We say it every year but wow, what an event we hosted at the Queens Arms in Aintree last week for the Grand National. To celebrate the 11th year of the “Unofficial Grand National Afterparty”, we partnered up with Diageo to create the ultimate Guinness Village for racegoers, and it did not disappoint!
Held across three days following the main events at Aintree Racecourse, the afterparty has become an increasingly popular tradition, growing every year and resulting in our busiest year yet. More epic dancers were captured on camera, going viral and totting up 1.7M views on social media which catapulted the pubs visibility and showcased it as the place to be!
The entrance to the marquee was hard to miss with a huge Guinness sign that enticed customers into the event prior to the races which is where we saw our biggest increase in year-on-year sales.
The Guinness theme flowed through the whole marquee with retro Guinness artwork and co-branded bunting on the roof. Team members were dressed in Guinness uniforms, and all advertising points were promoting Guinness heavily amongst other popular Diageo brands which were on the lips of all the racegoers.
Successes were seen across the whole estate, making Saturday 11th April one for the record books as the busiest day ever in Blind Tiger Inns.
Marketing Manager, Amy Cutler spoke about the collaboration with Guinness:
Thank you to the team at Diageo and Evolve for bringing our vision to life and creating the ultimate Guinness village for the Unofficial Afterparty. The entrance was incredible and played a big part in enticing customers into the event prior to the races.
Guinness sales were up 30% as well as Smirnoff Vodka being 19% of the overall sales. Diageo’s portfolio of products featured heavily, and the collaboration paid off for all involved. We can’t wait to work with Oli and the team on the next project which is coming soon!
Chris Tulloch, Managing Director of Blind Tiger Inns commented on the success of the event:
Streamlining operations, perfecting entertainment and providing the best and safest experience for all our customers has always and will continue to be at the forefront of what we do. Every year gets better at the Queens even when you think it’s not possible.
I am proud of Erin and her team for their excellent organisation and hard work over the three days. The fact we had our busiest day ever in 9 years of running Blind Tiger Inns makes me a very proud man indeed.
