The first Mashup of 2012 (last one here) and this start to January has been a very eventful one for social media and sport in the news.  Some of it has been positive as social becomes more intertwined in major sports event and this week sees the start of the Australian Open tennis down in sunny Melbourne.

It has also been a time for apologies and fines in equal measures as sports stars take to Twitter to let their views been known.  Some has been a case of some careless banter and have received no more than a ticking off, while for others it has been much more costly.

If you haven’t caught our look into the future of social and sport we ran recently, you can via the links here for the USA/Spain Social Media 2012 predictions and for 2012 Predictions in the UK.

Anyway, there is much to get through so here we go (click on titles for full articles)….

Mark Williams set for disciplinary over twitter comments

Snooker star Mark Williams is set for disciplinary with the governing body over the use of offensive language on Twitter.  The players were warned about the use of social media platforms during the summer by letter from the board.

Snooker Star Ronnie O’Sullivan faces fine for Twitter comments

Carrying on the snooker theme, the star who always seems to get on the wrong side of the snooker laws has been threatened with a fine.  This time it was not for anything said about snooker but the 36-year-old, and three-times World Champion, criticised the Welsh glamour girl for going to the High Court to clear her name over claims she had tried to blackmail the Manchester United star over their six-month fling.

FA Cup game highlights available in iTunes

The FA has taken to step of making the FA Cup highlights, something that has always been reserved for TV and the broadcaster websites, onto iTunes.  You can now buy a ‘season pass’ to watch highlights from every round and from last season final.  If your a fan of cup football then this looks like a great purchase.

How the Australian Open is acing digital

The 2012 Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament may just be the most digitally connected major sporting event of all time.  This Mashable article looks at how the fist major tennis event of the year is showing the way for the rest of sport in 2012.  A Slamtracker already provides real-time updates of qualifying play that began on Wednesday, and fans can relive and share their favorite moments via Facebook and Twitter through a database of classic matches.

Wales captain Aaron Ramsey takes to Twitter to clarify comments

The Arsenal midfielder took criticism for saying he was disappointed at players not being consulted over Gary Speed’s replacement. But in a series of tweets, Ramsey clarified his comments to defend what he had initially said.  It should how Twitter can be used to defend players reputations and come at at the press for what they see as quotes being taken out of context.

Oxford City sack Lee Steele for homophobic tweet

A footballer who posted a homophobic remark on a social media website has been sacked by his club.  Oxford City striker Lee Steele made a comment on Twitter about the gay former Wales rugby player Gareth Thomas.

Tweeting about Thomas’s appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, Steele, 38, wrote a “strongly-worded” message about being in a bed near the contestant.  Oxford City manager Mike Ford said: “On this occasion Lee’s had to pay for his error of judgement.

Leo Messi shares Ballon D’Or win on Facebook with most shared post ever?

The Argentinian genius strolled to his third World Football of the Year award in a row last Monday and to celebrate this achievement his sponsors adidas put together a video with the man himself.  The video was released solely on Facebook and YouTube with no other promotion around it.  Since its release on Monday night it has racked up 1.9m views on YouTube together with 372k likes, 45k shares and 41k comments!  Is this the most ever in the sports world?

Rory Lamont apologises after Twitter blast at Barack Obama

Scotland and Glasgow Warriors winger Rory Lamont has apologised after describing Barack Obama as a “whore” on a social networking site.  The rugby international has used his Twitter account to make disparaging remarks about a number of politicians.

These have included the United States president, Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  The Scottish Rugby Union has described the language as “inappropriate” and the 29-year-old has apologised via Twitter.

Premier League Social Media stats – January 2012

Finally, here is the last infographic by Freestyle Interactive to enjoy showing the lastest social media stats from the Premier League….

This evening saw the first launch of the new adidas [client] Messi signature range for kids on Facebook.

A tease post went up on his site yesterday to let people know that something was coming and today saw an e-commerce tab launched on his page to his fans.

Although this isn’t available in every country yet via the e-commerce tab just yet, many can get hold of the range via retail outlets and see useful info on the tab (the shop doesn’t show to them, they see the last image listed below).

Now that both Messi and Ronaldo have their own ranges available on their Facebook pages through their sponsors, is this going to be a lucrative new initiative more players (and athletes) will look to do as they become bigger brands online?

It has been a while since my last post.  This has been mainly sue to a quick bit of holiday before starting my new role of which I’ve just started day 2.

This caught my eye this morning though it is something I have been aware of for several months during my work with adidas UK.  It is an interesting concept that brings some fun to a competition entry using video without making it to difficult to put together.

There is also the option to like the adidas Football Facebook page and follow UEFA Champions League on Twitter. But the bit I like is the ability to share your video by getting the code from the site and inserting into wherever you wish.

Here is my effort….think it will get me some tickets??

what would you do for tickets?!

Just found this video via Twitter and wanted to share it with you.  It is not only exceptionally funny but shows how a sports brand has managed to tap into one of its athletes personality to bring about a really funny, well executed piece. 

