World Cup sponsorship: Four years in the making

association next time around.

So pivotal has the event become to their marketing strategies that
preparations for the tournament have reached unparalleled heights. For
many of these brands, working on World Cup strategy is a job that never
stops.

Given the size of the investment made by the official sponsors, it is
not surprising that their strategies are often worked out over a
four-year period. On average, FIFA sponsors pay £15m-£20m a
year simply to buy the associations. Add the marketing money allocated
to leverage the tie-up - normally at least one and a half times the
original sponsorship fee - and the resultant expenditure is vast. Such
high costs understandably demand careful planning and proof of return on
investment.

For Coca-Cola, which is signed up as a FIFA partner until 2020, working
on the World Cup is a virtually continuous cycle, according to Steve
Cumming, the company's UK head of sponsorship and brand experience.

'We don't really take time off from the World Cup,' he says. 'After the
activation for one tournament finishes, you make a start on the learning
process of how to make it better next time. Once you have reapplied this
knowledge to the strategic plan, it is time to start activating it
again. The fact that we have a long-term agreement in place with FIFA
allows us to work like this and certainly helps us raise the bar
creatively.'

Experienced FIFA sponsors now employ dedicated World Cup teams as
sub-divisions of their marketing department, working on the strategy on
a rolling basis. This enables the brand to seamlessly integrate its
knowledge and feedback from previous campaigns into the next, making
each World Cup a stronger marketing proposition.

Integrated concept

For many FIFA sponsors, it is not just the strategic thinking that
requires a lengthy lead time. The logistics of arranging World Cup
corporate hospitality and maximising the use of sponsorship rights
across all parts of the business, as well as putting in place
consumer-facing promotions and affinity marketing deals with other
official partners, cannot be done overnight. It is even more complex for
those sponsors, such as Anheuser-Busch and Gillette, that have the
capacity to use the association across a number of their brands.

'We would start at least three years ahead of the event,' says Jeremy
Nicholds, general manager for sales and marketing, Europe, at
MasterCard, a long-time FIFA partner. 'There are a lot more
opportunities now than at previous tournaments in terms of how you can
make the sponsorship work, so you need the extra planning time to fully
exploit all these avenues.'

Integration is the watchword of successful World Cup strategies.
Marketers experienced in sponsorship activation say the best way to make
the association deliver is to ensure not only that it is prevalent in
every piece of communication with the consumer, but also that it adds
value to the relationship - not an easy task for a company the size of
McDonald's or Adidas. 'Most of the activity we engage in around the
World Cup requires an immense amount of communications and planning,'
says McDonald's sponsorship director Stephen Hall. 'It used to be just
about slapping a FIFA logo on everything, but now the challenge is
bringing the association to life in a unique way. If you want true
integration, you need to plan ahead to create a central theme to work
from.'

Uli Becker, head of global communications at Adidas, agrees that to
achieve a truly integrated approach, it is necessary to have an
overriding concept for the whole strategy. 'Our "+10" teamwork campaign
for this World Cup is by far the most integrated work we have done for
the tournament,' he says. 'There is a huge benefit in having a central
idea to the strategy.

It creates a global proposition, but one that can be regionally directed
to fit the various different national cultures. It is our biggest single
spend on any strategy, but it shows how we have evolved into a
marketing-driven company - something we couldn't have claimed to be 15
years ago.'

Early start

It is not only the strategic thinking for the tournament that is
beginning earlier. Visible consumer-facing activity from FIFA sponsors
is also creeping up the calendar. The few months prior to the World Cup
are when the bulk of the activity occurs, but Becker admits that the
official launch date of its '+10' activity of 10 October last year -
eight months before the tournament - was unprecedented.

'We did launch the campaign earlier than normal, although the main TV
work didn't come into play until the start of April,' says Becker. 'It
is vital from a timing point of view that you don't miss the boat; the
World Cup is prevalent in people's minds long before the tournament
kicks off, due to the climax of the qualifying campaign and the official
draw. We're a leader in sport so a lot is expected of us when the World
Cup comes around. Also, as a German company, it is important that we
make the most of our home advantage.'

