Tuesday, ( 1^st June), was a massive day for the England national team, and for us the fans, as this was the day England’s final 23 man squad for the upcoming World Cup was announced.

A day which started out with great promise for the FA ended up being a very mixed one, and one that they probably learnt a lot about the social media world from, so without further ado – The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.

The Good.

The day started very well for the FA, with the launch of their new “Believe in England” Facebook app which allows fans to get their very own England squad number and display it on their Facebook profile.

The app seems to have exploded onto the scene, I discovered the app early on in the day and got the squad number 323, and in just over a day there are now 29,214England fans (as of 10am Wednesday) who have claimed their squad number.

The numbers 1-23 are taken up by the England players, with a number of shirts also given away to famous England fans such as Tim Lovejoy and Ray Winstone. Other special numbers include 66 representing  the Bobby Moore foundation, 2012 representing The London Olympics and representing the England 2018 World Cup bid.

This app is a great way for the FA to spread their “Believe in England” message and also drive greater connection and engagement with fans.

The Bad.

There was mass speculation around who will be the unlucky 7 dropped from the squad since England’s game against Japan, and this speculation naturally came to a boiling point on Tuesday with thousands upon thousands of England fans predicting who would be dropped and who would make it.

The FA had said that the official squad will be announced on TheFA.com at some point Tuesday, and of course there was always going to be speculation amongst fans and I’m sure the FA expected this – it’s when this speculation started to come from various journalists and respected news sources that it all started to gain a head of steam.

From what I understand Fabio Cappello wanted to speak to the 7 dropped players personally and let them know about his decision, and I think that is the best way he could have handled the situation – if you’re dropped from a World Cup squad the least you deserve is a personal message, and I think Cappello was spot on with this approach.

Where this approach fell down however was via social media – had the FA underestimated the power of Twitter? And the speed at which news can travel nowadays?

With the 7 players seemingly being told that they’d been dropped at different times throughout the afternoon, it was always going to be difficult to keep it under wraps. News of Darren Bent’s exclusion was first to break and was confirmed on Twitter by one of his friends, and the biggest story of the day – Theo Walcott’s absence from the squad – broke soon after, and I believe one national paper had even run a story about this on their website well before the official squad announcement.

By the time The FA Tweeted this message “Plenty of speculation about #EnglandSquad, but rest assured this and TheFA.com will be the first place you hear confirmation of final 23” at around 2 O’clock most of the fans already knew the major stories and could name at least 5 of the dropped players.

As I said earlier maybe the FA had underestimated the power of social media and what started out as a big win for the FA with the launch of their “Believe in England” app, turned into a bit of a shambles with the squad announcement, and as Chris Hughes said in his recent article: Did they really expect the rejected players to keep quiet in the many hours between the dreaded phone call and the FA announcement?

The Ugly.

From early on Tuesday morning the FA said that the official squad announcement would be put up on TheFA.com, which initially I thought made sense as it would be easily accessible (I thought).

However, from around lunch time if you wanted to check the FA’s official website you were going to struggle, the site was taking an age to load – I’m guessing due to the high volume of traffic seeking out the final England 23 – and eventually I just gave up with checking the site and found all the information I needed via social media. I wasn’t alone in doing this either, I noticed many other Tweets from people complaining about troubles with TheFA.com.

In the end I didn’t look at the official site to see the final squad, I already knew most of it from Tweets and speculation flying around, once the squad was confirmed (and even before) the news was up on hundreds of other sources (which all loaded).

In hindsight, maybe TheFA.com wasn’t the best place to announce the final squad?

Conclusion.

I’ve not written this article to get on the back of The FA, and I hope it doesn’t come across this way. It’s great that they are getting involved in social media and as I stated at the top of this article their new Facebook page and App is brilliant and a great way to further engage fans prior to the World Cup, I just feel that their approach to social media with regards to the squad announcement and also their website could have done with a bit more planning.

How do you feel the FA could have handled this situation better?

Tuesday was judgement day for England Manager Fabio Capello as he named the 23 men who will board the jumbo to South Africa for this month’s World Cup.

A rather dismal 2-1 win over Japan on Sunday (with Japanese players scoring all three goals) was apparently enough for Capello to make up his mind, but he kept tight-lipped until yesterday’s much anticipated announcement. Ironic then that after all the secrecy England football fans found out from Twitter, albeit unofficially, which seven players would be dropped from Capello’s initial short list of 30.

The moment that Theo Walcott’s name was mentioned as one of the casualties, the Twittersphere erupted. The young teenage sensation who was unexpectedly called up to the 2006 squad having never kicked a ball in Premier league competition was now equally unexpectedly omitted from the 2010 line-up. 

But rather than nip the leak in the bud and bring forward the official announcement from its allotted 3pm time slot, the FA instead delayed it to the tune of one hour. Did the FA or Mr. Capello not expect names to leak, for speculation to be rife at what is the biggest single piece of news in English football this year? Were there not contingencies in place to counter Twitter rumour? Or for that matter did they really expect the rejected players to keep quiet in the many hours between the dreaded phone call and the FA announcement?

