Stella Artois dials up sponsorships

Stella Artois is bringing its sponsorship of upmarket events under a unified strategy for the first time as part of a renewed push to highlight the quality and heritage of the brand.

StellaArtois-Chalice-Product-2013
Stella Artois is to bring its sponsorship of events under a single brand strategy.

The brewer is launching its ‘House of Stella Artois’ experiential drive at sponsored events in sport, film and food in the UK this summer to promote the serving of the beer in its chalice glasses.

Stella Artois has launched sponsorship campaigns in the past, however the ‘House of Stella’ drive is the first time it is developed a unified strategy to span all its events.

It will set up experiential hubs at the Screenfields film festival in Manchester, as well as London events such as the Taste Festival and at the BNP Paribas Tennis Classic to target both men and women.

The brand was also named as the official beer and cider partner for Mint Polo in the Park earlier today (1 May). The brewer aims to use the sport to bolster its premium positioning while focusing experiential activity on its “chic” style.

Phil Pick, marketing manager for Stella Artois in the UK says it is looking to make non-traditional channels such as sponsorship and social media marketing “play a much larger role” in how it develops the brand moving forward.

He adds: “TV, print and outdoor are still important areas for us, but increasingly we’re experimenting with how we bring other channels into the mix. Sponsorship is a great platform for us because we can allow people to physically experience everything the brand stands for.”

The activity will support a major advertising campaign for the main Stella Artois brand to follow a year that saw the brewer focus activity on its Cidre and Stella Artois 4% variants. The campaign will include an on-pack giveway for Chalice glasses as well as promotions on its Facebook page.

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