We know all about Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) and his famous impersonations and exuberant personality.  What better way then to take this on board and create new material based around the player and his alter-ego’s?!

Anyway, watch this and enjoy.

Novak Djokovic on WhoSay

They are not the first brand to attempt this and wont be the last. But by producing a genuinely funny, sharable video and associating with it is a great way for a brand to use the digital space and change the way people (consumers) perceive it.

I was involved, indirectly, with this video that again delivered something unexpected that had nothing to do with product. It helped link the player and the brand whilst delivering something genuinely funny and interesting.

After my rather lengthy last post here is something a bit more bitesized and with plenty of pictures!  Everyone involved has been releasing their celebration activations around fact that we have only 1 year until the start of London 2012 Games.

Samsung have gone with a YouTube homepage takeover to promote their torch relay, whilst adidas went with a video showing Phillips Idowu, Snoop Dogg and Warren G taking on GB Basketball at 3×3 in London(!) and BA unveiled a ‘One Year To Go’ painted on the underside of one of their planes.

London 2012 itself has come up with a really nice digital creative that will extend past this one day of partying.  Here they have taken to the country v country competition side of sport and used tweets as a way of measuring who is the winner…pretty simple.

You select the country you want to support and tweet a message that then goes towards the grand total for your chosen nationality.  You can then see this as an image of the stadium with the % of each country being shown within it.

So far Brazil is in the lead with 23% of the tweets with the UK running them close in 2nd place with 20% (USA are way behind with only 11%).  It is a really nice way of generating awareness with the #1yeartogo hashtag on all these tweets and a fun engaging way of getting people involved.  With the counter showing 40,000 tweets so far it is proving to be a great success.

Not only is this an great activation..there is more.  If you go to the Global view then you can submit videos and/or images in support of your country.  Adding even more to the depth of the engagement the website is offering.  Its a really good and fun way of celebrating a big day for the UK sport and getting people around the world involved.

Now for the pictures….

and here’s one of Snoop Dogg and Phillips Idowu playing basketball, just because I can!….

footnote – just to disclaim that yes I do work with adidas and would like to add a note that the video is currently no.1 sports video and #3 most viewed on YouTube with 150k views!  just wanted to add that bit

Introducing a new author on the site; Sean Walsh is passionate about social media and football, works in digital marketing and runs his own blog looking into his favorite subject.  He’ll also be contributing to UKSN on a regular basis as we continue to look for new insights into Sport and Social Media.  here he looks beyond our shores to a great example of engaging with fans by Ligue 1 club Marseille…

The French Ligue 1 club promised their fans a special surprise if they could hit 1,000,000 Facebook likes on their official page. The Marseillais faithful did their job and as a reward for their loyalty the club revealed that they would let the fans pick the 2011-2012 kit.

For the past week, fans have been logging on to the adidas led - miteam.com website to fully customise their dream Marseille jerseys. Throughout, a select panel of Marseille and adidas officials have acted as a jury to select the best three designs of the day, and on the 21st March, fans will be able to vote on their favourite.

This is a brilliant example of not only motivating fans to follow official club channels, but a fantastic piece of engagement that lets fans get involved with the decision-making processes of the club. For the past number of years football clubs and manufacturers have seen their designs leaked online to websites like FootballShirtCulture.com, often sparking debate among fans. This is a step forward in how clubs should deal with prospective shirt designs and ensure that fan opinion is taken into account.

Although the miteam.com website doesn’t allow full customisation, it does allow fans to pick the colours and collar style (the results of which should be interesting since there has always been a bit of a stylistic divide between fans regarding having a collar or not). Whilst this is an excellent bit of social media, it is also a very shrewd piece of marketing. Fans can have their say and perhaps feel more empowered to go out and buy the shirt. It breaks down that stereotypical divide of the corporate fat-cat club and the hard-working loyal fan. Hopefully the UK takes note and we see a similar display of innovation.

PS. As the photo shows, I can see why the fans would want to design their own shirts!

The legend that is Barcelona and Argentina playmaker/goal machine Lionel Messi will be touching down by helicopter today in Central London.

If you have ever wanted to see the great man in action then you will have 3 opportunities this afternoon.  Adidas have launched the ‘catch him if you can’ event earlier this week which should be good fun to follow and be a part of.

So far the adidas football Facebook page has been giving clues out about the location and times that you can come along and find him.  In short he will be at 3 locations this afternoon, can you work them out from the clues?

1)  he will be coming onto a 11-a-side game as the ‘worlds fastest sub’.  As way of clue here is a picture of the location

2) if you want that new pair of the world’s lightest boot, the F50 adizero, this is the place you need to show up with your old boots for the trade-in. But get there quick… boots will run out!

3) this is the pitch where you could make yourself famous, and get to play alongside Lionel Messi in a one-off 5-a-side game! We’re looking for the fastest, most skilful kids in London to take him on, and only a few will be selected. So figure out where it is and get there fast!

you can keep up-to-date with the latest clues as they are given out at www.facebook.com/adidasfootball

See you there!

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?

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.