Every year, convenience retailers face the same challenge: how do you capture shoppers' attention in a channel where purchase decisions can be made in a matter of seconds? Few occasions cut through quite like the AFL and NRL Grand Finals. Despite changing consumer habits and ongoing cost-of-living pressures, finals season remains a powerful cultural moment that influences how Australians come together, celebrate and shop.
Insights from Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) show the importance of footy finals for the category. During the AFL and NRL Grand Final period in 2025, drinks sales were up 6.3% compared with a nearby non-seasonal week. At the same time, shoppers were increasingly looking for value, with 63.5% of drinks purchased on promotion during the Grand Final period, compared with 59% in surrounding baseline weeks.
For retailers and beverage manufacturers, this points to an opportunity that goes beyond simply being present during finals season. The way people shop changes when there is a big game on. They may be picking up drinks for a group of friends, getting something to take to a gathering or making a last-minute stop on the way to watch the game. That gives retailers and brands a reason to think differently about how they show up around the occasion.
Footy finals bring together scale, anticipation and a very familiar social occasion. Australians are planning what they need for the game, often buying for a group rather than only themselves, and looking for products that suit the occasion – whether that’s drinks for a BBQ or something for watching it at home on the sofa. For retailers, that creates an opportunity to make the shopping experience easier, from having the right formats and products available through to making them visible and relevant in store.
For retailers and brands, the opportunity is to turn the attention around a major sporting moment into category growth that lasts beyond the event. The strongest activations connect what shoppers need with the right product and pack, clear value, strong in-store visibility and a reason to engage.
We recently put this into practice through a two-phase NRL activation in the convenience and petroleum (C&P) channel. Younger consumers are an increasingly important audience for convenience, and the partnership gave us a relevant way to engage them while supporting distribution and growth in single-serve drinks.
The activation combined limited-edition NRL 500mL packaging, on-pack promotion, QR code engagement and execution from pack to store to digital. Across participating convenience and petroleum retailers, the campaign added more than 1,100 product ranging points and generated over 13,800 consumer entries, with the strongest engagement coming from 25 to 34-year-olds.
The results came from the different elements working together. In convenience, where decisions are made quickly, visibility is important, but shoppers also need a clear reason to participate. On-pack messaging attracted attention, while displays, retailer support and digital engagement reinforced the offer. That experience highlights four practical actions retailers and brands can take to make the most of major sporting moments:
- Plan for the occasion: Start with what the shopper is buying for. Are they buying for themselves, taking something to a gathering or catering for a group? Use that insight to plan range, stock and timing.
- Pick the right pack: Choose the pack and price point that best fit that need. That could mean a cold single-serve drink to consume straight away or a larger format for sharing.
- Be easy to find and choose: Get availability, cold space, displays, pricing and communication right. In convenience, shoppers need to understand the offer in seconds.
- Partner for impact: Build the product, packaging, promotion, retailer plan and digital experience around the same customer need. The NRL example worked because each element supported the others rather than operating as a separate activity.
The lesson from footy finals is straightforward: start with what shoppers need, make the value clear, get the in-store basics right and build the plan with retail partners. The match may bring Australians together for a day, but those fundamentals can create category growth well beyond the final siren.
