1

Simon Baggs

CEO, Lateral Marketing and Management

From an Australian perspective, a commercial association with soccer-now-called-football is an interesting proposition. I had always lamented the fact that football mad Aussie kids turn to other football codes after the age of 10 or 11, and that effectively Australia had no part in the World Game. But that was before the revolution, before Frank Lowy and the extraordinary John O'Neil. Finally kids have a reason to continue playing football and, if they do, our talent pool will be that much richer. Perhaps we should ban the AFL and the NRL and channel all our best footballers into the two international codes. Wonder if that would fly?

The pre major event euphoria that we witnessed before the 2000 Olympics and the 2003 Rugby World Cup now applies to football – it is the flavour of the month; it’s cool and it’s very, very powerful. The Socceroos don't stand a chance and the bubble will burst, but what a bubble!

Sponsorship of the World Cup is for the big boys who can leverage the massive inventory of benefits on a global scale. If sponsorship is the acquisition of passion, the World Cup is about as passionate as you can get.

The majority of the World Cup sponsorships are paid for by global budgets and supplemented by local leverage budgets. Here in Australia, those local budgets are whipping up a frenzy. For the first time in recent memory every product imaginable is associated with the 'beautiful game' – the round ball, the scissor kicks, shirts wrapped over the head. In Australia, thanks to the double whammy of the Lowy/O'Neil football revolution and the qualification, it is a safe bet that sponsors will get a very satisfactory ROI, even if the Socceroos fall at the first hurdle. The B2B sales incentive programs that have been running in the last six months (rewarding significant incremental sales with tickets to the semis and finals) have already generated solid returns.

Ambushers and pretenders will benefit from projecting an association with the World Cup, but ambushing is far more effective when the official sponsors are lazy and not leveraging their rights. Ambushers will find it hard to get cut-through in the current environment. It's a bit like trying to pick up at a party. If everyone is beautiful, you are just average, even if you're a looker.

2

Michael Kiely

Marketing Guru

Basking in the reflected glory of a big sports event is a lazy way to use sponsorship. Simply being part of the noise isn't enough. It's like using a celebrity to endorse your product. Too easy. The celeb remains the star when it's your brand that should be starring. And the World Cup has a galaxy of stars all competing with your brand. Nike's ambush marketing was not about jumping in front of the cameras and stealing the limelight so much as about being naughty and very Nike. It turned the controversy into a bit of theatre, and that's marketing.

The risk of taking a sponsorship is getting lost in the melee – there are too many sponsors at too many sporting fixtures. (Australian basketball faced the dilemma some time ago when the proliferation of logos on the court made the game hard to watch and turned away viewers. Catch 22. The sponsors want the viewers. The viewers turn off because of the sponsors wanting the viewers.)

Sponsorship is a ticket to the dance. It gets you into the hall. You still gotta ask the girl to dance. Gatecrashers can be boorish, but they can have an air of daring that appeals to people. So, you've got your ticket – how are you going to get the girl when all the other guys want to whisk her away? You gotta stand out in the crowd. (Taking all your clothes off will do it, but unless you're pretty pretty, leave them on, please.)

Some years ago my client (Toyota) sponsored the Australian Olympic Team. In the next Olympics, it sponsored a couple of athletes and got just as much value because Toyota believes in the key dynamic of sponsorship. For every dollar you spend on the sponsorship you should spend two or three dollars promoting it. By using the image of the handful of athletes it sponsored in its advertising, Toyota gave the impression it was still a major sponsor. Clever.

Sponsorship is all about eyeballs. It has risen to prominence because the mass media ain't mass anymore and the only way to be sure you get a mass audience is to use the multi-channelling effect of major event sponsorship.

My advice: stay away unless you’ve got the bucks to pay to really play.

3

Naseema Sparks

Managing director, M&C Saatchi

Major or minor sponsor companies will get a good return on their investment if they leverage their sponsorships cleverly.

Ambush marketing is almost impossible these days, and non-official companies attempting to ambush run the risk of large fines and damage to their reputation.
Major event organisers have learned a lot about the responsibilities and risks of revenue raising through sponsorship in the last decade. Gone are the days when major brand sponsors would accept deals over a beer and a handshake, and the days of contracts with loopholes the size of Mars that allow competitors the cheap thrill of an ambush.

Contracts between major event organisers including FIFA, Olympic Committees etc. and official sponsors are more rigorous and exclusive than ever before; and these bodies are not afraid to be extremely litigious in protecting the rights of their sponsors.

