Vauxhall and the Football Association of Wales will score a social networking first with a live Twitter takeover event next week with Head Coach Chris Coleman.

The newly appointed Wales Head Coach has agreed to become the first Home Nations Manager to answer questions from fans live via Vauxhall’s dedicated Wales football Twitter page.

This live Twitter takeover forms part of a series of player and coach live feeds over recent and coming months.

Simon Culley, Vauxhall’s Football Sponsorship Marketing Manager said; “We’re very grateful to Chris and the FAW for facilitating this activation. It is a ground breaking opportunity for us to host a live interaction between Welsh football fans and their head coach.

“We have made a significant investment in our digital football platforms and the response to our activity has been very positive from the fans.

“As sponsor of all four Home Nations we are in a very unique position and throughout the campaign we have worked hard to give fans a behind the scenes view of International football.”

Ian Davis, FAW Commercial Manager, commented; “This is a major coup for the FAW and Vauxhall and we are delighted to be able to make it happen.

“As an association we are always looking to innovate and offering the fans a chance to interact with the Head Coach via Social Media is an exciting opportunity for everyone involved.”

The Twitter takeover will take place at the FAW Headquarters at 11am on Thursday 19^th of April, the same day that a group of Welsh football fans get the chance to play in Vauxhall’s Big Pitch game at the Millennium Stadium.

Vauxhall launched their football social media platforms in October 2011 and currently have close to forty thousand followers across all four Home Nations.

Follow @Vauxhall_Wales on twitter at https://twitter.com/vauxhall_wales

Become a fan of Vauxhall Wales on Facebook at www.facebook.com/vauxhallwales

For more information on Vauxhall Football go to www.vauxhallfootball.co.uk

Part 4 of a 4 part series

The England bid

After focusing on the Iberian, Holland Belgium and Russian bids we now complete the series by looking at the England bid and what it does digitally.

England, which last hosted a major football tournament in 1996 (and previously hosted the World Cup in 1966),  has a highly interactive bid site and has a large volume of supporters and followers. For these reasons we would argue that it is the best bid site we have looked at.

The official site has much of what we have seen elsewhere. It has comprehensive content, latest news and videos and again the countdown clock. The top banner also rotates in colour.

However, the England bid site differentiates itself from the others we have seen by the way it knows its audience (the global football fan) and allows the reader to get involved – and in so many ways.  Much of the interactivity is also featured on the home page so no need to click elsewhere. The site can be translated into 12 languages which is a good touch given that the World Cup is a massive global tournament. One of the slogans of the bid is ‘England United The World Invited’.

The reader is encouraged to back the bid by clicking in the top left part of the home page. So far a staggering 2.2 million people have done this (even some Scottish fans!). On clicking you are directed to another screen where you can register your details and leave a message of support. Such messages are constantly streamed onto the home page.

England United The World Invited

The site also points you to an interactive section which details English Football’s Global Impact. This section plays a video and features an interactive map which ‘highlights some of the work undertaken by the English FA, Premier League, clubs, government agencies and other partners over the last decade’.

The site also has a photo album of many supporters and ambassadors of the bid (in the Our Supporters section), including Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, and Simon Cowell of X Factor fame.

This site, like the others, also has a downloads section. The array of downloads offered to the reader is impressive. The site states that it has ‘created a whole host of ways for you to ‘Back the Bid’, show your support and interact ’. By offering everything from iphone applications to twitter backgrounds and screensavers the bid site has probably achieved that aim.

The site also makes good use of social media and earlier this week England 2018 launched the second phase of its digital campaign, created by Engine’s Jam. Football fans on Facebook are being targeting through a peer-to-peer recruitment drive. This facebook campaign has attracted over 300,000 from 170 countries (the largest number we have seen by any European bid. The facebook page is consistent with the website by offering photos, videos, supporter apps and further ways to follow the bid.

