the Benjamin Button of tennis, defying his years to win at Australia earlier in the summer. Meanwhile rafa nadal is turning back the clock as if he has never suffered an injury in his career. Murray is world number one and defending Wimbledon champion but he must be feeling like those old warriors will never go away. oh and there’s come chap called novak who used to be able to play a bit as well. Wimbledon is going to be hard to call this year.
Soon July Wimbledon 3-16 BBC LAter Aug 28 US Open -Sep 10 Sky Sports
Golf
With tiger Woods apparently in a slump and struggling with his driving, the world of golf still has a vacancy for a dominant force. rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Jason Day will be among those battling it out for the season’s last two majors.
July 30 Hungarian Grand Prix, Sky Sports Aug 27 Belgian Grand Prix C4 and Sky Sports Sept 3 Italian Grand Prix Sky Sports LAter nov 26 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, SEASON FINALE, C4 and Sky Sports
Soon July The Open 20-23 royal Birkdale, Sky Sports Aug 7-13
PGA Championship Sky Sports
How to make the most of sport
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Sporting Success | The big fixtures Cricket
It’s a bumper packed year of cricket with the ICC tournament already concluded, test matches underway and an Ashes series to look forward to. If you are intending on showing the action from Down Under, remember that BT Sport secured the rights to the series.
Soon July Eng v SA, First Test 6-10 Lord’s, Sky Sports July 14-18
Eng v SA, Second Test Trent Bridge, Sky Sports
July 27-31
Eng v SA, Third Test The oval, Sky Sports
Aug 4-8
Eng v SA, Fourth Test old Trafford, Sky Sports
Aug 17-21
Eng v WI, First Test Edgbaston, Sky Sports
Aug 25-29
Eng v WI, Second Test Headingley, Sky Sports
Sept 7-11
Eng v WI, Third Test Lord’s, Sky Sports
Darts
Still one of the most popular sports you’ll find on the boob tube. World and Premier League champ “oh” Michael Van Gerwen remains the man to beat.
Soon July World Matchplay 22-30 Sky Sports
LATEr THE ASHES nov Aus v Eng, First Test 23-27 Brisbane, BT Sport Dec 2-6
Aus v Eng, Second Test Adelaide, BT Sport
Dec 14-18
Aus v Eng, Third Test Perth, BT Sport
Dec 26-30
Aus v Eng, Fourth Test Melbourne, BT Sport
Jan 4-8
Aus v Eng, Fifth Test Sydney, BT Sport
Other major events Soon Jul Tour de France 1-23 ITV Jul 15 Horse racing, July Cup newmarket, ITV Aug 1-5
Horse racing, Glorious Goodwood, ITV
Aug 4-13
Athletics World Championships London, BBC
Aug 27 British Moto Grand Prix, Silverstone, BT Sport Sep 24 NFL in London, Sky Sports
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Fans are ready for the return of football... Are you?
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Sporting Success | Sport in the community
Sport for all Pub sport isn’t only about shouting at the big screen. Matt Eley catches up with some pubs where it’s all about the taking part Being a sporty pub doesn’t necessarily mean showing every fixture of every sport with a booming commentary dominating the room. Take The Chequers in Laddingford, Kent, for example. It is a traditional village local with the outside giving few clues as to the importance of sport to the pub. Inside, you won’t find a big screen. But subtle indicators, such as a picture of Bobby Moore, ancient cricket balls mounted on the walls, and photo collages of people from the pub in action, reveal the pub’s connection. Tracey Barnes, who has run the pub with husband Charles for 23 years, explains that they are now involved in three clubs, which were all born in The Chequers itself. She says: “It started with a couple of
our customers and girls who worked here part-time talking about running. There were about four or five of them who started running twice a week.” She recalls that the day the Chequers Chasers was formed, the pub’s annual conker tournament was taking place. And from small conkers grow mighty horse chestnuts, because the club went from a few fun-runners to members taking part in races across the country, raising tens of thousands of pounds for good causes. The pub started to man a water station at the nearby Paddock Wood Half Marathon each year, supporting the community and encouraging runners and spectators to try the pub. Hot on the heels of the Chequers Chasers came the Chequers Racers, a
A couple of ladies showed some interest in openwater swimming, so we started a group. The boys wanted to call us ‘the Trouts’ but we went for ‘The Chequers Otters’
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How to make the most of sport
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FA Community Shield & UEFA Super Cup live this August.
CHELSEA V ARSENAL SUNDAY 6TH AUGUST, 2PM
REAL MADRID V MAN UTD TUESDAY 8TH AUGUST, 7.45PM
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Sporting Success | Sport in the community
The Chequers Racers, a cycling club born out of chats at the pub
Shane O’Hara manages Allstars Bristol, which sponsors a local American football team and attracts punters on Sunday nights by screening NFL games
group of cyclists created out of chats in the pub. They now meet for regular rides in the area and go on a three or four-day trip to a different location somewhere in Europe every year. Tracey, a keen swimmer herself, was the inspiration behind the Chequers Otters, an open-water swimming group. “When I got back from a swim in Windermere a couple of ladies showed some interest so we started a group,” she says. “The boys wanted to call us the Trouts but we plumped for Otters.” Membership of each of the groups has varied in numbers over the years with people coming and going.
