Here is the fact: World Cup is the largest sporting event in the world. On average each game will be watched by 265 million people worldwide - and there are 64 games! It is bigger than Olympics and Super Bowl combined and US marketers started seeing it as well. How global corporations capitalize on this event is something I want to write about here.
Here are some of the major World Cup sponsorship deals:
Adidas
For the 2010 and 2014 sponsorships of the WC, Adidas paid FIFA $350 million. The deal gives Adidas premium stadium rights and ability to supply the balls for the tournaments, as well as giving it rights for joint marketing programmes, internet cooperation and priority access to television advertising. The deal covers all the other major Fifa tournaments during the period, including the Fifa Women's World Cup and World Youth Championship. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but reports say that Fifa will receive $215m in cash over the next four years, with the rest coming in licensing fees. The reason Adidas splashes so much cash for this tournament is because Nike has been slowly but surely gaining ground in the soccer (football) business over the last 3-4 years. Nike bypassed Adidas in the soccer footwear business claiming close to 40% market share compared to 32% owned by Adidas.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is spending close to $250 million in sponsorship money on the event. Coca-Cola wants to continue promoting its "Open Happiness" theme by sponsoring player celebrations after he scores a goal in the tournament. The campaign is created by the Brazilian ad agency Santo and features the Cameroon star Roger Milla who professionally danced next to the corner flag during the 1990 WC in Italy. Consumers are then directed towards Coca-Cola's YouTube channel, in which users are encouraged to video their own celebrations and load them up to the site. The campaign, with music by Somali-born rapper K'Naaan, launched last month in the UK.
MTN (who knew!)
South African cellphone company MTN is Africa's first-ever global sponsor of the 2010 Fifa World Cup. As a global sponsor, MTN joined international heavyweights Coca-Cola, Visa, Adidas and Emirates at the top level of Fifa sponsorship. The company spent $65 million on the sponsorship. Everyone who boght tickets to the WC games received a welcome package from FIFA which included a SIM card from MTN. Thus, if you arrive to South Africa with an unlocked mobile phone, all you need to do is to load the SIM card with minutes sold at most of the kiosks in South Africa and online. The company also has been using FIFA WC logo in all of its marketing for the last four years.
I want to follow these three during my trip to South Africa to see the WC and will report on what I think about their efforts and results.