The England bid, like the others, can also be followed on YouTube (where there are 300+ subscribers), flickr and twitter. The homepage also has a News RSS feed and there is also a button to grab an app for your browser. The official twitter page provides regular updates - official and otherwise - and there appears to be a lot of interaction with twitter users. There have been over 600 tweets so far and there are presently 6,401 followers. In a great touch, the homepage has a live stream of the latest tweet.

This concludes our series. We would love to hear your thoughts and comments on the 4 bids. In the days leading up to the announcement of the successful bid next Thursday, December 2nd, we shall invite you to take part in a poll to vote for the best 2018 bid in digital terms.

Part 3 of a 4 part series

The Russian bid

We’ve previously focused on the Iberian and the Holland Belgium bids. For the 3^rd part of this series we now look at the Russian bid and what it is focusing on digitally.

The theme of the bid is ‘Ready to Inspire’. The official website features this slogan big and bold using Arsenal star Arshavin as the backdrop. Given the low numbers of followers in social media (only 50 on facebook) it would appear that the website has failed to inspire fans. The lack of interactivity with the reader may be a cause of this. The only way I found to interact with the site was to download 3 bid wallpapers.

The site  is, however, comprehensive in terms of content . The reader is greeted with a side panel which provides plenty of information on the bid, its vision, news and events, a photo gallery and a downloads section. While the website of the Iberian bid features an array of official and illustrious ambassadors, such as 2010 World Cup winners, the Russian bid calls on important supporters such as the Mayor of Moscow. President Putin has also backed the bid. The site disappointingly does not have an innovative campaign encouraging participation and engagement such as the Join The Wave idea which we saw last week with the Holland Belgium bid.

The website allows the reader to watch a video on the proposed stadiums for the tournament and read both a bid highlights brochure and a stadium overview brochure. Like the Iberian bid, the website also has a countdown clock to FIFA decision day on December 2^nd.

In terms of social media the site encourages you to spread the word through email, facebook, twitter and MySpace. This is the first time that we’ve seen MySpace in use in this series and it may prove to be a clever tactic by the Russian bid given that over 125 million people use this large social network. On twitter the reader is only allowed to tweet a message which spreads the message ‘Ready to Inspire! – Bidding Nation Russia’ driving traffic back to the official website. Twitter is not used as a communication tool like the other two bids we have seen so far.

The Russian bid can be followed on facebook, flickr and YouTube. On facebook as mentioned previously the bid has a mere 50 followers. The photo collections on flickr mainly focus on official presentations, media meetings and officials in suits. For my money the photos are lacking in the fun and enjoyment that we’ve seen in the previous two bids but you do get to see Chelsea FC owner Roman Ambramovich lending his support. The official YouTube Bidding Nation Russia channel features 9 videos and has just 21 subscribers. The latest video on the bid stadiums has had 10,524 views, which is only a third of the number watching the Holland Belgium bid channel.

Later this week on Thursday we wrap up this 4 part series on ‘The digital battle behind the bidding for the 2018 Football World Cup’ by focusing on a bid far closer to home – the England bid.

Part 2 of a 4 part series

The Holland / Belgium bid

For part 2 of our 4 part series we turn our attention to the digital efforts behind the Holland / Belgium bid. Our Northern European neighbours have the legendary Ruud Gullit, European Championship winner in 1988, as President of their bid. The former Chelsea and AC Milan star has been highly active in supporting the bid and earlier this week he even took to cycling the streets of Paris to do so.

The Holland Belgium bid utilises more social media than the Iberian bid we examined last week and has more followers. The official website is full of informative content and, with features on great goals, a fanzone, a bidbook and a bid monthly magazine, there is more than enough to keep the casual reader or avid fan interested.