One person played a stroke of PR genius and that was Walcott himself who immediately issued a statement saying:  “I am very disappointed not to be included in the squad going out to South Africa, but completely respect Mr Capello’s decision. I would like to wish the team the best of luck and hope they have a really successful tournament.”

A brilliant move. Not only did he manage to steal a march on the FA and Fabio Capello but he showed grace and maturity in wishing the team well in South Africa. He might not have won a place in the final 23 but his PR tactics are world class.

The Daily Telegraph summed up the feelings succinctly when Claudine Beaumont signed off with: “Fingers crossed the England team has a better grasp of formations, tactics and training methods than it does social media…”

And there is the crux of the problem; there continues to be lack of appreciation for the impact that social media platforms are having in sport. Traditional press releases and web announcements still have their place but sometimes the weight of expectation requires more urgency and a better understanding of a fan’s resourcefulness.

Mr. Capello and the FA would be wise to learn from this experience because the path to World Cup glory is not paved with generous Japanese defenders…

Tomorrow’s Champions League Final between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich will see the Television debut of the Nike’s new epic football commercial.  Not only will TV viewers love it but it is set to become another viral phenomenon as it gets tweeted and imbedded in blogs like this around the world.

The ‘write the future’ ad shows how footballers such as Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba have the ability to change their destinies with one pass on the looming World Cup stage.

Directed by renowned Hollywood artisan Alejandro G. Iñarritu (21 Grams, Babel), the ad features guest appearances by Roger Federer, Kobe Bryant and, in a moment of sheer comic genius, Homer Simpson (is hillarious and worth waiting for).  Seeing a bearded Rooney living in a caravan is a great touch as well.  Hats off to Nike for this one.

I’m sure you will love it as well and is well worth a few minutes of your Friday afternoon…….. enjoy!

Write The Future from Nalden on Vimeo.

Danny Jordaan is the most important man in football at the moment. He fought to bring the World Cup to Africa and is now in charge of the success of the most important sporting event worldwide.

Jordaan 58 years old, is a former teacher and a member of  the Steve Biko’s anti-apartheid South African Students’ Organisation in the 60′s. In 1997 he became head of SAFA (South Africa Football Association) in order to be fully dedicated on the 2006 and 2010 World Cup bids.

The upcoming World Cup in South Africa is the result of  more than 13 years of hard work. Indeed, he fought to bring the World Cup to South Africa by bidding for the 2006 World Cup which was narrowly lost to Germany. Danny did not let go and kept on working to finally win the 2010 bid and host the World Cup in his homeland. With the World Cup 52 days away, Jordaan is now the most important man in the whole world of sports and he has to deliver an event some are keen on “bazooka-ing” for various reasons.

At the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, a fan asked Jordaan: “What will you give us in our hearts to show our children and grandchildren?” His reply: “We want to achieve something that has never happened in our country and continent for a hundred years. How will it touch your lives? Job creation and economic growth.” (source: The Guardian).

Jordaan is dealing with a great and powerfully important task. Deliver a successful World Cup on the African soil for the first time in its history but most importantly bring and sustainable economic growth to the country. Not an easy duty if you ask me. But Danny is showing in press conferences confidence in an upcoming successful World Cup. I read the other day that if he was given 1 pound every time he was asked about security in South Africa, he would be the richest man in the country. He gave the following answer to James Emmett (SportsProMedia.com): “The question of security is always important for any major event, not just because about crime but also whether there is any threat globally whether it is terrorism or any other threat; these matters must be considered carefully by any event organisers”.

Very good answer. Yes security is a concern, but must not be THE main issue. To my knowledge, South Africa already has an experience in organising sports events. In cricket for example, South Africa hosted The World Cup in 2003,  the Twenty20 World Championships in 2007. In addition, the Tri Nations rugby tournament took place in South Africa in 2009 and was a great success.

I am therefore surprised at the general scepticism at the capacity of South Africa to organise the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Yes much more football fans will come to the World Cup, but again the knowledge and knowhow is there. As a comparison, I was a volunteer during the 1998 World Cup in France, and 2 months before World Cup kicked off, Stade de France was not 100% completed, there were logistic issues, and strike threats (it can happen in France) and security was also a concern……..the medias were not raising the red flag as they do now for the World Cup in South Africa. I interviewed Gavin Cowley (adidas South Africa Marketing Director), and he is very confident and optimistic for a succesful football event: “I believe that we continue to surprise many of the doomsayers.  Our stadia are all completed; the cities are ready, revamped airports are world class.  There is no question that we will be ready to welcome the world!”

Danny Jordaan is handling a difficult task and he is doing a great job, not only at working on delivering a top class football event, but also at convincing the world that South Africa is ready to welcome local and foreign fans. With the strong involvement of FIFA, sponsors and football partners, the organising committee is set for success.

