By Andrew Starke
Almost 100,000 glasses of Jacob’s Creek were served at the Australian Open last month with Pernod Ricard and its Premium Wine Brands subsidiary continuing their association with the event and tennis internationally.
Jacob’s Creek became an associate sponsor of the event last year and its popular public wine bar was again in action this year.
The venue has proven to be a great spot for fans to refresh with a glass of wine, stretch out on deck chairs and watch the action on a giant screen while enjoying a gourmet BBQ in the open air setting.
Premium Wine Brands announced late last year that it had signed a five year agreement with The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) under which Jacob’s Creek will be the Official Wine of Wimbledon.
The deal runs from 2011 to 2015.
According to Pernod Ricard, this year's Australian Open saw a number of records broken:
- almost 100,000 glasses of Jacob’s Creek were served over the two weeks of the tournament
- this was 10 percent up year on year from 2010 tournament
- Jacob’s Creek Reserve Sauvignon Blanc represented 41 percent of total sales
- The middle weekend saw a record breaking 133,000 people attend the Open and Jacob’s Creek sold 20,000 glasses on those two days alone across Rod Laver, Grand Slam Oval and the Jacob’s Creek Bar
- Jacob’s Creek Moscato was sampled for the first time and proved extremely popular
- On Australia Day, Jacob’s Creek gave away 1000 sausages with Pete Evans and Wally Masur, Jacob’s Creek Aus Open Ambassadors, manning the burners.
- Jacob's Creek partnered with Yahoo7 for the first time throughout the Australian Open with the Jacob's Creek Fan Forum. With real time program integration (live feed), Seven broadcasters encouraged people back online to have their say on tennis topics which were called out during the broadcast.
- For friends of Jacob's Creek on Facebook, Pete Evans, Jacob's Creek Brand Ambassador presented food and wine MATCH UP webisodes inspired by the on-court action partnering with Jacob's Creek Reserve wines. Here fans were given the opportunity to win multiple prizes.
- During the tournament, Wally Masur fans could also follow him tweeting for Jacob' s Creek at @jacobscreek.
Dan Murphy's representatives(left to right) Tim Merrett, Daryn Rata, Paul Newton, Johan Tan and Mark Samaha enjoy a glass of wine with Pernod Ricard Australia's Laurence Temple.