The recent Tiger Woods crisis showed the world how brands and athletes are tightly linked. While Accenture, Gatorade, AT&T dropped the golfer, other brands such as Gillette and Procter and Gamble, have significantly dimmed down their use of Tiger in advertising campaigns. EA Sports played differently as  Tiger shared his PGA Tour 2011 video game cover for the first time in 13 years. On the other hand, Nike stood by his athlete and aired an interesting, yet controversial advertsing campaign.

Athletes are the icons of sports brands. The Tiger Woods case showed  us that it can be a double edged sword.  I reckon the most famous football marketing icons would be David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane & Lionel Messi  among others for adidas, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney & Didier Drogba (among others) for Nike. Eto’o being the Puma icon for some years now. 

It’s not an easy task to link a player to a brand. It is a long way process. Brands have a very well thought scouting system, and know talented young players before they get under mediatic spotlights. Sponsorship deals are being made, with parents agreement, and the kid grows up with the brand throughout his career. For those who saw the U-19 final where France deafeated Spain 2-1, all these youngsters were (already) wearing either adidas, Nike or Puma footwear. Obviously, these brands did not come up yesterday to add these players to their portfolio.

Gael Kakuta, the Chelsea player, Alexandre Lacazette the Olympique Lyonnais striker and Cédric Bakambu are the perfect examples. Three upcoming french stars, the first one wears the Superfly Vapour II, the OL player strikes with the adidas adizero F50 and Bakambu scored 2 goals against The Netherlands with his Pumas.

The “big three” are in constant look for the next Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Once players are contracted by either one the three (adidas, Nike, Puma) it is difficult for the other two to step in. In other words, I don’t see Nike approaching Xavi nor adidas willing to sign Didier Drogba. Not only the Spaniard and the Ivory Coast player are already strongly “stamped” by their current sponsor but it will be a very costly deal if it gets through. Secondly I would like to think that the sponsors would rather invest in signing new young players with this amount of cash.

Brands link their image (and vice versa) to footballers from a very early age and this is a long term investment which will pay off when these talented players will lift a World Cup or Champions League trophy. In the meantime, they would have encapsulated their sponsors brand image and values. They would have represented the brand throughout their career. For instance, Zidane & Beckham will always be associated with the adidas brand and ultimately with the Predator boot. Recently, we have seen Nike’s effort to market Cristiano Ronaldo with the Mercurial Vapor Superfly II and Rooney with the T90 Laser III.

Happy to hear your thoughts!

Herbert Hainer, CEO Adidas, speaks openly and honestly about his efforts to knock Nike off the Top Spot in 2010 by leveraging the firm’s $200 million World Cup sponsorship push to its full advantage.

Currently within spitting distance of Nike’s 2007 €11.1 billion revenue, Herbert explains how the World Cup equates to big wins for brands like Adidas in terms of sponsorship, advertising and exposure. “The World Cup is definitely the biggest event for us,” he admits, adding that football is in the DNA of the sporting giant.

A global presence

Already it is widely known that Adidas will have the greatest sanctioned presence during this month’s FIFA World Cup. Not only is the brand an official top-tier partner of the tournament, but it also sponsors the highest number of teams competing in the finals – boasting the likes of Argentina, France, Spain, Germany, and host nation South Africa among those teams that will be brandishing the famous three-stripe logo. As such, Herbert promises to capitalise on such marketing investment with new and exciting products to market.

“In my opinion this industry is clearly product-driven and the product is innovation. Innovation, in my opinion, is the key to success.” Herbert continues, “we have to bring out one complete new innovative product every season, and so far we have even exceeded this promise. We are bringing permanently new, innovative products to the market, and I think this is one of the key success factors for us.”

Such innovative thinking does not go unnoticed. For the 11th year in succession, for instance, Adidas has earned the right to field their version of a world-class official ball. The “Jabulani” ball, which means “to celebrate” in Bantu, will be used by the world’s biggest sports stars this summer as a result.