Finally, I had the pleasure to meet Danny Jordaan in 2003 in Johannesburg. He is a charismatic individual with a powerful intelligence. His humility and vision make him a unique and likeable character. He is very much aware of the heavy responsibilities he is carrying on his shoulders but  the organising committee and himself have  the strong willingness to show the world that a FIFA World Cup can be a frank success on the African Continent.

According to a Sport+Markt survey, Sportswear brands adidas, Nike and Puma are the most recognisable football sponsors in the top five European markets.[1]

Nike, adidas and Puma will all play a key marketing role on the pitch during the FIFA World Cup 2010.  Indeed, with 12 teams qualified for the event, adidas is leading the way, followed by Nike with 9 teams and Puma with 7 Federations attending.

Since the World Cup 1998 in France, a strong business marketing model has been in place.  Enjoying the exclusive rights of the usage of the FIFA World Cup marks, FIFA partners enjoy significant exposure of the World’s biggest event.  This business model strengthened during the World Cup in Korea & Japan and became a benchmark in 2006 during the fantastic German World Cup.  But if we take a closer look at what is happening on the field of play, the 3 leading football brands will enjoy unprecedented exposure this year.

Let’s start with the 3-stripes.  Indeed, adidas has already secured its ticket for the World Cup final. How?  By having the official match ball for each World Cup game (ongoing since 1970).  Indeed, the Jabulani will be present throughout the whole competition.  Next, with 12 teams participating and key players performing, adidas will send a strong football message…..as usual.  In addition to that, we football marketers will expect a powerful “Impossible is Nothing” campaign with some inspirational onsite marketing activities. I am sure there will be more, much more, but I am writing an article, not a novel.

The answer from Nike will for sure be there but is it going to be an answer?  Who knows, may be Nike will shoot first?  Anyway, the message will be big, powerful, inspirational and we can expect a kick ass marketing campaign from the Swoosh. Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney, Fabregas and Pato will be screened and will wear the latest Mercurial or T90 boots. With 9 teams qualified, Nike will also benefit from a strong on pitch exposure. We can expect Nike to send (another) bold football marketing message to the football world. Again here, there will be more from the American brand, but the way the message will be delivered will be worth watching.

Puma have played it differently. At the African Cup of Nations, Puma was everywhere.  On the field of play, Jochen Zeitz’s brand had two teams in the final, launched an inspirational marketing campaign (Love=football), established a solid partnership with Kehinde Wiley[2] and created a bridge between the African Cup of Nations and the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  This was smart wasn’t it?  With 7 teams in South Africa, Puma does not want to be left behind, and make its football presence felt.  Puma will count on its African icon Samuel Eto’o to communicate to a broader African and Global audience.

With the increase of social media in football it will be interesting to pay attention to this strong new marketing medium.  Puma, adidas and Nike are all using social media but HOW will they use this platform to interact with fans during the World Cup? How will they engage with the fans and be as close to them as possible? We can expect to see massive activity on Facebook, MySpace etc during the World Cup.

Also the first ever World Cup in Africa triggers a heavy social responsibility outreach, not only from the “Big 3” but from all sponsors and partners involved in the event. I bet there will be an close scrutiny on this point.

Gavin Cowley, Marketing Director of adidas South Africa said[3]:

” adidas has a strong social responsibility programme.  Often major events are geared to the big cities.  However the adidas UMU programme visits townships throughout the country, adidas supports the FIFA Football for Hope movement in the townships, a partnership with SCORE (Sports Coaches Outreach) ensures that football is used as a tool to send out strong social messages to young people and there are many other initiatives that contribute to assisting those underprivileged people.”

I would like to think that all other partners or sponsors will have a similar approach. Show the world that CSR is a long term commitment, not a “thrown in” concept with no true involvement.  In a nutshell, I am looking forward to seeing the inspiration and generosity of the marketing giants during the World Cup.  Traditional marketing will happen, but what of new marketing techniques such as social media?

Thinking out of the box, being smart, flexible, bold and true are often the values football brands claim. In South Africa, they will have the pressure to put them all to use more than ever….

adidas: 12 teams

(South Africa, Mexico, France, Denmark, Japan, Argentina, Nigeria, Greece, Paraguay, Slovakia, Germany, Spain)

Nike: 9 teams

(Netherlands, Korea Republic, New Zealand, USA, Slovenia, Brazil, Portugal, Australia, Serbia)

Puma: 7 teams

(Uruguay, Cameroon, Italy, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Switerland)

Umbro: 1 team

(England)

Joma: 1 team

(Honduras)

Erke[4]: 1 team

(Korea DPR)

[2] http://africa.puma.com/#/artist/

[3] http://www.theuksportsnetwork.com/?p=200

[4] North Korea football shirts made by China, Hongxing Erke Group was founded in June 2000, manufacture and marketing of sports goods under its “ERKE” brands.