Sponsors spoiling the 2010 broth?

2010-06-28 07:52

FIFA sponsors, partners and national supporters have paid hundreds of millions of rands for the privilege of being exclusively associated with the biggest global event in the history of mankind.

In turn, FIFA, has not only implemented draconian rules and regulations to protect this exclusivity, but has convinced the South African government to enact ambush marketing laws and spend R45m on special courts to punish offenders on the spot.

Now, one can understand that FIFA sponsors need to be protected but personally, I think picking on a little shopkeeper for hanging a soccer ball in his window, arresting two Dutch blondes and harassing Kulula.com for having a little bit of fun is a bit over the top.

But, the question I have to ask is whether these sponsors and partners are actually getting their money's worth?

There are six FIFA partners, six sponsors and five national supporters. How many of them can you remember off the top of your head right now without looking at the list below?

 This is not a test of your memory by the way, but rather a test of how well those 17 brands have got your attention.

Take all the sponsorship posters and billboards inside the stadiums. Now, the purpose of these is not so much to get the attention of the fans in the stadium itself but rather the hundreds of millions of TV viewers. Frankly, I reckon there was so much going on in the stadiums, so much colourful stuff with flags and banners, painted faces and vuvuzelas that the TV cameras had more than enough to concentrate on without having to resort to showing pictures of billboards.

Then there has been confusion within South Africa regarding official sponsors. MTN is an official sponsor but because Vodacom has been a long time sponsor of Bafana Bafana it has been allowed to run extensive ad campaigns in support of the national team. But hey, even though they didn't mention anything like "World Cup" or "2010" no one was left in any doubt about what they were staying.

It seems to me that in spite of all the rules and regulations, there has been a vast amount of advertising from non-sponsors that managed to get around the regulations but nevertheless managed to get in on the hype. Good for them I say.

So, perhaps and that's a big, optimistic perhaps, the big global brands and main FIFA partners have got their money's worth but I'm not so sure that the five national supporters haven't been completely overwhelmed.

So, here's the question. If you were a big brand would you spend a billion Rand on World Cup 2014?  Not sure I would.

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