Burning off the burgers
The pub supports the groups with sponsorship for kit and by providing an obvious meeting space but the main benefit, beyond the extra trade generated, is the community spirit created. Tracey continues: “They are here more regularly being customers than they are as sportspeople. People have made new friends doing it as well. “We all drink and eat. It’s the yin and yang and that’s what makes it so unusual. You might get sports group that use a pub and they always eat and drink healthily. The majority of us here are normal members of the public who enjoy sport and other aspects of life, such as the pub.” Allstars Bristol is a more traditional sports bar in the sense that it has wall-to-wall big screens showing sport from around the globe to a customer base who will often be seen playing pool or snooker in the bar.
It too gets involved in local clubs with links to university societies as well as local American Football team the Aztecs and Gaelic football team the Western Gaels. There is more of a commercial nature to these deals than there is at the Chequers but again it brings new groups of customers to the venue. General manager Shane O’Hara explains that the link with the Aztecs – which involves Allstars sponsoring their kit — ensures Sunday nights, which can be a quieter time, see more people coming in to watch NFL. He explains: “We have five sponsorship deals in total and they all work slightly differently. We ensure that they hold meetings here and hold an event, such as an awards night, once a year. “We also make sure that we stagger payments rather than giving all the sponsorship up front, because that way they have extra incentive to use you throughout the year.” One deal the pub runs with the university football team sees the club rewarded with discounts or extra support for the more they spend at the venue. All teams are also encouraged to attend events Allstars runs, for example by sending in a team for its pub quiz. “We also have links with a golf society and a ju-jitsu club,” adds Shane, “so it means we have a great mixture of people coming in here to watch different types of sport as well.” Whether you are a sports bar or a traditional pub, sport can play a huge role in bringing people together and bringing them to you. ●
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The wait is almost over
With the new Premier League season, UEFA Champions League, Europa League and FA Cup, BT Sport lets you show the biggest and best football competitions all on one package
Join before the start of the season
Call 0800 678 1061
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PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
Best support in the game Managing director of the Sports Bar & Grill, David Evans explains how HEINEKEN helps his business play a blinder If you choose a name such as Sports Bar & Grill it is pretty clear what customers should expect from your offer. And the thousands of people who visit the company’s London sites every day will not be disappointed. The five-strong multiple operator has built steadily over the last 10 years to earn a reputation as one of the leading sports venue concepts in the country. It has sites in major transport hubs — Farringdon, Canary Wharf, Waterloo, Victoria and Marylebone. Each one screens sport from across the globe, on equipment positioned so that all customers have a great view. This is backed up by further entertainment in the form of pool tables and darts boards and a top-quality food and drink offer. Managing director David Evans says a big part of the success is the partnership he has built with HEINEKEN. He highlights three factors that have been key to the longevity and success of working together: product, promotions and service. He explains: “HEINEKEN has the best product range we can offer. They’ve got craft
ales as well as the mainstays such as Foster’s, Heineken®, Strongbow, Kronebourg and Amstel. The connection with sport is phenomenal – all the brands are involved in some way.” He adds that the introduction of Heineken® Extra Cold and its frosted fount has had a monumental impact. “It has put 200 per cent on our Heineken® sales. It went from being our third-biggest-selling lager to our first and it now outsells all our other lagers combined.”
David Evans: “A big part of our success is down to the partnership we have with HEINEKEN”
“The introduction of Heineken® Extra Cold and its frosted fount has had a monumental impact. It has put 200 per cent on our Heineken® sales. It went from being our third-biggest-selling lager to our first and it now outsells all our other lagers combined.”
HEINEKEN-led promotions also drive rate of sale and loyalty; the company provides marketing and brand staff to support in-venue tastings and events. Last, but by no means least is the service that David receives from the company. “HEINEKEN is a family business and very accessible, we get great service from them.” Jerry Shedden, On Trade Category & Trade Marketing Director at HEINEKEN, says: “Sport is a wellknown footfall driver for pubs but it’s important to think about more than just screening matches; operators need to think about creating the
perfect atmosphere for pub-goers to enjoy the game, giving them a memorable experience they can’t replicate at home. Match-day promotions, themed POS and drinker giveaways are all great ways to drive extra purchase on the day. “We’ve been working closely with our customers to help them make the most of sport for many years now, and through major tournaments such as the Rugby World Cup and Champions League, we’re proud to have helped many customers grow their business by making the most of these occasions.”
To find out more about the support HEINEKEN has to offer, visit www.online.heineken.co.uk or call 0344 556 0109
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Sporting Success | Big match snacks
Food for sport Making sure your customers are fed as well as watered can be the difference between a decent game and a trophy win for your pub. Here are six tricks to help you make sure the only thing they’re hungry for is glory
Topped chips can make a big impact on the bottom line with very little additional outlay or operational requirement
1. Go big on bar snacks…
… and make sure they’re on display. Dan Cramp, one-third of the Cat & Wickets Pub Co, which he runs along with cricketers Stuart Broad and Harry Gurney, says: “We do fantastic home-made sausage rolls and chunky scotch eggs. The team bakes them fresh and they’re the first thing you see at the bar, still warm with steam coming off them.”