The innovation of the Adidas ball, is mind-blowing. Featuring completely new, ground-breaking technology, the ball is constructed of eight 3-D spherically formed EVA and TPU panels that are moulded together, resulting in an energetic unit combined with perfect roundness. In addition, it seems the number 11 adds further symbolism to the ball, not only signifying the 11^th year that Adidas have created the official World Cup ball, but also highlighting other heavy cultural references: the 11 tribes of South Africa; and the number of players in a football team. And, in honour of this, 11 colours are used on the official design.

Nike, meanwhile, are fighting back. Adidas’ biggest rivals recently released an advertising video that when viral in just 10 days, with over 8.5 million plays on YouTube. The question now is, as competition heats up on the field, how will these sporting giants face the music off the pitch as well?

On July 11th, the world will focus on the 2 teams which will enter the Johannesburg Stadium for the World Cup final. However, 23 actors on the pitch will shine. 23? yes 23, and I am not including the referee (although he sometimes shines more than he should). The 23rd actor will litterally shine on the pitch. I am talking about the World Cup final match ball. On Tuesday 20th, adidas unveiled the official ball of the 2010 FIFA World Cup final: The JO’BULANI.

The design honours the prestige of the match and the host city Johannesburg. The ball is constructed with eight 3-D spherically shaped EVA and TPU panels moulded together. The ball is perfectly round and has been equiped with a brand new Grip’n Groove technology. This innovative technology is providing the ball with a perfect straight flight and accuracy. In addition, the texture gives players (including goalkeepers) an additional grip to have a full control on the ball in all weather conditions.

This innovative technology includes aero grooves clearly visible on the ball’s surface, and this Grip’n’Groove profile covers the entire ball. The purpose of the integrated grooves is to provide unmatched flight characteristics, to make the most stable and most accurate adidas ball ever. And this texture also gives fantastic grip for the players (and the goalies) to have full control over the ball.

adidas introduced this idea for the World Cup 2006 in Germany with the golden Teamgeist for the final in Berlin. Another great initiative to leverage the adidas brand and products through the FIFA sponsorship. Making the World Cup final a unique game with a unique ball is a powerful marketing and PR initiative. adidas has the exclusive match ball rights and since 1970, and is the official matchball supplier for FIFA World Cups. In a previous article, I pointed out the success of the adidas Finale ball, where the 3-stripes established an ownership of the Champions League match ball since 2001. adidas is therefore strengthening and leveraging its exclusive rights with the football governing bodies in a meaningful way.

Starting with the Telstar in 1970 to the Etrusco and the Fevernova in respectively 1990 and 2002, adidas has established a strong heritage in World Cup match balls. Since 2006, with the Golden Teamgeist and now the JO’BULANI, adidas has entered a new era of leveraging its exclusive rights. Bottom line: Gold and shining do not necessarily mean “bling bling”. What do you think?

Hello all,

The UEFA Champions League is without a doubt the most attractive, competitive club tournament in the world. The Champions League has become the benchmark in clubs competition, not only because of its financial appeal but also because the best clubs and best players are performing.

Sponsors are leveraging their brand and products and one of the most iconic marketing piece of the tournament is the match ball: The adidas Finale.

Adidas introduced the Champions League ball for the 2000-2001 season. Fantastic sponsorship activation from the 3-stripes to have ALL clubs involved in the competition to play with the Finale. As a matter of facts, it goes beyond Champions League games. Players are training with it and therefore leading to an increase of exposure for the ball and its branding. Regardless of the team sponsor, the Finale is the masterpiece and gets a strong focus. One image that comes to my mind is Lionel Messi after his amazing performance vs Arsenal (he scored 4 goals…..remember?) leaving the pitch with the match ball. Two great football icons together…….what else? George would say.