The site encourages participation. One unique and interesting way it does this is through the ‘Join the Wave’ campaign. Fans of the two national teams are encouraged to ‘create a virtual wave with the most colourful supporters in international football by uploading their videos to the site.’ At the time of writing, there are 41,776 ‘hands in the air’. This idea is particularly attractive to fans as it focuses on fun and sharing and enables them to share their own personal wave across multiple social media platforms – facebook, Hyves, twitter, Netlog and email.

Put your hands in the air for the Holland Belgium bid

The website also explains how this bid is aiming to be environmentally friendly with its goals of sustainable stadiums and a green World Cup.

Like the Iberian bid website, there is also a comprehensive multimedia zone where photographs are shared on flickr and bid on tour videos can be uploaded onto an official Holland Belgium bid YouTube channel (with over 30,000 upload views) .

As you would expect there is an official facebook page and the bid has its own twitter page, which posts regular news updates on press conferences and presentations (with 635 followers).

The website has links to both Hyves, which is the most popular social network in the Netherlands, and Netlog, which is a Belgian social network site. This is definitely a case of the bid knowing its audience and going where its fans and eyeballs are. This is consistent with some of the ideas we have been advocating here the theuksportsnetwork for some time. On Hyves there are over 1,000 members sharing photos, videos and generating general buzz behind the bid. Netlog is somewhat smaller but still plays an important role with over 100 members again sharing content such as blogs, videos and photos.Neither nation has lifted the FIFA World Cup, but both have had their moments. Holland has reached the final three times – mostrecently earlier this year in South Africa. We will have to wait until December 2^nd to know whether the bid will be successful.

For the next post in the series out next Monday we head East to take a look at the Russian bid’s use of digital media.

Week 1 of a 4 part series

The Spain/Portugal bid for the 2018 Football World Cup

FIFA will officially appoint the host nations for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups on December 2^nd, in Zurich. Over the past few months, many column inches in the British press – both front and back pages –  have been dedicated to  the bidding process, the voting system and even allegations of bribery. Initially many countries were bidding for both tournaments but, after some withdrawals, the final outcome is now more certain. The 2018 World Cup will definitely be heading to Europe. There are 4 bids in total coming from Portugal and Spain (together), Belgium and Netherlands (together), Russia and finally, closer to home, England. The 2022 tournament will be played outside of Europe – and in the mix for that World Cup there are bids from Qatar, Australia, South Korea, Japan and the United States.

The FIFA executive committee will look at various criteria when selecting the host nation such as the suitability of stadia, supporting infrastructure (transport, hotel accommodation etc) and much more. Given our love of all things digital here at the uksportsnetwork, we thought it would be an interesting exercise to look at what each European nation is doing in the digital space. Focusing on digital content and social media each week for the next 4 weeks, we will appraise and compare each of the 4 European bids for the 2018 World Cup.

Will the World Champions co-host the event with Portugal in 2018?

We start the series by looking at the various digital platforms used by the Iberian bid from Portugal and Spain. The official website has a welcoming look to it, is highly informative and also holds a multi-media zone which stores logos, videos and corporate images. On the right hand side of the homepage there is a panel which really engages with the reader and football fan and gives you the opportunity to share content and interact with others. Firstly, there is a countdown clock (in seconds) to  decision day on December 2^nd. There is also a rotating gallery of famous backers of the tournament (Ronaldo and the FIFA World Cup trophy obviously make appearances here),  a video section where you can see an official presentation from the organizing committee, an opportunity to view each of the stadiums slated for the tournament, a results library for the two countries and further files relating to the Iberian bid.

For users of social media the panel guides to the YouTube Iberian bid channel where you can see a video of an official presentation (can England seriously compete with spectacular beaches like that?). You can also click to the official Facebook and twitter pages, which are supporting the bid.

The Facebook page has 2,800 likes at this stage and the typical array of photos, videos and posts on the wall and separate tabs that you would find elsewhere. The page does seem to lack a degree of interaction and participation with only 2 photos provided by others. We can also only see 7 likes for the last comment posted on November 2^nd. You could also argue that the posts are not regular enough.

