AB InBev is allowing online fans to gift friends a pint of Stella Artois with the launch of a social gifting app to drive sales across pubs and clubs in the UK.
The app allows users to share a voucher code through Facebook that can be redeemed at participating on-trade locations.
AB InBev says the tie-up provides an “innovative solution” to the “problem” of using technology to engage with consumers in bars and pubs.
The app follows in the footsteps of Diageo’s use of NFC to offer Guinness drinkers the chance to win a complimentary pint when tap their smartphones against the harp logo on newly installed pumps.
Phil Pick, Stella Artois marketing manager, says the gifting app’s objective is to help “drive value for our growing online Stella Artois community of fans,” while “bringing these fans from the online world into the real world to enjoy our beer”.
The app, created by mobile commerce start-up InVibe, is the first product to come from the brewer’s tie-up with Tech City accelerator scheme ‘The Bakery’.
AB InBev is one of several brands including Heinz, BMW and Panasonic funding marketing technology startups situated in the Silicon Valley-style East London based hub.
The move is part of a wider strategy from Stella Artois to use technology to increase sales. Earlier this year, it ran weather-activated outdoor ads for its Cidre brand to drive impulse buys. Sales of the beer plummeted 6 per cent year-on-year to £484.1m for the 52 weeks to 22 June, while volumes fell 9.4 per cent to 217.8m litres.
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