A week back, FIFA was rocked by charges ranging from money laundering to fraud to racketeering. Also, recently, Sepp Blatter quit as the FIFA president after being in charge for 17 years and being re-elected only last Friday. The U.S. Justice Department’s allegations of ‘systemic and deep-rooted corruption’ in FIFA were closely followed by critical reactions from FIFA's biggest sponsors. They were perhaps ready to take a closer look at the relationship with FIFA, but did not really have the intentions of taking an immediate step.
Sponsors have voiced their concerns in the wake of the scandals. However, having paid millions already, none of them is likely to pull out from the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015, which is scheduled to begin on Jun 6. There is hardly much time for the sponsors to pull out, but more importantly they won’t as the event offer lucrative brand exposure.
These bellwethers are aware of the fact that pulling out might gift the rivals the opportunity to grab the empty spot. Remember Visa Inc. V had taken over from rival MasterCard MA in 2007. The sponsors may not be happy if rivals come in and they would love to stay associated with one of the “crown jewels in sports marketing.”
It’s Business for Sponsors
The idea of sponsorship is “to transfer the goodwill that supporters feel for the sport, to the benefit of a brand's equity,” says agency Millward Brown’s brands expert Anastasia Kourovskaia. While tarnished image of FIFA is believed to have put sponsors’ goodwill in a spot of bother, the solutions the corporations may find in this case is that they are supporting the game and not the organization.
To be realistic, however, sponsoring events of FIFA’s statute means potential for increased business. With the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 round the corner, the sponsors would like to hang on and tap the opportunities. Interestingly, if one thought that it’s the men’s world cup that catches attention, the women’s edition is not far behind and is expected to garner huge attention.
How Sponsors Will Gain
World Cup assures sponsors reach billions of households via television or other mediums. The pitch-side exposure, the high-profile ad campaigns and related promotions assure sponsors an easy and high global reach.
Return on Investment from sports marketing investments isn’t too easy to calculate, leaving open the option of guessing directional results. Incremental sales will be the immediate positive the sponsors will enjoy. For the long term, the brands do build equity and brand loyalty.
Brand websites as well as Facebook FB and Twitter TWTR boost engagement, again driving up the brand exposure and sales. A study from Analytic Partners shows Owned and Earned engagement help incremental sales by another 2%-6% over Paid marketing. Every $1 billion in revenues would contain additional $10-$30 million in sales enhancement generated by digital and social program.
How Popular Can Women’s World Cup Be?
FIFA Director of TV Niclas Ericson said: “FIFA expects hundreds of millions of fans around the world to tune in to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada.”
The US women’s soccer team ranks 2 in the FIFA women’s ranking, as of Mar 27. The powerhouse US team should also be happy about the increasing interest. Moreover this time, the viewer-friendly time zone should make it easy to follow the games, and thus paying more attention to the sponsors’ ads.
To clear doubts about the popularity of Women’s World Cup, we must look into ESPN’s ratings from previous edition’s USA versus Japan World Cup 2011 final match. The match was viewed by an average 13.5 million viewers in the US on an ESPN network, based on a 7.4 US household rating.
According to ESPN network, it was then among the most-watched and highest-rated soccer telecast ever. In the US, it had then become the sixth most-viewed soccer telecast ever. It had also made a new record in Twitter, attracting most tweets per second about any one topic.
Separately, Fox Sports owned by Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. FOX notes that the enthusiasm is unprecedented and inventory is being exhausted at a quick pace. Neil Mulcahy, executive VP-sales at Fox Sports Media Group said: “Not since we had the Bowl Championship Series have we had such a fun time selling something.”
Robert Gottlieb, executive VP-marketing, Fox Sports Media Group commented: “The long lead time of the campaign echoes the rhythms of what you'd see in the run-up to the opening weekend of a blockbuster.”
FIFA Sponsors Detail Activations Plans
FIFA has a three-tier sponsorship structure. The first tier consists of the FIFA Partners, followed by the FIFA World Cup Sponsors and the National Supporters for each FIFA event. FIFA’s 6 top tier Global Partners (including Sony) had paid $177m annually for the four years (2011-2014) of the last “World Cup cycle.” However, Sony Corp. SNE had not renewed the contract last year.
Let’s now look at who the marketing affiliates are in this gala event:
Adidas AG ADDYY – The only sportswear firm among the FIFA partners will be supplying the official match ball. It has been supplying all official match balls for all World Cup tournaments since 1970. Adidas will also sponsor awards for best player, top goal scorer and goalkeeper and distribute 2,100 uniforms. Adidas is running “Stadium Captain” activation, where a winner will get the opportunity to bring the official match ball onto the pitch.
The Coca-Cola Company KO – It has had a formal association with FIFA since 1974 and has been a World Cup official sponsor since 1978. The beverage giant will serve drinks to all event facilities. Also, it will run match ball campaigns along with Adidas.
Hyundai Motor HYMLF/Kia Motors – Hyundai will present the best young player trophy. Also, it will award Canadian fans win customized fan experience. Kia will provide 152 vehicles for teams and officials, apart from holding a mascot friend activation prize for a lucky child.
Visa – Being FIFA’s exclusive payment services partner, it had offered the exclusive access to presale individual tickets to Visa cardholders. Visa is also the preferred payment method for the entire Women’s World Cup event.
Separately, the National Supporters marketing affiliates include Bell, Labatt/Budweiser and Trend Micro TMICY. These will have exposures in the fan zones and commercial display areas. Labatt/Budweiser, from Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV BUD, is the Official Beer of the tournament.
In Conclusion
Remember, however, the sponsors must have run an analysis of parameters to determine the importance of sponsorship. For example, business alignment looking into how well the sponsorship aligns to business objectives is a key measure. Also, the cost /value equation is important as it finds out the value the marketing affiliate is deriving from its investment. The sponsorship must also present occasions to connect with potential buyers
FIFA says that the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 will be “biggest and most advanced broadcast production for a women’s football tournament.” Such massive production implementation this time is indicative of the growing momentum and incremental interest for women’s football around the world.
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