Carlsberg to spend €80m on Euro 2016 marketing

Carlsberg is planning its biggest sports marketing campaign around this summer’s Euro 2016 soccer tournament, as the competition swells to its largest ever size.

The Danish brewer is spending up to €80m on marketing for the championship, according to a source.

Carlsberg has already doled out about €40m to secure exclusivity as the official beer sponsor of the month-long sporting event, the biggest behind the World Cup and the Olympics.

A record 24 national teams will participate at Euro 2016 as the quadrennial tournament is staged in a new enlarged format for the first time.

It had just eight when Carlsberg’s sponsorship began in 1988. The event will be played in 10 cities in France .

Most of the focus will be on the brewer’s digital footprint. Part of this year’s rights package includes television sponsorship for the first time, meaning matches broadcast on European channels will feature the tagline “in association with Carlsberg”.

“It will be the biggest and the best,” Richard Whitty, a senior marketing manager at Carlsberg, said yesterday ahead of the start of its official tournament campaign, although he declined to confirm the value of the campaign.

The likes of Wales, Iceland, and Albania are making their tournament debuts in France.

They’ll join regulars like Germany, England, and Italy in an event that will now run for almost as many days as the World Cup.