ONE MORE THING:DUTCH BREWER Bavaria is hoping its City Racing event, featuring the McLaren Formula One team, in Dublin next June will help to reposition the brand in Ireland.
About 150,000 free tickets will be distributed for its street racing exhibition, which has been run previously in Rotterdam and Moscow.
“Dublin and Ireland for us is a very important market,” Bavaria’s marketing chief Peer Swinkels told me before its glitzy launch in Dublin’s CHQ last week.
Swinkels told me that Bavaria would not have much change from €1 million from the event. It’s hoping Tourism Ireland might offer support, given that it will deliver tourists to the city and create a global TV audience.
In its home market, Bavaria is the main lager behind Heineken but, in Ireland, its position is one of cheap cans in the off trade.
“We want to be a real challenger brand here. We’re investing in a bigger pub distribution and we want to build awareness around the country.”