Anyway, since 2001 the adidas Finale is the official match ball of the UEFA Champions League. Its specific design is anchored in football fans and marketers minds. However, not only adidas is linking its brand (more and more) to the competition, but the starball design is a significant callout to UEFA and the Champions League itself.  While adidas is linking ts brand and image to the tournament, UEFA integrates strongly and efficiently its marks to the competition.

Recently, adidas unveiled the adidas Finale Madrid football, the brand new Champions League match ball to be used for the 2010 final in Madrid on the 22nd May. The Finale Madrid ball is the 10th version of the adidas Finale ball history.

As mentioned previously, the design of the Madrid ball includes the strong design of the UEFA Champions League starball logo. In addition, to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the Finale, adidas included panel details to showcase the Finale’s history. In addition, the Champions League winner will be playing with that ball for their home matches the following season.

Let me give you an overview of the adidas Finale match balls history from its introduction in 2001 until now.

Season 2000-2001; FC Bayern – Valencia 1-1 (5 -4 pen)

The UEFA Champions League final was held in Milan and FC Bayern Munich lifted the trophy for the 4^th time in its history.

The adidas Finale featured a unique design, inspired by the UEFA Champions League starball logo, one of the most recognizable symbols in the football world. The new design is completely different from the traditional adidas Tango design. This underlines adidas’ commitment to break new ground in the new millennium developing new and distinct products for the most important events in football. The exclusive Champions League design inextricably links adidas and the new matchball to the very best of football.

On the technical side, the adidas Finale was developed based on the adidas equipment Terrestra Silverstream, the Official Matchball of the UEFA European Football Championship 2000. Softer, faster and more accurate than any other adidas match ball before, the adidas Finale also features a layer of highly compressed, gas-filled micro-ballons of equal size (syntectic foam), proven during EURO 2000™ and probably contributing to the highest average goal rate in a major tournament ever.

(source adidas.com)

Season 2001-2002; Real Madrid – Bayer Leverkusen (2-1)

How to forget this amazing volley of Zidane giving Real Madrid the victory against Bayer Leverkusen in Glasgow. The Finale version 2.0 featured a black star design, easily recognisable.

Very classy, and adidas was building the second year on the momentum created in football fans minds that the UEFA Champions League match ball is a strong icon.

Season 2002-2003; AC Milan – Juventus 0-0 (3-2 pen)

Certainly one of the most boring game in the Champions League final history in Manchester. I actually saw some spectators yarning  by this appalling football spectacle. Anyway, the Finale still featured the black stars and established itself as a brand of its own.

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I was reading a french news forum the other day and one comment caught my attention. Although 95% of the comments on this forum are senseless, immature and inappropriate, this member had an interesting view about Nike being the new sponsor of the French Football Federation in 2011. He said: “it will be weird to me not to see 3 stripes on the French shirt! It will be like watching any other team but France”.

Indeed, for those who have not followed the not really recent football marketing news, from 2011 the French Football Federation (F.F.F) will be equipped with Nike products. Nike and the FFF agreed on a 7.5 season contract which amounts to € 42,66 million per season.

The French national team was sponsored by adidas since 1972 with great success, talented players and an idea of playing together. In a nutshell, adidas and “Les bleus” have been more than business partners. Some would argue that they were simply……partners. After the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, a 38 year “marriage” will end as FFF signed with adidas’ biggest competitor: Nike.

Football teams that have long lasting sponsors, are willingly or not integrating their sponsors in their brand design. Football federations like France (FFF) or Germany (DFB) have always worn 3 stripes and are strongly adidas branded. The same logic can be applied to the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) . The “auriverde” football shirt history never featured 3 stripes. Therefore, “clean” sleeves are part of the Brazil kit design.

A similar scenario is applicable to football clubs. Carlsberg has been on Liverpool shirts for 18 years (circa €10 million a season) and the deal will expire at the end of 2009-2010 season. From next season onwards, Liverpool FC will feature a new sponsor on their kits as their partnership with Carlsberg is over. Hey, 18 years is quite a long sponsorship for a club and I believe, to some extent that Carlsberg branding became “normality” on the Reds kits.

