The 2010 World Cup is now with us and it seems like there’s no escape from the hype of media activity that characterises this popular sports event. Indeed, “the World Cup has the ability to unite a nation and everyone will want to join the cause,” affirms Philip Penlington, director of fixed fee promotions company Fotorama. In particular, consumer brands have not failed to jump on the footie bandwagon, encouraging the general public to buy into products or services in order to achieve a better game experience. Whether it’s a sexier TV, a more thirst-quenching tipple or a snazzier supporter’s strip – it seems everyone’s in the game of making a quick buck on the back of the World Cup.
“The event is extremely market and sponsor driven; there are millions of dollars changing hands for privileges and rights during the tournament” comments Tanya Goodin, CEO at Tamar. Indeed, the ‘big boys’ in this year’s list of official partners include Coca Cola, Sony and Adidas – notably consumer-facing brands with huge budgets to saturate multiple marketing channels.
But while there’s a predictable frenzy around consumer marketing, what implications does this, and other high profile sports events, have for the B2B sector?
On the B2B ball
Many brands in the B2B arena have successfully capitalised on the nation’s enthusiasm for football, employing either strategic or tactical campaigns to broaden brand awareness and strengthen customer relationships. Global lubricants company, Castrol is one of the official sponsors of the 2010 World Cup, with much to gain from its affiliation. Following the success of its sponsorship of the European championships – UEFA Euro 2008, this year’s World Cup campaign activity sees it enhancing its Sport Index – a tool that helps football fans to objectively analyse player and team performances, as well as numerous relevant offers for its business customers. Senior vice president for lubricants, Mike Johnson says “Our investment in football has proved a tremendous success and allowed Castrol to develop new opportunities in a way that has added value to our business partners; excited and rewarded fans; and motivated our staff.”
Energy supplier Npower is another big brand that is leveraging the opportunities presented by the World Cup. The company is one of a handful of official sponsors of England’s 2018 World Cup bid, and has enlisted the help of animation heroes Wallace and Gromit in its latest TV campaign. “We believe a successful bid to stage the FIFA World Cup in England would be fantastic for the country and particularly Britain’s businesses,” comments Kevin Peake, marketing director at Npower, who also says that businesses’ revenue in particular could benefit from a tournament hosted on England soil.
Footie tactics
While the likes of Castrol and Npower demonstrate strategic B2B marketing activity, there are smaller organisations using tactical football-related campaigns to their advantage. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), for example, recently announced the launch of The World Cup and Absence Management guide – aimed at helping employers manage the increase in staff absences during the World Cup.
Similarly, Iomart Hosting recently revealed its IT World Football Fantasty XI campaign, using a compilation of the names of ex-World Cup players with computer-related names, such as Neil WEBb – England 1990 and Raphael WICKY – Switzerland 2006.
The campaign came to fruition as a result of the company looking for a good hook for visitors to their stand at next month’s Smartgov live event. “Many of us in the office have a keen interest in football and we worked out that the Smartgov event coincided with the early group stages of the World Cup,” explains Phil Worms, director of communications at Iomart. The managed hosting company has, rather impressively, also got three signed soccer legends’ football shirts (a 1966 England replica shirt signed by Bobby Charlton, a 1966 Portugal replica shirt signed by Eusebio and a limited 1970 Brazil shirt signed by Pele) to give away to visitors who enter their business cards in a prize draw on the Iomart stand at the Smartgov event. Worms reveals that one of the many benefits already reaped from both the Fantasy XI and shirt competition campaigns is that they have “given us something newsworthy to distribute via our social media/PR and customer communications channels”.
In fact, Iomart is no stranger to tapping into sporting events as part of its marketing activities. Back in 2008, it used the theme of the Rugby Six Nations for its stand at the Data Centre World event, going as far as to enlist the help of cheerleaders to attract visitors to its stand. Worms reveals, “We found that this type of promotion proved low cost, was highly targeted, gave a high value perception of our organisation and provided a relatively dry subject (data centres and IT) with a more human face, thus encouraging customer/prospect engagement at the events.”
Playing with the big boys Despite these examples of B2B brands getting involved with World Cup marketing activity, it seems that consumer marketing has far outweighed B2B efforts. Perhaps B2B marketers have been more wary of the strict marketing guidelines surrounding the World Cup that FIFA has imposed? FIFA’s stringent rules are, of course, good news for official partners who have invested in the event in return for exclusive use of official marks, slogans and logos. However, they have simultaneously presented smaller businesses with challenging obstacles, not to mention much ambiguity, about what they can and can’t do in relation to their World Cup marketing activity.
Despite this, Penlington points out that “whilst non-associated brands might not have the luxury of placing the coveted logo on their product or mentioning the World Cup, they will have far more opportunities to show creativity, imagination and flair than officially associated brands who will be bound by legal stipulations.” Goodwin supports this need for creative and lateral thinking, pointing out that “one of the only channels that FIFA can’t control during the tournament is the content of the Google search results,” and agrees that enterprising affiliates targeting niche search terms relating to the World Cup is an effective way for B2B marketers to tap into the football tournament.
Regardless of which brands have done what for the World Cup, there is much to be learned from the range of traditional and digital marketing activity demonstrated during this prestigious sports event. In particular, B2B marketers should take note of the more dynamic marketing campaigns if they’re looking to capitalise on forthcoming sports events such as Wimbledon 2010, London’s 2012 Olympics and the 2018 World Cup.
Big brands game on for sponsorship
It’s not just the World Cup that sees golden opportunities for B2B brands
Royal Bank of Scotland: The bank is a major player when it comes to high profile sports sponsorship and has delivered successful B2B campaigns surrounding its sponsorship of the Rugby Six Nations, as well as international cricket and golf tournaments. In particular, Royal Bank of Scotland uses hospitality opportunities at these popular sports events to build business relationships in a targeted and cost efficient way.
IBM: Wimbledon purposefully avoids overt commercial sponsorship and product placement within its venue grounds in order to preserve the integrity and heritage of the championships. However, IBM continues to benefit from being one of Wimbledon’s official suppliers, no doubt using the themes of integrity and heritage to strengthen its own brand.
BT: Appointed official communications services partner to the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, BT is a huge advocate of UK businesses taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the London games. In a hugely competitive communications industry, BT’s position as an official partner of the games will inevitably be capitalised on in forthcoming marketing campaigns.