Think chilli con carne, cheese & bacon bits or simply parmesan & garlic salt. Chips with wow factor are good for grazing sports spectators. Catherine Rigg, McCain Foods’ senior product manager, says: “They can make a big impact on the menu and the bottom line with very little additional outlay or operational requirement.”
2. Small kitchen? No excuse
5. Theme your menus
3. Give food away
6. Feed the crowd with sharing platters
Don’t let lack of space or staff stop you profiting. There are plenty of solutions. Darragh Gilhawley, head of business development UK, Big Al’s Foodservice, says: “Convenient and cost-effective due to minimal wastage, frozen pre-cooked food provides the perfect solution during busy trading hours.”
Offering quick-cook items for free can be a good way to keep customers loyal and rumbling bellies muted. “When Burnley are playing on TV we give out free pizzas to regulars to say thank you for their on-going support,” says Lauren Hopwood, licensee at The Thornton Arms in Burnley, Lancashire, winner of Best Sports Bar in Star Pubs & Bars Star Awards.
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4. Keep it simple with topped chips
Huw Jones, owner of The Elephant and Castle in Lewes, East Sussex, makes a killing on his burger menu, but likes to offer themed burgers for big tournaments. “For the Six Nations we had a burger for each nation.The Welsh burger was with Caerphilly cheese & leeks. For the Superbowl we do Americanthemed platters.”
For those games between lunch and dinner, sharing platters are ideal. Andy Bacon, culinary development innovation manager at Kraft Heinz, says: “Bacon flavours are big, and a ‘Porky Platter’ with Heinz Baconnaise as a dip taps into this. Serve up barbecue pulled pork sliders, pork pies, crackling, pigs in blankets & sweet potato fries.” ●
How to make the most of sport
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Sporting Success | Marketing your matches
Sell it on screen You’re not going to create a fantastic match-day atmosphere unless you can pull in a crowd of sports fans. Robyn Black looks at how to reach them via digital marketing
Targeting options allow you to show Facebook posts to people that fit a really niche criteria. If you have an offer on a particular beer running during the match you can target people who like that brand with details of the offer
If the pub industry could persuade those people who normally opt to drink at home to watch just one more sporting event in a pub than they usually do, it could drive an extra £37m of revenue through the UK on-trade, according to analysis conducted by Guinness-owner Diageo. Of course, achieving that will take more than just turning on the TV and opening the doors. One of the key factors will be how successful you are at communicating your offer to potential customers. As social media is one of the most cost-effective and simplest ways of doing just that, we’ve come up with this handy cheat-sheet of tips and ideas to help you out.
On your website…
Let’s start with the basics and make sure that you list the matches you are showing on your website. It might sound obvious but your website should communicate more than just that you are, “showing all Sky games,” or similar. Think about visitors to the area searching for somewhere to watch the match via Google, for example. For your pub to show up in their results your website needs to have the same key words that people are searching with – team names, the title of the competition and so on.
introducing match day cocktails: “Sports -themed cocktails are sure to be big hitters on any bar menu during highprofile sporting events. We’ve got plenty of suggestions on our thebar.com website, including Team Captain (made with Captain Morgan Gold) and The Long Shot (made with Bulleit Bourbon).” Use Instagram Stories too, documenting your preparations for the big event (Instagram Stories remains live for 24 hours). Experts say you should aim for about nine hashtags per post that are relevant to what you are posting to help get the message out.
On Twitter…
On this occasion think of Twitter as a listening tool. Search for people talking about a game that you’re showing and who are within a set radius of your venue. Use the official hashtag as a search term and set the distance, one mile for example. You can then target the people you find and offer them a reason to come to your pub to watch the match.
On Instagram…
Not just for pictures of mashed avocado on toast. You can use Instagram in several ways to promote any fixtures you are showing. Most simply show off your offers or specials in images posted here. Diageo’s on-trade consultant Rob Poulter suggests
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Marketing your matches | Sporting Success
Make sure you list the matches you are showing on your website
On Facebook…
It’s not enough to just whack up a post stating that you are showing the game. They key is finding ways of making it interesting enough for people to engage. A good recent example of this comes from The Stanley Arms in Kirkham, Lancashire, which promoted the UEFA Europa League Final in May. The Facebook offer was for a free pint if/when the first red card in the match was shown. All customers had to do to claim their pint was show barstaff the Facebook post at the time. If your pub is close to a sporting venue then consider using Facebook tools to target away fans. Write a post that will appeal to them and then boost it for a
small fee using the targeting options. If you feel ready to take that one step further, then why not consider native Facebook ads?
On Snapchat…
For the slightly more advanced perhaps, but geofilters are a really cheap way of getting noticed by the under-30s in particular. You will need some basic graphics skills to create a frame, which you upload to Snapchat from a desktop computer or a laptop. You can then specify where a person has to be to use the frame on their own Snapchats. It can cost as little as £5 for 24 hours over an area of 20,000 square feet, so pretty low-cost and very high-impact. ●
How to make the most of sport
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