But let’s come back to the 38 year old partnership between adidas and the FFF. As I mentioned earlier, 3-stripes on FFF and DFB kits have become part of the shirt design in football fans and marketers minds. On the other hand, fans are more and more aware of sponsorships deals and of the fact that a sponsor is not forever. This forumer knows about adidas, he knows about Nike. He knows very well that the French kits will be different in 2011 and his problem lies in the recognition of the french kit as a brand………which I found interesting.

It will be a drastic change in the football landscape, but adidas will still have a presence as the individuals deals remain. Players like Nasri, Benzema, Mandanda will still be part of the squad and will endorse their adidas footwear and gloves.

The point of this article is not to emphasise on the looks of the kits, but essentially to insist on the fact that after 38 years of a specific brand on a football kit, it will be interesting to have views on the brand transition that will happen on the french kits in 2011. What will be the FFF strategy (If they have one) to communicate on not having their mark of football heritage?

And you? what’s your take? Please share your views

Last week Karl Lusbec wrote about the 20 Best Known European Football Brands. The article referenced a Sport+Markt 2009-2010 study of brand recognition among football fans in the top five markets (UK, Germany, Spain, France & Italy).  You can read the report yourself here.

I thought it might be interesting to look at this data and try to extrapolate from it which club brands were the most powerful.  Unscientific of course, but I wanted to see to what degree being aligned with a specific club (or clubs) is a factor, in addition to sponsoring tournaments like the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League or UEFA European Championships.  So, let’s take a look.  Here’s the 2009 Delloitte & Touche Money League of clubs* along with the brands listed in the Sport+Markt survey (and the brands ranking in that survey) associated with them:

1. Real Madrid – adidas (1), Coca-Cola (5), Audi (8), bwin (9)

2. Manchester United – Nike (2), AIG (6), Audi (8),

3. FC Barcelona – Nike (2), Audi (8), Unicef (15)

4. Bayern Munich – adidas (1), Coca-Cola (5), Audi (8)

5. Chelsea – adidas (1), Samsung (10), Heineken (20)

6. Arsenal – Nike (2), Emirates (5)

7. Liverpool – adidas (1), Carlsberg (7)

8. AC Milan – adidas (1), bwin (9)

9. AS Roma -

10. Inter Milan – Nike (2)

11. Juventus – Nike (2)

12. Olympique Lyonnais – Umbro (16), Orange (18)

13. Schalke 04 – adidas (1)

14. Tottenham Hotspur – Puma (3), Carlsberg (7)

15. Hamburger SV – adidas (1), Emirates (5)

16. Olympique Marseille – adidas (1), Orange (18)

17. Newcastle United – adidas (1)

18. VfB Stuttgart – Puma (3), Coca-Cola (4)

19. Fenerbahce – adidas (1), Audi (8)

20. Manchester City – Umbro (16)

*I looked for the list of official club sponsors on official team websites as of February 2010.

Who from the Sport+Markt list weren’t represented by a club from the Delloitte & Touche Money League clubs?

11. Reebok

12. Opel (Read this Sport Business story from 2001 calling them the ‘most successful shirt sponsor’)

13. Vodafone

14. Ford – Champions League

17. MasterCard – Champions League

19. Sony – Champions League

So, the two odd men out appear to be Reebok and Vodafone.  Now, Vodafone is a massive sponsor of sport and had a run with Man Utd a while back from which they may still be seeing a halo effect.  Reebok sponsors Ryan Giggs (Man Utd), Thierry Henry (Barca) and formally kitted out Liverpool and Man City.  AS Roma are the only club in the top 20 not aligned with a big sponsor.

I think a big winner here may be Audi.  Not a name I immediately associated with big time European football, I was surprised to see them so high.  But they have a variety of partnerships with leading clubs, allowing them to also create the Audi Cup in July 2009, which featured ManU, Bayern Munich and AC Milan along with Boca Juniors of Argentina.  I don’t think they’ve spent the same type of money as some of the other top 10 brands, bet I suspect they are reaping rewards from their associations.  Look too for Umbro to move up the charts if the English National Team can make a run in the 2010 FIFA World Cup this summer.

