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Carlsberg-Tetley is investing £28m in a major relaunch of its

two main brands, Carlsberg Lager and Carlsberg Export, ahead of this

summer's World Cup. The revamp includes hiring Danish supermodel Helena

Christensen as the face of Export.

The move is an attempt to revitalise and differentiate the two beers

before the football tournament, when the Carlsberg brand will be one of

the Football Association's sponsor partners. The beers will be

repositioned as more stylish and contemporary with new packaging and

advertising.

Carlsberg Lager, the UK's third-biggest behind Carling and Foster's,

will be renamed simply Carlsberg and repackaged in a green bottle with a

metallic label, in its first redesign since 1996. A new positioning as a

'cut-above' will aim to align it more closely with its international

brand identity. In pubs, a new dispensing system will give a creamier

and longer-lasting head. Sales of the lager grew 8% year on year last

year.

Export, a top-five premium lager, had an even stronger performance with

sales up 30%. It has been repositioned as a stylish premium lager with

new gold cans.

Christensen - currently starring in an ad for Walkers Crisps - will

endorse the brand in PR activity, magazine editorial and point-of-sale

material.

She may also appear in press and poster ads later this year but not in

the TV campaign, according to marketing director Doug Clydesdale.

A new TV execution in Carlsberg Export's 'So good the Danes hate to see

it leave' campaign will break on April 5. Saatchi & Saatchi is working

on a spot in the 'If only everything was as good as Carlsberg' campaign

for the standard lager, which will break on May 15.

Carlsberg sells beer in 140 countries, but the UK is its biggest market

with 30% of volume sales. Carlsberg's last association with a major

football tournament, during Euro 2000, saw sales increase by 300%, said

Clydesdale.

Carlsberg is still negotiating about renewing its sponsorship of the

FA.Its contract finishes at the end of this season.

Separately, the company's value lager brand Skol has withdrawn as

sponsor of the annual World Darts Championship after five years,

claiming that the market dictates a "change of direction for the brand

at this time".

The Professional Darts Corporation is seeking a new sponsor.