As for twitter, the numbers are similar and, at the time of writing, the page has 2,935 followers and is following 579. The tweets are fairly regular, provide content (videos typically) and interact with others. However, given the combined population of Portugal and Spain is just over 56 million, the bid’s committee would probably expect a few more followers in twitter for two football obsessed nations.

La Candidatura Ibérica has 2,935 followers on twitter

Spain is presently the European and World football champions. Over the next few weeks we will determine whether, in digital terms, we think the Iberian bid is the best in Europe. Next week we head north to Belgium and the Netherlands.

The World Cup in South Africa has dominated the airwaves (social and traditional) for the past month and much of the recent conversation has been around the ‘ambush marketing’ tactics we have seen from non official sponsors like Nike and Pepsi and how they stole a march on their official sponsor competitors, Adidas and Coca-Cola. While the balance seems to have now been addressed it was interesting to see how the media landscape has shifted in the last four years (since the last tournament) to such an extent that sponsorship of a major event is no longer enough, on its own, to command the lions’ share of audience attention and WOM.

This is the first World Cup that we have had established, organized social media channels  and they have moved the goalposts in terms of what is needed to be covered in corporate marketing mixes to own the airwaves and conversations between fans. Sponsorship used to be all you needed to do to ‘own’ the conversation and dominate WOM. You now need a fully integrated program that covers all the channels and that includes social media along with TV, offline and exposure in the stadiums.

Nike showed, with their ‘write the future’ video, that you don’t need to be a sponsor to create viral content around a context and get the same or increased return…plus they bought well placed 30 sec ad slots in the key games encouraging viewers to head online to see the full version. In contrast, Adidas focused far more on social media at the expense of heavy TV ads…and this may be why Nike were able to steal the jump on them so early in the tournament.

Commercial partners of sporting events, or any other event for that matter need to cover all the bases. Use the exclusive relationship they have with the event to generate exclusive content that they can give to their online audience as well as realizing the traditional channels should not be ignored but rather weaved into the overall communication strategy. Being a major sponsor for an event is a huge advantage and one that can provide significant value over the competition…but it isn’t enough on its own anymore.

For those who are familiar with my posts, I have pointed out the major football brands, and the key players in football marketing. Most of them are either FIFA sponsors or FIFA partners. The FIFA World Cup sponsors benefit from a tremendous marketing platform to showcase their producs, link their brand image to the biggest football event in the world, promote  online and offline activities, engage with consumers,  and ultimately have an exclusive component as an official sponsor.

The strategy to heavily invest in being a FIFA sponsor could be justified based on the above mentioned advantages. However, a recent survey by The Nielsen Company* showed that Nike was more frequently linked to the World Cup than any of the tournament’s official partners and sponsors. The survey analyzed online blogs, social networking platforms and came to the conclusion that the Swoosh was fully part of the FIFA World Cup landscape, and engraved in consumer’s minds.

With no doubt, the huge online buzz made by the “write the future” campaign strongly contributed to put Nike under the football spotlights. The viral was launched mid-may and had more than 3 million viewers the first week. So far, 14 million viewers enjoyed the video online.  Nike’s biggest stars were featured in the video:  Drogba, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney and even Kobe Bryant, Roger Federer and Homer Simpson. Not sure the latter is a Nike athlete though.

HIGHEST SHARE OF ONLINE WORLD CUP BUZZ (Sponsors vs. Competitors)

Source: The Nielsen Company
**Share of online buzz across the 10 sponsors/partners with a global footprint and two of their major competitors in English language messages related to the World Cup from May 7 to June 6.

I pointed out in a previous article, that Nike, adidas, Puma are widely acknowledged as football brands. It seems that not being a FIFA (nor UEFA) sponsor does not stop Nike from succesfully link its brand to the biggest football competition. The “Write the Future” campaign only did not contribute to those facts. It must be added that Nike sponsors 9 teams at World Cup, provides outfit to several players including superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and many others. On top of that, on February 25, the Swoosh launched a powerful campaign “taking ownership” of the sustainable component in football.

