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SILVER WINNER: Carlsberg — Euro ’08 Half-Time Match Highlight

Client: Carlsberg Hong Kong

Entrant Company: OMD Hong Kong

Entry Category: A Local Execution of a Multinational Campaign

Names to be credited with submission:·
• Caroline Chan — OMD Hong Kong
• Steve Chan — OMD Hong Kong
• Jason Wong — OMD Hong Kong

Time Period of Campaign: 2008

Case Study Summary:

Marketing Situation: Carlsberg’s share of the Hong Kong beer market was lessening, due to the influx of more culturally-relevant mainland Chinese brands. As an import, Carlsberg was seen as “remote” from consumers with little empathy for the brand’s advertising.

The challenge was to increase Carlsberg’s “share of heart” with core consumers. Carlsberg ‘s sponsorship of the Euro 2008 soccer tournament would raise Carlsberg’s awareness, but do little to resolve the issue of “remoteness.” The goal was to leverage the sponsorship to develop a deeper brand engagement.

Key Insights: Carlsberg’s core consumers are middle-aged, blue collar workers. Focus groups showed that these individuals work long hours to support their families, often under the stress of job insecurity. Their escape is drinking a beer with friends, watching a match and chatting about soccer. To engage with this audience, Carlsberg had to be present in those “guy talk” moments when they were most at ease. To ensure that the target could identify with the brand, the same language they used with their friends needed to be incorporated. Carlsberg had to become one of the boys.

Media Strategy: The half-time recap segment was identified as the time when the target was most likely to engage in “guy talk,” or discuss the match and commentary among themselves. Carlsberg branded the half time recap portion of the entire tournament with a clever use of its tagline of “Carlsberg don’t do that, but if they had it would probably be the best in the world.” The half-time segment offered clips of the best moment, best shot, best tackle, etc…. and each was presented using a variant on the Carlsberg tagline, such as “If Cech saved that shot, it would probably be the best save in the tournament.”
Commentators also abandoned their usual profession style to be conversational with ad-libs, use of layman’s terms and more naturally humorous—so that it felt they had inserted themselves into the target’s half time conversations. After the segment, a TVC was tagged to reinforce the association with Carlsberg by repeating the tagline.


How Could this be a Template for Other Campaigns or for World Class Standards? Sponsorships are popular in many markets as advertisers look for ways to connect with consumers beyond display advertising. This campaign moves beyond simple brand presence and integrates Carlsberg into the content of Euro 2008—using a tone and style which allows the target to identify with the brand in its local context.


Results: Following Euro 2008, Carlsberg’s awareness increased dramatically, and the target identified more closely with the brand. Positive responses to post-event survey statements like “the sponsorship gives a better impression of Carlsberg” were double the previous Carlsberg sponsorships.