Michael Pascoe writes:

The soccer World Cup had been hyped as the
sporting mega-event that would boost flat-screen TV sales around the world. It
turned out not to do nearly as much for TV sales as expected, but it did sell
junk food.

McDonald’s overnight reported a 57% surge in June quarter profits to US$834 million with the BBC reporting that
soccer deserves some of the credit – European sales were up 6.3% to a ten-year high.

Maybe the marketing bods at Foster’s should
learn from that and start pitching their wine at soccer fans because whatever
they’re doing now is not working very well. UK wine
sales for Foster’s dropped nearly 12% in June, according to AC Nielsen figures
reported in The Oz.
Maybe all the p-ssheads were in Germany
scoffing Maccas.

Foster’s also suffered reduced margins in
the US over the June quarter. Total US wine sales grew 5% by
volume and 11% by value. Foster’s wine sales matched the 5% volume increase, but value only improved 3%. Australian wine sales
overall to the US in the period grew 4% by volume and 3% by value.

The uncomfortable truth for Australian wine
makers is that the international
competition for US wine buyers’ dollars is only going to get tougher as South
American quality and quantity improves, never mind renewed efforts by the
Europeans to clear their wine lake.

This is happening while the domestic market
struggles to face the reality of its own wine glut. Never mind, just parcel up another
vineyard into a rural managed investment scheme and flog it to mug investors
with a subsidy from taxpayers.