Strongbow, the UK’s leading cider brand from Heineken, is giving drinkers a fright with its on-trade consumer activation ‘The Haunted’ this Halloween.

Worth more than £300m in sales in 2015, Halloween is now the second biggest night in the on-trade calendar after New Year’s Eve. In order to help publicans maximise this important occasion and drive growth in sales, 11,000 Strongbow POS kits featuring a guaranteed instant-win consumer competition are being distributed.

Strongbow’s ‘The Haunted’ is running in outlet from now until November 3^rd 2016, giving drinkers the chance to win a range of prizes, including a trip to Prague and haunted hotel breaks, through a peel-and-wet reveal card given with a pint of Strongbow.

New for this year, Strongbow is launching a dedicated consumer microsite for the competition, including a venue finder and code entry mechanism, alongside T&Cs and FAQs. There is also a dedicated trade area where publicans can find additional material to amplify the Halloween occasion, including pumpkin carving templates, pub quiz suggestions, Halloween playlists and digital assets to use on social channels.

As well as the prize cards and merchandise prizes, each POS kit also includes a variety of blood-curdling gadgets that publicans can use to activate the competition and attract people through the door over the Halloween period. Outlets will be able to fully embrace the Halloween spirit by displaying materials such as empty belly posters, a specially designed eye-catching back-bar card holder, and paranormal activity caution tape to add a spooky touch to the venue and immerse consumers in the Halloween atmosphere.

Andy Turner, Category & Trade Marketing Director On-Trade, Heineken, says: “We know how huge an opportunity Halloween is for pubs and bars and it’s definitely a key occasion for publicans to drive extra footfall and sales. It’s all about offering partygoers a fun place to spend their whole evening, and we think Strongbow’s ‘The Haunted’ adds an extra element for the consumer, driving repeat sales for licensees and keeping customers in their outlet for longer.”

In addition to being the UK’s leading cider and beer business, Heineken owns around 1,050 pubs through its Star Pubs & Bars business. Its portfolio of brands includes Foster’s, Heineken, Strongbow, Desperados, Kronenbourg1664, John Smith’s and Bulmers, backed by a full range of niche and speciality brands.

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Strongbow is launching a “Night of The Zombies” on-trade promotion, offering consumers the chance to win Zombie experiences and Smart TV and Zombie movie packages.

Halloween is now worth an estimated £300m to pubs and bars and is seen as the third most important calendar occasion after Christmas and summer.

Following the success of last year’s Strongbow ‘Saint or Sinner’ campaign, the ‘Night of The Zombies’ promotion is set to run in 10,000 pubs and bars.

The campaign was created by integrated agency whynot! and runs until the 10th November nationwide.

Venues are being provided with Halloween kits including spider’s webs, Zombie caution tape and visibility-driving POS materials.

There are also over 3 million promotional scratchcards (300 per venue) which will be handed out with every pint of Strongbow bought (maximum two per person).

All scratchcards will entitle the consumer to discount vouchers off purchases from Prezzybox.com or Red Letter Days. Some give ‘instant win’ prizes  including t-shirts and tattoo sleeves and reward of some kind and also to the chance to win a major prize bundle. t-shirts and tattoo sleeves can be claimed from the bar.

To claim voucher rewards, consumers need to go online to www.facebook.com/strongbowuk or strongbowhalloween.com and enter their unique code and contact details.

All scratch card recipients can also enter online for the chance to become a “Winning Moment” prize winner.  To enter, they need to go online to Facebook or the competition site and enter their unique code and contact details.

There are a maximum of 75 prize bundles on offer including Ultimate Zombie Survival Kits which include three Zombie DVDs, a Zombie survival guide and a crate of Strongbow, Red Letter Day experiences including Military Activity Experiences and Zombie Battle Bunker Experiences, three Samsung 48″ 6 Series Smart Ultra HD 4K Curved LED TV plus four Zombie films on DVD and 20 Xbox One games consoles with one Zombie game.

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