Championing the Cause for Brands in Football

Play some word association with the average American, and “Super Bowl” is likely to elicit a few responses over and over: football; corn dogs; beer; and ad breaks. The creative, big-budget productions filling the advertisement breaks during the game have become as much an American cultural institution as apple pie – yet, unlike the delicious, ubiquitous treat, this concept has yet to spread overseas.

Yesterday’s UEFA Champions League draw threw up some tantalising clashes, and with 2009’s final the most watched sporting event of the year, it’s going to be interesting to see if next year’s final can topple the Super Bowl once and for all. But despite how close both events are in terms of size of audience, there are still marked differences in the sponsorship and advertising strategies that accompany them. Whilst the Super Bowl ad breaks have become synonymous with blockbuster premieres (like Apples infamous 1984 Macintosh commercial, widely credited with having started the Super Bowl ad trend), or competition-winning user-generated ads (see Doritos’ excellent “Crash the Superbowl” campaign), brand affiliation at the Champions League final is less overt.

At the Super Bowl, some viewers tune in deliberately just to watch the commercial breaks, and USA Today even publish a yearly Super Bowl “Ad Meter” – rating each advertisement depending on the second-by-second reaction of a panel of viewers. This unashamed recognition of the cultural impact creative advertisements can have is an excellent opportunity for brands, though they pay big for the Super Bowl platform, with some thirty-second slots now costing just under $3 million. During the Champions League final, although key UEFA partners are recognised with a sense of brand ownership through idents and sponsorship hoardings, there is no such obvious forum for fans to engage with the brands presenting them with the sport. Football fans recognise brands such as Sony and Ford as having an association with the tournament, but they don’t necessarily see how those brands fit in with their own enjoyment of the spectacle.

This may be, in part, due to a more-sceptical European view of brands. Certainly, our American cousins are regarded as being less averse to advertising and commercial partnerships infiltrating their entertainment than we are. As with many other areas, however, the Americans appear to lead the way, and brands associated with the Champions League will no doubt be working hard to forge the strong relationships they want with football fans and casual viewers alike, a process made that much easier (when it’s done right) by the prevalence of social media. The Champions League final is definitely there to own, and it will be fascinating to see how the big partners (Sony, Ford, Heineken and Mastercard), and other affiliates (Sony Ericsson, Adidas, Konami) explore new opportunities to do this. I’m convinced it will be a richer entertainment experience for it.

So let’s ditch the cynicism, embrace the commercial powerhouses making the Champions League possible, and get ready to enjoy ever-more creative, compelling and amusing advertisements as a result. 2011, this is your year…

Steve Sandsmith

As the dust settles and the Vuvuzelas fade, I think of what's next

The sound of the vuvuzela’s is finally fading but the memories will live with us forever. The 2010 South Africa World Cup has come to an end and the impact it has had on South Africa will leave a cultural legacy that even FIFA cannot have envisaged when they awarded us this magnificent tournament. Over the past month our nation grew together in pursuit of a common goal – providing the best World Cup ever and sharing the African experience with the world. At Arcay we have had the privilege to experience hosting the world cup not only on a personal basis but also on a professional level, offering us up the opportunity to work with some of the world’s biggest corporations who we treated to some good old fashioned South African hospitality and showcased our beautiful country. We can only hope that the rest of South Africa benefitted in the same way we did. As sad as we all are to see the end of this spectacular event, I for one feel that this is the beginning of a new vibrant era for South Africa when we can confidently promote ourselves to the rest of the world. Now it’s time to seize upon the opportunity FIFA provided us with...next stop 2020 Olympic Games?