Beer company employs ambush marketing at World Cup Soccer 2010
Sports sponsorships usually come out to be huge. Companies pay millions upon millions of dollars to advertise their brands at major sports tournaments. They cut out expensive deals with an exclusive tag to go around with – all done in a bid to be the only brand of a certain category in sponsoring a major event. This phenomenon is highly evident at the FIFA World Cup where certain brands such as McDonald's and Budweiser pay top dollars to the governing body of soccer in order to win the right of becoming the main sponsors for the event. This concept was shaken up recently when a story came to the fore that a Dutch Beer company allegedly engaged in ambush marketing. The interesting part of news is that it is wrong to partake in ambush marketing when corporate sponsorship deals are in place. So can one assume that advertising has gone out of hand?
This interesting case of the supposed ambush marketing related to a recent first round game between the Netherlands and Denmark in a South Africa 2010 match. FIFA claims that a Dutch beer company named Bavaria handed out hundreds of tight fitting orange dresses to female fans before the game and asked them to wear them during the match. According to various allegations, the company also hired 36 beautiful women to wear the dresses during the match to cheer for the Dutch team. According to FIFA, the beer company knew about these women who were sitting near the pitch who received a lot of camera attention which helped in promoting the beer. FIFA spokesman Nicholas Maingot said, “What seems to have happened is that there was a clear ambush marketing activity by a Dutch brewery company”. He further said, “What we are doing actually at the moment is that we are looking into all available legal remedies against this brewery”.
What FIFA failed to understand was that if the company's intention was to bring awareness to their brand, then they succeeded in a big way. Most people apart from die-hard Dutch beer fans would have known that this stunt was done by the beer company. Others would have thought that the ladies were just a bunch of pretty ladies all sitting together in orange. But by ejecting the women from the stadium and making a fuss about it, FIFA actually gave this company the media attention that it wanted. The news was sprayed all across newspapers and online news agencies with the company's name and they probably got the boost they had planned for from the beginning. It seems to be a brilliant marketing strategy for the company, they knew the women would get media attention and they also knew that they might be thrown out of the match. It all planned out well for the company in the end.
Even if this is not what happened and it was simply a case of ejecting paying fans who wore orange, then the question comes back to the fact that has FIFA's corporate sponsorship strategy has gone out of hand. They police the sponsorship deals and its implementation is so stringently monitored that if anyone else wants to try and make a few dollars from the tournament, FIFA comes down hard on them. Over the years, it seems that sponsorship deals have been getting out of hand with the bank Santander recently insuring Alonso's thumbs for 10 million Euros in F1.
An article online explores the affects of corporate sponsorships as they are taking place now. “Sports sponsorship is now a highly developed communications tool with much of the spending being focused on sports events”. In this arena the protection of brands and sponsorship deals has gone a bit loopy. Since it is such a big business and so much money is pumped, FIFA’s organising body feels they have to protect their main sponsors from any sabotage by any other company.
This story may not have a happy ending for Bravia - the beer company - because FIFA is working with the South African police to try and gather enough evidence to prosecute the company. If they did, FIFA may make it very clear to all other companies out there that want to engage in ambush marketing to rethink on this strategy. If we did look at the footage of those ladies in the crowd, it seemed a little strange that 30 beautiful women just happened to be sitting together in the crowd all apparently friends with not a hair out of place and all made up to look their best. If even one of them had been dressed differently or worn a different costume, maybe the entire plan would have looked a little believable. But then again, football fans are known to dress up in the strangest outfits for most matches. The Dutch female fans will be closely scrutinised in the upcoming matches and if they don’t want to be arrested, they should definitely wear a different colour.
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