Scottish Courage is planning to boost the profile of its leading lager Foster's in the early summer by introducing the latest development of its highlysuccessful Fostralia promotion. Each year since 1996 the brand has been supported by a major initiative featuring a consumer competition linking the brand to its Australian roots. This year the name is Formula Oz and will take place in the UK off-trade in May and June. This summer there is no major sporting event to help boost sales so the leading brands will be generating their own instore theatre. Scottish Courage will spend £25m on the brand this year, a large slice of which will go on Formula Oz. In the last four years it has increased total sales of the brand from 200,000 barrels to 720,000 barrels and it plans to keep the momentum going. Formula Oz is a direct tie in to the brand's 10 year multimillion sponsorship of worldwide Grand Prix motor racing. Its top prizes of holidays for two include the chance to drive round the Melbourne Grand Prix circuit. The brand is the named sponsor of the British and Belgian Grand Prix. Formula Oz is also set to be the world's largest beer promotion as it runs in Asia Pacific, the US and Australasia. In the UK off-trade, 10 holidays to Australia will be offered on on pack promotions on cans of Foster's Lager, Ice and Export. Also up for grabs will be 10 pairs of tickets to the 2002 British Grand Prix and thousands of T-shirts. Brand marketing manager Roz McMichael said: "The Fostralia 2001 activity last year gave us a very high instore presence and off-trade sales were 20.4% up on 1999." The support for the promotion includes links with FHM magazine and 30 local radio stations. Key accounts will be able to offer Formula Oz holidays and there will be point of sale kits and tailormade promotions. Events will also be run instore, including F1 Scalextric and bungee runs. {{DRINKS }}

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