This strategy seem to pay off as Nike has managed to leverage its brands, products, activities in football around the World Cup without being a sponsor i.e without paying any sponsorship fees to FIFA.

Let me add one thing. I do remember back in 1994 after the World Cup in the US, a statement from Phil Knight (Co-Founder and CEO of Nike) about football. His goal was to make Nike THE global football brand.  I was a student at that time and was quite doubtful about this objective. To me, Nike was a Basketball brand with Michael Jordan as an icon, period.  I bet I was not the only one. However, one year later, Nike partnered with CBF (The Brazil National Team) then with, players, european clubs etc.

The results and facts speak for themselves, but what is interesting to point out is that this achievement has been done without being a FIFA sponsor or partner. Other brands such as Carlsberg and Pepsi are adopting a similar strategy although the results are not yet to be compared with Nike’s.

Don’t get me wrong, by no means do I say that it is not worth it to be a FIFA sponsor. I think  the contrary. It is key for a brand to associate with FIFA hence World Cup and benefit from all sponsorship components. Nevertheless, I must be pointed out that some brands, and in the present case, Nike managed to create a strong link between their brand and an event they do not sponsor. I would echo Pete Blackshaw (Executive vice president of digital strategy at The Nielsen Company) “If you’re a company with a large global footprint, it’s natural to want to associate yourself with a major worldwide event like the World Cup”

I am a big believer in strong competition. It makes other brands work harder, be more creative, think out of the box, and keep the stimulation flow on. For sure, the other football brands will strike back, and it’s….”for the good of the game” right?

I would be delighted to hear your thoughts.

Karl

*Nielsen’s study, conducted between May 7^th to June 6^th 2010, looked at English language World Cup-related messages on blogs, message boards, groups, video and image sites – including Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter – that mentioned at least one of the 10 official FIFA partners and sponsors with a global footprint or two of their top competitors (30 brands in all).

There were fears before the World Cup and now it is becoming a reality.  Attendances at some of the games have been lower than expected and the blame is being firmly laid at the doorsteps of corporate, foreign and government ticket holders.

FIFA is said to be pleased with the overall attendances, which are slightly higher than at the same stage in Germany in 2006.  But some of the figures are being disputed as games that have been declared sell outs, just 4 of the 11 so far, despite empty seats and boxes clearly visible to those attending. 

“We have made some group sales to large organisations and companies, but some ticket holders have not come. We are not talking about unsold tickets, we are talking about sold tickets which have not been occupied,” said a FIFA spokesman.

“What we have realised in our investigations is that some ticket holders, including international ticket holders, have not turned up. We clearly recognise this [the empty seats] but you have to recognise the bigger picture. It’s not nice to see empty seats in a stadium but the attendances are good.”

Sales of general tickets have been hampered by a lack of internet access amongst locals and a lack of football culture amongst the more affluent white population but the global recession has also had an impact on the sale of corporate hospitality packages, which have been a great source of income for host countries in the past.

Leading international corporate hospitality provider PROSKE group’s head of sports, Andreja Wieser, says: “Without doubt the economic down-turn has had an impact on the sale of hospitality seats reserved for corporations and sponsors at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The result of this will be that more unsold tickets will go back onto the open market. In such cases, the demand for lower end hospitality will be higher.

“The economic downturn has affected people´s perception of hospitality. Corporations and sponsors have become more cautious about buying hospitality packages, programmes or tickets. At the same time, people´s perceptions on whether to accept hospitality invitations or not has changed, too. The last thing that people want to see in times of downturns is spending unnecessary money. Corporate decision makers look harder to see whether the use of hospitality is justifiable and ensure that there is no over-indulgence. In times of recession, companies want to ensure that high costs for large events are a secure investment.”

