Beer manufacturers and football tournaments usually go hand in hand, and China is no exception.

The top three Chinese beer companies Tsingtao, Yanjing and China Resources Snow Beer (CRS Beer) are making the most of the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2006 to promote their brands and products and get more consumers on board.

The event is also being seen as a way to learn the ropes for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Currently Tsingtao Brewery, China's No 1 beer seller, is sponsoring a World Cup feature programme on CCTV's sports channel. The firm invites football fans to send a short message guessing match results.

Those who take part in guessing the outcome of all matches have the chance to win prizes such as tickets for the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a trip to Athens.

The firm has also sent a 33-ton wagon on a sales promotion tour in 36 major cities.

The Beijing-based Yanjing Brewery used the World Cup as the theme of its 2006 beer festival, which took place last week. It has opened 500 outdoor beer booths in urban Beijing for the duration of the World Cup.

Meanwhile, CRS Beer has bought a CCTV advertising slot for the final matches. It has also acquired the naming rights to one of the CCTV's sports channel's World Cup programmes, specially designed for football fans. The company will choose some football enthusiasts to attend the TV programme.

In addition, it has launched different promotions in key football markets like Dalian, Tianjin and Chongqing, to boost CRS Beer consumption in bars.

"Football games are always seen as an effective way to promote beer brands," said Hou Xiaohai, marketing director of CRS Beer.

He said beer manufacturers were all looking to the football event as a prelude to the 2008 Olympics.

"The FIFA World Cup has a huge audience base, and this provides a good marketing practice opportunity for domestic enterprises, which are not good at sports marketing," Hou said.

CRS Beer will spend almost 30 million yuan (US$3.75 million) on promotion during the World Cup, he said.

It has been estimated that Tsingtao will invest around 40 million yuan (US$5 million).

"The investment is worthwhile," said Zhang Xueju, vice-president of Tsingtao.

He said Tsingtao's brand value went up to 19.9 billion yuan (US$2.49 billion) after it signed a sponsorship agreement with the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, from the previous 16.8 billion yuan (US$2.1 billion).

Another reason behind the marketing battle during the World Cup is increasing competition in the industry, Hou from CRS Beer said.

Each of the three breweries are trying to build themselves up as the best beer brand in the country.

(China Daily June 13, 2006)