Another reason for the early start is the brand clutter through which
FIFA sponsors have to wade. The two months immediately prior to the
World Cup are filled with football-related messages not only from
tournament sponsors, but also those with no official association looking
to take advantage of the event's consumer appeal.

'Clutter has made creativity more of an issue,' says Coca-Cola's
Cumming.

'You could argue that this works out better for the consumer, as brands
have to work much harder to be relevant and credible in getting their
message across.'

Not all FIFA sponsors have the benefit of a long-term association from
which they can learn best practice. The 2006 tournament is the first
time that FIFA has had an official airline partner - Emirates. The
carrier's primary goal is to establish its tie-up in the minds of the
consumer.

'As a new sponsor it requires a heavier investment to make an impact,'
says Mike Simon, Emirates' senior vice-president of communications. 'We
are not a global brand yet, so the World Cup is the perfect platform to
raise awareness in places where we are not known. We are competing
against sponsors that have been integral to the World Cup for many
years, so we have had to raise our adspend substantially just to get in
among them. We have supported this with ticket giveaways and put the
World Cup logo on the side of all our aircraft from the moment we struck
the deal.'

With 15 official partners, not to mention the vast number of brands
employing ambush marketing activity, FIFA has been forced into a radical
change in its commercial structure to attempt to control the
clutter.

After the 2006 tournament, the 15 top-tier partners will be reduced to
six across broader category definitions, each paying upward of £75m for a four-year period. These slots have been filled by Adidas,
Hyundai, Coca-Cola, Sony, Visa and Emirates.

However, the change has left a bitter taste in the mouths of those
existing partners that could not afford to bid for the upgraded
contracts and whose long-term associations with the tournament will
consequently end.

FIFA has introduced a second-tier sponsorship level, which it says is
aimed at the brands that missed out on the top-tier slots. But while
these packages cost slightly less than the amount these companies are
paying for 2006, the exact nature of what the brands are buying is
unclear. To the cynic, it looks as if FIFA is merely trying to squeeze
even more commercial revenue from its array of partners.

Clutter is not the only sponsorship issue for which FIFA has come under
fire. After the 2002 World Cup, it moved the day-to-day operational
responsibility for its marketing in-house, which the organisation
claimed would enable it to take more of a hands-on role in helping its
commercial partners.

However, with 15 sponsors to support and a minimal marketing staff, the
governing body laid itself open to accusations of under-managing its
partners.

One confirmed to Marketing that at one point there were just three FIFA
account handlers covering all 15 partners and six suppliers.

FIFA has gone some way toward rectifying the situation by hiring more
staff and cutting the number of top-tier partners, but some brands
remain disgruntled by what they perceive as arrogance in the
organisation's approach. Despite this, the enormous appeal of the World
Cup will continue to dictate brands' interest and whatever approach FIFA
adopts, it seems likely that sponsors will continue to queue up to meet
the asking price while taking the blows.

ESSENTIALS - CORPORATE HOSPITALITY

The deep pockets required for official sponsorship are beyond the means
of most brands, but this is not the only way to use the World Cup as a
marketing tool. For the majority, corporate hospitality packages are the
most economical and viable option.

Corporate hospitality packages have traditionally suffered at the hands
of the black market, but this year's tournament will be the first time
that FIFA has properly regulated the proceedings, employing official
partners to sell across the various regions.

John Hockey, managing director of Circa, FIFA's official corporate
hospitality partner in the UK, believes this is a vital evolution.
'Having official partners ensures you maintain a standard of quality
that wasn't there previously,' he says. 'You will never stamp out the
black market totally, but this makes it more difficult for the cowboys.
Late-comers will always go the non-official route, as most FIFA packages
will have been sold by then, but it is much more ring-fenced now.'

Official packages sell for about £1300 per person per game, which
provides the buyer with a matchday ticket and hospitality. These are
initially sold in three-game blocks to cover the group ties, with most
waiting to see the results before buying up hospitality packages for
later rounds, for which the cost rises.

'We saw a surge in interest in group-game packages after the World Cup
draw in December,' says Hockey. 'People realised that if they waited
until June, their seats would be scattered across the stadia and
organising transport and hotels would become a nightmare. People are now
more inclined toward official packages as many have been badly burned
before.'

- 1930: France beat Mexico 4-1 in the first World Cup match on 13 July.