As Luck would have it: How Carabao intends to become the number one energy drinks brand in the UK | The UK launch of the Athletic and its role as a paid-content market test | Big moves for Delia Bushell, Joanna Adams, and Jaymee Messler.

Episode 61 of the Leaders Sport Business Podcast sees James Emmett and David Cushnan discuss the UK launch of the Athletic, its role as a litmus test for non-live paid sports content; and the new roles for industry innovators Delia Bushell, Joanna Adams, and Jaymee Messler; before introducing a conversation with Intercarabao CMO John Luck (at 16:27).

Luck joined the energy drinks company in 2016, following stints in the marketing teams of Coca-Cola, Time Out, and Duchy Originals among others. Part of a small team tasked with launching the Thai brand in the UK market, Luck has overseen almost every aspect of Carabao's initial UK launch to its position, just three and a half years later, as the seventh biggest energy drinks company in the UK and stocked in every major retailer.

The brand is a giant in its native Thailand, where it is a $2 billion listed company and the market leader by some distance from Red Bull. Its ambition, which Luck is attempted to facilitate, is to become number one in every market it operates in. Part of how it intends to do that is through sports sponsorship.

On the conversational agenda:

- The process of launching an FMCG product in the UK in an ultra-competitive sector, from product through to positioning through to marketing platforms;

- Why Carabao has succeeded where the 700-plus energy drinks brands that tried to launch in the UK before it failed;

- Aed Carabao, the 'Thai Bob Marley' who founded the product;

- The nuts and bolts of Carabao's sponsorship deals with Chelsea and the EFL;

- Why the Carabao Cup draws will remain a staple of the brand's impactful activation arsenal;

- The three lessons Luck has learned about sports marketing since joining Carabao.

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