But Wieser believes that corporate hospitality still has a value at international sports competitions.

She added: “Hospitality at major sporting events is still used as a popular marketing tool for global corporations. Major sports events such as the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, may continue counting on their unbowed popularity and remain an attractive platform for sponsors due to its high popularity. Sporting events have always been popular choices for corporate hospitality and can bring long term benefits. Face to face corporate hospitality is vital in developing and sustaining business relations. It is the sustainability that matters and makes the difference.”

We shall see if the situation improves as we move into the knock-out stages later in the month but for now the site of empty boxes and seats is going to be here to stay. 

 Would love to hear from you in you are one of the ‘stay away’ fans who have bought tickets but not made the journey or if you have a view on the situation….

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?

I have to put my hands up right from the outset and admit that I only have a casual interest in football. A quick scan of the results and league tables on a Saturday afternoon and the all too occasional trip to the Madejski Stadium to watch The Royals play but that’s about it.

My career has been entirely consumed by fast cars whizzing around race tracks, but thankfully I do realise that there is more than one Alonso in the sporting world. But whenever the World Cup comes around, an unexplainable sense of national pride takes over and I find myself wanting to fill the vacuum in my head where the previous four years of football knowledge would otherwise have been stored.

Recently, I have persuaded my 5-year-old son to start collecting Panini stickers for this year’s 2010 South Africa World Cup. Again, I have to be honest, this was initially more an excuse for me to recreate a childhood hobby than providing my son with a new pastime, but thankfully for both of us, he has more than come around to the idea.

With Nigeria and Ivory Coast fast filling up, it dawned on me that the classic Panini sticker album is a classic social media tool. It is about a company using an international sporting event to tap into the wider public conscience and attract a long-lasting brand association.

My first Panini album was Mexico ’86, a contest best remembered by English fans for Diego Maradona’s Hand of God and Gary Lineker’s Golden Boot. Four year later, Italia ’90, think Schillaci, Gascoigne, Roger Milla. All of these things stick firmly in my mind and for someone with a self-admitted passing interest in football that’s quite something. It proves the power of football extends far beyond the loyal fans who frequent the terraces and embrace the sport as if it were their own creation.  

Panini’s sticker albums allow kids (and us big kids) to get passionate about a sport that might otherwise have been just on the periphery of interest. Just last week, Joshua (that’s my son) and I had a Charlie Bucket moment, when the silvery foil of one of the album’s team emblems glistened out of the packet. That is a moment of triumph, a feeling of obtaining one of the book’s more elusive stickers. I recalled with clarity that same feeling all those years ago and the feeling of triumph when we completed a team’s double page (the first one I finished for Italia 90 was Sweden and I chose them as my adopted team after England).

The social aspect of sticker collecting, of course, comes with the frustrating concept of swaps. There is nothing more frustrating than finding stickers in your pack that you have already got, especially if you’ve been waiting all week for a new pack.  But then comes the opportunity to exchange with your mates… Just like Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, any of today’s social media platforms, it is the ultimate sharing experience, learning from each other, drawing upon each other’s involvement. Who doesn’t remember the playground monotony of ‘Got…got…got…need…got…got…need’.

In a world where iPads, 3D HD Plasma screens and endless websites are offering fully interactive media options, it is refreshing that Panini sticker albums still exist. It may be my advancing years, my thirty-something tendency for nostalgia, but I hope Panini sticker albums continue to find their rightful place in households the world over and continue to unite sports fans around the world. As FIFA’s portfolio of partners and World Cup sponsors explore new ways to tap into this stream of public interest in the World Cup, to find new ways to activate their already costly sponsorship deals and to experiment with this still unexplained ‘social media’ concept, just look at Panini, a fifty year old Italian company who have been tapping into a much more traditional form of social and personal activity for decades and with such global success.

Now does anybody need Lukas Podsolski?