In a recent article on ambush marketing, The Economist (‘War minus the Shooting’, 16 February 2006) noted that FIFA has already “gone after more than 1200 infringement cases in 65 countries” to prevent non-sponsors leveraging the World Cup.

Now – back to the question of return on sponsor investments. In 2006 and beyond, the return to official sponsors will depend entirely on how they leverage their sponsorships.

Investment in the sponsorship property is only the beginning. If the sponsor fails to dedicate sufficient funds to leverage their sponsorship, their return on investment will be poor.

Consumers are saturated with brand messages everyday. They are heedless of ground signage, logos on bags, caps, mugs etc. Sure – they will be able to answer a research question on major sponsors, but what does that mean? Has it changed their relationship with that brand, other than thinking they have bags of money to fund sports sponsorships?

The real aim of the game in sports sponsorship is to get as much brand value out of it as possible for the least cost. Minor sponsors who leverage cleverly will get more ongoing value than major sponsors who do nothing except flood the ground and surrounds with their logos.

4

Chris Grannel

Brand and Marketing Strategist, SWAT Marketing

What constitutes success will depend upon the objectives of the brand owner – in terms of target audiences and desired outcomes. But, as a general rule, sponsorships that deliver greatest return on investment will be those that successfully build association or demonstrate commitment rather than simply raise awareness of the sponsor.

There are broadly three levels of sponsorship outcome – and we will see examples of each in the World Cup:

1. The first tier of sponsorships are those concerned purely with awareness-building. Major event sponsorships are most commonly associated with this outcome, although the result is often very imprecise.
2. Second tier sponsorships are geared towards sharing in the positive attributes of the event (such as competitiveness, fun or excellence) or building an association with a particular usage occasion.
3. Third tier sponsorships take things further still, by answering the ‘what’s in it for me’ question for the customer. Such sponsorships provide real product value rather than mere communications – and demonstrate a commitment to a cause, policy or interest group.
4. ‘Success’ at each tier depends upon integration – both with other marketing initiatives and with other business activities. Even sponsorships aimed purely at building awareness are unlikely to meet their objectives unless the brand owner invests in communications to promote the tie-up. To deliver second or third tier results, integration is even more important, since customers will typically want to see that the sponsor is actively involved.

Sponsorships that deliver greatest value are those where brands are aligned, strategies are complementary, communications are integrated and benefits are shared. The Hyundai/soccer association has done a lot to leverage a similar positioning between the two. Until very recently, both would have had reasonable unprompted awareness, but essentially both were challengers in their respective markets. Now, both are inviting reappraisal, and both present a new professionalism demanding that they are now taken seriously.

There are some great examples of non-official sponsors hijacking events. But the non-cooperative nature of such associations makes it difficult to integrate them across the business and that of the sponsoree. Unless yours is a brand that stands to gain directly from the ‘subversive’ kudos of guerrilla tactics, such non-official sponsorship activity is unlikely to deliver benefits beyond short-term awareness.

5

Anthony Goldman

Managing director, Fudge Group

This is the multimillion dollar question. There is no doubt a planned approach to leveraging sponsorship of an event such as the FIFA World Cup can be, and has been, a successful strategy for companies. Companies that are seen to ‘scramble’ and simply place a logo on an end frame of a television commercial or at the base of an outdoor billboard won’t reap the benefits.

In Australia and partly thanks to international marketing campaigns, companies such as Adidas, MasterCard and Hyundai have launched integrated marketing campaigns to leverage their sponsorship. Look at any TVC or print execution for the past two months and they have been intrinsically linked to a football and World Cup theme. Both brand-focused and retail advertisements have been ‘football’ flavoured. For these companies, incremental sales and positive brand health checks will be the measurements for success. That said, these sponsorships cost mega-bucks, so payback cannot be assured.

Given MasterCard is the favoured card for the games and Adidas is as football as a Ronaldo, I wouldn’t lose any sleep over ensuring these sponsorships reap the required benefits. To me, MasterCard and Adidas say Football.

There is no doubt using an event such as the World Cup makes your brand relevant to consumers for that point in time. Capitalising on the hype and excitement of one the world’s biggest events cannot be too detrimental. There is, however, little use of being a ‘one event wonder’. A consistent sponsorship strategy is essential to build that desired connection with consumers.

The question of a non-official sponsorship raises interesting questions, and opportunities. In the public’s eye, what makes you official? You do have to be willing to play hard or go home – being prepared to compete with the big boys is necessary. They have serious bucks and huge resources.

If I see another ‘Football Frenzy Sale’ or ‘Socceroos Ate Here’ sign again, I’ll hang up my marketing boots.