Being a sponsor, a complicated game for alcohol brands

What a symbol! This year, the traditional champagne shower on the Formula 1 podium will not take place. Nothing to do with the health crisis due to Covid-19. For the next three years, the bubbles will be Italian. The Ferrari brand, which has only the name in common with the Scuderia, produces a sparkling wine from Trentino, in the northeast of the country. It will replace on the podiums the confidential Carbon champagne, which itself succeeded giants like Mumm or Moët & Chandon.

In sport, and more rarely in culture, contracts with alcohol brands come and go over the years. The logos are almost invisible on television, which blurs them, especially in France, where the Evin law of 1991 prohibits any communication on the subject, including claiming partnerships or sponsors, under penalty of substantial fines. On the other hand, the bottles flow freely behind the scenes, to water the victory but also in the private boxes of the stadium, or on the side of the festival-goers. This is where the brands find their way, less in financial benefits than in notoriety.

Brand bosses prefer to keep quiet about this. Or talk about it with tweezers. This is the case of Heineken, exclusive supplier of beer to the Football Champions League and Formula 1, also present in rugby or musical festivals. “We have long advocated responsible consumption, as evidenced by the campaign “When you drive, never drink”, explains, from the Netherlands, Hans Erik Tuijt, director of international sponsorship at Heineken. We are using F1 to reach millions with this bold message. »

The Taittinger champagne, official supplier of the Football World Cup, plays on a different register: “It is not easy to associate football and champagne, recognizes VItalie Taittinger, at the head of the house. Except that these two fields share an image of universality, linked to popular culture, a powerful and generous emotion. Without forgetting the same teamwork. Energy too. »

Colossi and Mastodons

In France, because of the Evin law, brands sometimes feel that the game is not worth the candle. Piper-Heidsieck champagne withdrew from the Cannes Film Festival this year, after twenty-seven years of partnership. A withdrawal unrelated to the health crisis: the investment would be too large for almost zero radiation to the public. The director, Benoît Collard, refocused Piper-Heidsieck on the Oscars, in order to "highlight the history of the house in resonance with the world of cinema and Hollywood since the 1930s", and on the Open of Australia tennis, "the first major sporting event which was able to find a partial audience despite the Covid-19 crisis".

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