Tempering expectations

Winners: upbeat English sporting hopes

Brewer doesn't (usually) succumb to sporting fever - and wins

In an industry happy to commit oodles of marketing spend around any sporting event of stature, it's easy to get caught up in the enthusiasm of the fans. Football's World Cup is the pinnacle of this fever, where brewers around the world, be they micro, national or multinational in stature, have in place marketing plans to coax drinkers to celebrate with their brands.

The problem, of course, is that the nature of the beast is that just one nation emerges triumphant; 31 others will swallow the bitter pill of falling just short on the global stage. (Unfancied squads that exceed expectations will book return flights with some sense of satisfaction.) But the sooner a team drops out the sooner sales dry up, leaving POS material fluttering unloved in the wind.

What to do? The answer comes from English brewer Batemans, which in recent years has supplied publicans with a beer created especially for these major events. Rather than brew a plethora of one-offs, say Middle Wicket for a cricket championship, Batemans is brand building with England Expects, an amber-coloured 4% abv bitter balanced with Fuggles.

The real genius is in the marketing with Bateman's suppling a second pump clip, We've Blown It, that allows the beer to be sold after the English lads are - invariably - knocked out of the tournament du jour. Managing director Stuart Bateman says the concept originated after the sporting failure of Euro 2004 in Portugal, when an early exit by the English squad led to lots of requests to return unwanted-by-punters beer.

Returns have been minimised; Stuart adds that it's often been the case that the beer with the We've Blown It pump clip has outsold the initial England Expects, which says a lot about the downtrodden English sporting psyche.

But even Bateman's has succumbed to the dream of English footballers emerging victorious in South Africa. For the first time ever a third pump clip is being issued, emblazoned with Winners writ large acros the middle. 

"It's the first time we have done this beacuse we have never, ever been so optimistic and certain that we will win it," says Stuart, tongue slightly in cheek. "So much so that we nearly decided to take out the (We've Blown It) pump clip."

Nearly, but not quite - all three pump clips are being supplied to Bateman accounts. In England it is always hard to believe in winning.

So who's going to win the World Cup? Vote in our online poll.