Kulula is outwitting FIFA at every turn

The second Kulula ad. Pic via Marklives.com.click to enlarge

The original Kulula ad that was withdrawn after FIFA complained. Pic via Marklives.com.click to enlarge

The right side and the wrong side in which FIFA is taking no sides, no prisoners and no notice of what is really happening.

Hey, look at that!

But, that's not all. There's something else, too. For the first time in years, the South African public is seeing what happens when the law is actually enforced.

Let's face it, we have lived so long with the law not really being applied in this country and then when it is, the wealthier and more influential you are, the greater the chance you have of getting away Scot-free.

FIFA is giving Mr Zuma and his cabinet an object lesson in how to apply the law.

Having said that, however, there are two sides to the ambush marketing issue. The first is the right side in which big sponsors of the 2010 FIFA World Cup such as Sony, Visa and the like are being protected from competitors trying to climb on their bandwagon free of charge. I don't think anyone with any sort of functional brain has any problem with that. After all, why should Sony cough up a billion rand or more in sponsorship if someone such as Panasonic can just waltz in and fill the stadium with their banners and clutter broadcasts of the game with their ads?

In your face innuendo

But, the other side of ambush marketing is what Kulula and its ad agency King James are doing. In my opinion, FIFA was crazy to have come down so harshly on Kulula's first ad which, admittedly, was filled with soccer innuendo, and would be even crazier to have a go at the second Kulula ad that appeared this weekend because the innuendo was very much in the eye of the beholder.

Whether or not Kulula is breaking the law depends entirely on what magistrates, judges and lawyers think, not mere mortals like you and me.

What General Blatter and his Swiss Guards just don't seem to get is that the more they huff and puff and blow the Kulula ads out of the sky, the more Kulula will like every minute of it.

Right now, Kulula has won the first prize of advertising. It has gotten everyone's attention. It is also, I'm told, selling airline seats as a result.

And, I would guess that every time Herr General Blatter wields his big stick, Kulula will, as it did in the first place, utter innocent astonishment that their ads should be perceived to have something to do with the Wo*ld C*p or 20*0 or foo*ba*l or even Sou*h Af*i*a and very graciously agree to withdraw it.

And a few days later come up with another and maybe even one more.

But as it is, Kulula advertising has done its job, gotten the results, achieved the return on investment.

More to come

I am pretty sure that Kulula is not going to be the only thorn in FIFA's side. We can expect more. Just as what happened in Korea, during the world cup there, where a cellphone company - that had been sidelined because it didn't happen to be the cellphone company that was an official sponsor - launched a "fan club" that had millions joining in and wearing perfectly legal T-shirts that didn't carry any logos but everyone knew exactly which company they were promoting.

FIFA really needs to sit down and determine what ambush marketing should be taken seriously and what shouldn't.

The Kulula campaign shouldn't have been taken seriously at all. All FIFA did was make the Kulula campaign even more of a success. So much so that if the campaign won an award based on results, it would only be fair that both client and agency stand back at the awards ceremony and let the Herr General go up on stage to pick up the trophy.

Actually, on second thoughts, I hope FIFA continues to apply the law to the letter because it is generating a tremendous amount of fun and games. What with electricity price increases, food price increases, Malema trying to turn us into a vrot banana republic and the president's family using up more taxpayers money than a flotilla of frigates, we are pretty darn short of something to laugh about.

For more:

• Facebook: Kulula fan page
  
• Facebook: Kulula photo album: Ads past
  
• Hayibo.com: FIFA gags Kulula, sends copywriters to Eastern Siberia camps
  
• World Cup Blog: Kulula vs FIFA, Round Two: “Not Next Year, Not Last Year, But Somewhere In Between”
  
• Marklives: Kulula answers FIFA with new ad
  
• +one blog: Fear ad loathing in Cape Town (from a tweet to the Beeb)
  
• Twitter Search: Kulula
  
• Bing Twitter Search: Kulula
  
• Google News Search: Kulula FIFA