Bars and restaurants in Moscow say beer supplies are running low as soccer fans inundate the city.
“We just didn’t think they would only want beer,” one waiter told Reuters.
He said his restaurant ran out of draft lager on Monday and deliveries are taking longer than usual, at least 24 hours, because suppliers’ stocks are also running low.
“There are really a lot of people in Moscow … and they are all drinking,” he said. “It’s hot, and it’s football.”
Dmitry, a barman at Gogol, said visiting soccer fans had drunk 800 liters of beer in three days, drinking cheap draught lager before more expensive bottled beers.
Meanwhile, Socceroos fans drank several pubs dry in Kazan after their loss to France last Saturday night. And more than 7000 Swedish football fans descending on Nizhny Novgorod to celebrated their team’s first opening win in 12 years, drinking most of the bars dry.
The beer boom has caught Russia by surprise. Beer sales in the country have fallen by around a third over the past decade as a result of rising duties and tougher rules on sales and advertising.
An anti-alcohol campaign was launched in the country in 2010 in a bid to lower liquor consumption by half by 2020. According to Brewer’s Union in Russia, beer sales volume fell 5% in 2017, versus an expected growth of 3% to 5%.
The World Cup, however, is expected to boost the sales of beer by 2-3 % this year according to a study by Morgan Stanley.
And AB InBev says it is well-stocked to keep up with demand: “While we have heard reports of some restaurants and bars in Russia experiencing supply and delivery disruptions, we are fully operational and delivering in full capacity to our partners so the millions of football fans in Russia can continue to enjoy Bud and our other brands responsibly during the World Cup,” a spokesperson told FOX Business.
Can the World Cup boost Budweiser sales?
Budweiser is the global beer sponsor of the World Cup and has exclusive rights to advertise and sell its beverages at the stadiums and in the Fan Zones, with alcohol sale restricted in other areas.
It has launched its biggest commercial campaign called “Light Up the FIFA World Cup” to publicise its involvement, while also distributing eight million light-up cups worldwide, and partnering with Snapchat to unveil the world’s first sponsored, sound-activated lens.
“Budweiser is thrilled to partner with Snapchat to bring these ground-breaking lenses to football fans before anyone else,” said Budweiser senior brand manager, Sascha Cordes. “Budweiser and football have enjoyed a natural affinity over many years and we can’t wait to see people sharing their celebrations and enjoyment of the FIFA World Cup through new technologies and features. It’s all about bringing people together, capturing fan euphoria like never before, through more immersive experiences like Snapchat’s sound-activated lens and Snappables.”
Budweiser branded reactive filters will also be available in the Snapchat camera during selected World Cup games, so that fans can capture their excitement before kick-off, send Snaps with real time score updates during the game, and then show their joy or heartache after the final whistle.
The AR lens went live in the UK on June 18 and will be available globally on June 24 during England’s second match against Panama.
“For us, this is the perfect addition to our media plan,” Cordes told The Drum. “We were looking for something that allowed us to always be reactive and at consumers’ fingertips, and catching the euphoria and energy [around the tournament]”
Budweiser and Snpachat are setting up a “brand tracker” to review metrics around how engagement translate into sales.
The “Light Up the FIFA World Cup” campaign has been activated in more than 50 countries and the company expects sales growth to accelerate in the remainder of the year as a result.
AB InBev CFO Felipe Dutra stated that the event could result in a volume spike in Brazil and Argentina, despite cold weather conditions, by 0.5 to 1 percentage points. Furthermore, Forbes notes that Budweiser was launched nationally in South Africa in March, in preparation for the World Cup.
Consequently, the company’s global brand portfolio, including Stella Artois and Corona, grew by more than 200% in the first quarter, and gained over 600 bps of share in the growing premium segment. Volume growth can be expected to come from traditional beer drinking nations, such as England and Germany, as well.
Aussie beer snake tradition makes it to Russia
On Saturday night, Aussie fans in Kazan for the Socceroos’ opening game of the FIFA World Cup stacked more than 1000 beer cups to create an epic “beer snake”.
A group of Australian travellers, including three brothers from Perth, began to stack their beer cups for fun while drinking in the local World Cup fan zone. The stack continued to grow to a point where other travellers wanted to take photos with it.
One of the creators, Dylan Mitsopoulos, said they only stopped because “we literally couldn’t get anyone high enough” to keep stacking.
Meanwhile in Sydney, the Budweiser Bud Boat cruised the harbour, filled with fans watching the match.
Budweiser has launched the Bud Boat at selected locations around the world as part of its official sponsorship of the game. The boats feature giant screens to watch the game and, of course, Bud on tap.
