Getting in on the game
Awarning: this is a soccer World Cupthemed column, so if soccer isn’t your thing, then look away quickly. The logos of big-name corporate sponsors such as Mcdonald’s, Visa, Coca-cola and Budweiser are easily identified in the tournament, but one can’t help but notice the unprecedented presence of Chinese companies affiliated with the event this year. There’s yoghurt drinks maker Mengniu (um, who?), consumer electronics group Hisense, mobile phone group Vivo, and Wanda, the world’s biggest private property developer.
Remember, the event is expected to draw 3.5bn TV viewers in more than 200 countries. So these companies are basically seizing the opportunity to push their products in front of billions of global eyeballs because Western firms such as Johnson & Johnson, Castrol and Continental have been put off by Fifa’s bribery scandal.
There’s something else: brands are worried about being too closely associated with host country Russia. It has been accused of meddling in US elections and is still under sanctions for invading and annexing Crimea in 2014.
The 2015-2018 sponsorship cycle has been a “tougher sell” than it was for the previous two World Cups, according to global market research firm Nielsen.
Fifa sponsorship revenue has fallen from Us$1.63bn for the 2014 Brazil event to an expected $1.45bn for this Of course, the opportunity to grow brand awareness in global markets doesn’t come cheaply. Vivo is said to have paid €400m for a six-year deal that includes Russia 2018, Qatar 2022 and the Confederations Cup.
An increasing number of Chinese investments in, and sponsorship of, European soccer shows that the country’s businesses are acutely aware of the powerful potential of professional sport, and football in particular, says Alan Rownan, sports industry manager at Euromonitor International.
Rownan adds that while investing in football, especially the World Cup, may not offer immediate returns, it gives Chinese businesses access to foreign markets and can create business opportunities that extend well beyond the confines of sports-related products and events.
Who knows, perhaps we’ll see the 2030 World Cup in China? The country has already said it plans to have 70,000 football fields in place by 2020.
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Battle of the brands
When it comes to sportswear brands at the World Cup, it’s really down to adidas and Nike. The German group, which has supplied the World Cup match ball since 1970, sponsors more teams than any other brand at the World Cup. But Nike dominates when it comes to the boots the players wear.
Except in Iran’s case. Last Friday, when Iran kicked off its World Cup campaign with a Group B clash against Morocco, players who usually wear the US brand’s cleats were forced to buy their own once they arrived in Russia or borrow from noniranian players on their club teams.
The US sportswear giant made a call, just days before the tournament began, that it would not provide Iranian players with any equipment due to sanctions. Remember that President Donald Trump in May announced that the US would be pulling out of the nuclear deal and reinstating sanctions against Iran.