Welsh Rugby Union uses Brains

News from Brains:
After a third Grand Slam victory at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday, the Welsh Rugby Union has announced a significant new partnership with Welsh brewer Brains and the UK’s leading brewer and cider producer Heineken.

Heineken will be installed as Official Lager and Cider Partner to the WRU and Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, whilst Brains will remain as the official ale of the WRU until 2016.The deal follows Wales’ hugely successful Six Nations campaign which saw the team crowned Grand Slam Champions for the third time in seven years.

The new agreement, which will commence in June 2012 and will run until 2016, will see Brains beers, including SA, on sale in stadium bars alongside leading lager and cider brands Heineken, Foster’s and Strongbow and will include a comprehensive rights package enabling both brands to engage with the Welsh public as of the commencement date.

Brains began working with the WRU in 2004, when their ale became the first Welsh brand to sponsor the senior team jersey – and has since become one of the WRU’s key partners. The Brains’ name was emblazoned on shirts during a period in which Wales won two Grand Slams in 2005 and 2008. In 2010 Brains switched its sponsorship, becoming ‘official ale of the WRU’.

WRU Group Chief Executive Roger Lewis said: "The partnership with Brains has always been strong and this new, complete deal with Brains and Heineken combined, further cements that relationship.

"These brands are both extremely strong and therefore amalgamate effectively with the WRU brand and we are delighted to be able to continue to grow this relationship over the next four years.

"We have experienced three Grand Slam victories in the time Brains have been one of our partners and the four Heineken Cup matches hosted at the Millennium Stadium have all been commercially successful for both the WRU and Heineken and we look forward to more successes in the future."

Scott Waddington, Chief Executive at Brains, said: "Since 2004 more than a million pints of Brains have been sold in the Millennium Stadium and countless more in Brains pubs on match days. We’re delighted that the strong relationship we’ve established with the WRU will continue and look forward to starting a new marketing partnership in the UK with HEINEKEN, who are one of world sport’s foremost sponsors.

"It is fantastic to have been able to celebrate the Welsh rugby team’s achievements over the last eight years and we’re predicting more of the same for the next four years. With a bit of Brains’ positive thinking, here’s to becoming the ‘official ale of World Cup winners 2015’."

Lawson Mountstevens, Managing Director, UK On Trade at HEINEKEN, said: "Heineken and Foster’s are both showing strong growth in Wales and the new agreement signals our commitment to maintaining this brand momentum to drive sales still further in the country. Strongbow has long been the most popular cider in Wales and the new partnership will bring the nation’s favourite cider brand back to the Millennium Stadium.

"Having hosted four Heineken Cup finals in the last 10 years, we know the Millennium Stadium offers an outstanding showcase for our brands and, as an official sponsor and supplier to the London 2012 Games."

Brains Highlights:
•Two Grand Slams (2005 & 2008)

•Five victories over England (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2012)

•2005: ‘Brains’ famously replaced with ‘Brawn’ for France v Wales match in Paris

•2005: Brains wins Hollis Sponsorship Award, Western Mail Business Award, National Business Award, and Marketing Society Award

•2008: Shane Williams wins IRB Player of the Year

•2009: Brains wins second Hollis Sponsorship Award

•2011: Wales reaches the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup

Heineken and Sport:

•Heineken is the sponsor of European Club rugby’s premier competition, the Heineken Cup

•Heineken is the Official Beer Supplier and Worldwide Partner to the 2015 Rugby World Cup

•Heineken is an official sponsor of UEFA Champions’ League football

Try Essai

Photo from the Welsh Rugby Union

In order to get round the French ban on alcohol advertising at sporting events (don't worry the one-eyed teetotal jock in 10 Downing Street has something similar planned for the UK), Cardiff brewer and Welsh rugby team sponsor SA Brain have had to resort to some ingenious methods of advertising in the past. We have already seen "Brawn" and "Brawn Again" on the shirts over the past few years for the French games but this year the marketing department have really racked their brains to come up with essai which, is of course, French for try!

It wouldn’t be Wales without SA

David Pickering, WRU Chairman and Richard Davies, Sales and Marketing Director at Brains toast the deal with a pint of SA and SA Gold.

The Brains logo which has been emblazoned on the Welsh international rugby jersey since 2004 is to stay proudly in place in a new sponsorship deal agreed by the WRU and SA Brain and Co Ltd.

That era has included two Grand Slams in 2005 and 2008 along with Wales test match appearances across Europe, throughout the southern hemisphere and in the USA and Canada.

Today the Welsh Rugby Union announced a renewed sponsorship deal with Wales’ leading brewer and pub operator which means the Brains logo will remain on Wales’ international jerseys until September 2009.
The arrangement is part of a wider four year deal which ensures that Brains remains the toast of Welsh rugby with dispensing rights to serve its newest brand extension ‘SA Smooth’ at the Millennium Stadium until 2012, alongside Brains Smooth and ‘45’, its Continental style beer.


The jersey sponsorship means Brains will now make its mark on the new Under Armour Wales kit which will be officially launched in October shortly before the Invesco Perpetual series 2008.


As you would expect from the innovative and ‘positive thinking’ people at Brains, they will again break the mould of sponsorship and have two different sponsorship marks on the Home and Away kits. The ‘Brains SA’ logo will feature then on the home international jerseys with the away kit featuring ‘SA Gold’, an award winning golden ale which is also Brains’ fastest growing cask ale brand.

Richard Davies, Sales and Marketing Director at Brains said: “We are delighted to announce the extension of our relationship with the WRU for a further four year term.

“This will enable us to promote our key brand SA and our fastest growing brand, SA Gold, which recently won silver in the Champion Beer of Wales Awards at the Great Welsh Beer and Cider Festival and Gold in the All Wales Bottled Beer Awards.

“After seeing two Grand Slams and many victories home and away during our first four years of sponsorship we are extremely hopeful of a continuation of a successful Welsh team.”

Welsh Rugby Union Chairman, David Pickering said: “The contract extension with Brains is a great boost for Welsh rugby. The creative partnership established with Brains has been the envy of other rugby playing nations and combined with the recent major deal with Under Armour provides the WRU with a dynamic foundation of sponsors.”

The Welsh Rugby Union Group Chief Executive, Roger Lewis, said: “We are proud to be associated with a company which represents success in Wales.

“Brains is based on strong tradition combined with modern thinking and strong commercial drive which echoes what we are achieving within the professional game.”

New branding for the 2008/09 season


Away Jersey Branding



Home Jersey Branding

More details from SA Brain