I love sports market studies. Not only do they show a crude reality at a specific moment in time, but they also show a quite accurate evolution throughout the years. On January 21st 2010, Sport+Markt issued an interesting market report: The 20 best-known European football sponsors 2009-2010.

In a nutshell: adidas, Nike and Puma are the best-known football sponsors in the five largest European football markets[1]. This is a result from the SPORT+MARKT Report “European Football Brands Top 20 2009/10″, with the survey of over 3,000 European football fans.

Wow…….Is this a scoop to you?  Not to me.  Football fans are smart (yes they are….) and they do realise the impact that adidas, Nike and Puma have on football. It actually ties back to my post on the UK Sports Network where I was mentioning that adidas, Nike and Puma will be 3 powerful players on the field of play during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  Nothing new right?  So the crude reality is that the 3 major football brands are found in spots 1-2 and 3.  They are global football brands and always will be.

The previous benchmark of this study was in 2004-2005.  What is the evolution I was highlighting at the beginning of this article?  A couple of points.

1. The emerging of new brands in the football landscape.

I think essentially of Emirates and Bwin in the top 10.  The Dubai Airline has a first class seat in football.  First and foremost by being an official FIFA partner.  Secondly by being the major partner of Arsenal, but also by signing a significant shirt sponsorship deal with AC Milan from 2010 until 2015.  On top of that, Emirates is the shirt sponsor of Hamburger SV, Olimpiacos and the “charismatic” Paris St Germain.  On a football confederation perspective, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum (Emirates Chairman and Chief Executive) remains committed to the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) until 2016.

Bwin has a similar approach.  Partnering with global clubs (Real Madrid, AC Milan) and creating a massive marketing buzz in Italyand Spain where gambling is not banned by law as opposed to France and Germany. What is interesting to notice is that Bwin is quite a “new” player in the market and it’s impressive to already see them in the top 10 od the 20 best known European football brands.  You will notice that the audience awareness of Bwin in the UK is weak.

Samsung and AIG who did not have an exposure in football are now both in the top 10 and are getting their return on investment from their respectively Chelsea and Man Utd deals.

2. The regulars and one surprise

Next, brands such as Coca-Cola, Sony, Mastercard and Heineken have been part of the football landscape for some time now, so no wonder they have a strong relevance in the 5 key football markets.  They have smartly secured football ownership throughout the years, and Coca-Cola who were already in the top 10 in 2005 is now ranked 3rd.  Impressive for a non football manufacturer. 

The surprise to me is to see Unicef entering the top 20.  It is a pleasant surprise considering their area of expertise and has to be pointed out. Unicef is the shirt sponsor of FC Barcelona.  It was a big buzz when it happened, knowing how “selective” the club from Cataluna is when it comes to their home jersey.  It is now a big success and great marketing story.

Basically, those 20 brands play a significant role in football.  Not only because of their financial involvement, but mainly because they have a vision for the sport and thinking in a long term perspective.  The main evolution is to see brands where football is not their “bread and butter” playing a key role and overtaking traditional football brands.

What do you think? Are all these brands “healthy” for football?  Would you rather see a stronger involvement from other football manufacturers (ie Kappa)?  Let us know your thoughts.

Gavin Cowley is the adidas Marketing Director and Local Head 2010 FIFA World Cup. 

I had the pleasure to work with him on several football projects.  Gavin has a true passion for football and genuine dedication to make football a unique social developing and unifying component for South Africa.  He is a key player within the adidas organisation, his knowledge of the country, his integrity make him a respected and trusted character. 

I interviewed him to get his view on the first World Cup in South Africa; on the marketing activations, competition, but also on how the World Cup will contribute to the social and economic development of the country.

Enjoy!

Karl Lusbec

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