South Africa needs to focus on building its brand as a nation, incorporating the continent of Africa, in a brand campaign that will outlast the 2010 Soccer World Cup and have a positive spin-off for the entire continent. This was the message from Mike de Vries, MD FC Deutschland GmbH, who spoke about Germany's lessons in positioning itself as a brand prior to the FIFA World Cup 2006, at a 2010 marketing seminar in Johannesburg on Tuesday, 15 August 2006.
De Vries, who was MD of Germany's branding campaign, said although Germany only started with its country brand positioning globally about 18 months before the Soccer World Cup this year, the message of 'Germany - Land of Ideas' unified the country as never before, turning the stoic nation into flag-waving patriots and generating unprecedented positive coverage for Germany across the globe.
"It was difficult at the start... there was a bad mood in Germany. People were depressed, the economy was poor. So we created this message of Germany as the land of ideas and we tried to communicate our message as effectively as possible."
De Vries admitted that no one involved in the country brand campaign could have anticipated the success that followed.
What was key, he said, was that the brand message had longevity past the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and was not really about soccer, but about the nation and what it represented on the global stage. It got people thinking about Germany in a different way.
Authentic
To give South Africans some idea of what we can expect to descend on us come 2010, he started with the stats:
- Germany hosted 1.5 million international visitors for the 2006 FIFA World Cup of Soccer.
- It has a population of 82 million German residents.
- It hosted 15 000 international media over the World Cup period.
- It had 50 000 media requests for information.
- All this translated into 50 BILLION media contacts.
The 'Germany - Land of Ideas' brand message worked, De Vries believes, because:
- It is authentic.
- It showed the image of a cosmopolitan, attractive and future-oriented Germany.
- It got across the message of Germany's competitiveness.
There wasn't a big budget to communicate this message across the globe, De Vries explained, so a global ad campaign was not realistic. What they did was to create messages that could be picked up on by the international media, relying on the multiplication of those messages to create a groundswell of requests for more information and a slew of stories on Germany that had nothing at all to do with soccer - and as a result, built a brand that has longevity past the actual 2006 Soccer World Cup.
Aligning stakeholders
'The PPP Concept' was how Germany brought all stakeholders together to organise the actual soccer tournament. It involved transparent and professional organisation which brought together the government through the interior ministry, the federation of German business and 23 companies, civil society and the media.
"There were many stakeholders whose interests had to be aligned towards an overall strategy line. We integrated a lot of different partners and kept FIFA informed all the time of our activities - it is possible to run other activities outside of FIFA's own branding, marketing and sponsorship activities."
What Germany did was simple: it built the country brand - Germany, not the German Soccer World Cup - which allowed them to partner with some of their own top German brands and companies outside of the soccer sponsors already tied up years in advance by FIFA - as is the case with South Africa's 2010 tournament.
"We divided this up into commercial license use and non-commercial use, and integrated the media. We collected all 23 corporate partners in a license program offering various integrating projects. Some were also FIFA partners. In every contract, FIFA rights were respected and ambush marketing was prohibited."
How it worked was that a company such as Bayer, the German pharmaceutical brand, became an official partner to 'Germany - Land of Ideas' and got involved in the sponsorship of various projects to promote this brand message - long before the actual tournament - thereby building the country brand internationally, uniting Germans in huge displays of patriotism come the actual World Cup in 2006, and generating a brand message with legs that is being taken further into the future.
De Vries outlined some of the key projects in which the brand message was communicated:
- The Walk of Ideas which provided evidence to prove that Germany was a land of ideas to create occasions of coverage. Six giant silvery sculptures were created and placed at tourist points to highlight German achievement in various industry disciplines, i.e., a giant car to focus on the automotive industry; soccer boots for sport - which became the most photographed and covered subject in Germany during world cup, internationally; music notes; the theory of relativity formula; books; and tablets (pills) to represent the medico-pharma industry. They were placed in Berlin in a 'Walk of Ideas'.
- Landmarks presented 365 places/landmarks that presented themselves and their ideas and innovation to the public on one day each in 2006 - ideas taken from a contest held in Germany to provide a new view of Germany. It also produced a travel guide and is an ongoing project.
- The Media Service - comprehensive info and services for the international media, always with the guiding theme: Germany - Land of Ideas. International media interest began peaking over a year before and they were interested in people, culture, the reunification of Germany, and so on. Germany provided an online platform with articles and a picture service; journalist tours, and launched a Media Club 2006 - a central lounge for international media reps for background talks, networking and entertainment.
- Fan Club Germany - virtual membership driven by a nationwide road show resulted in 60 000 Germans signing up as members of 'Fan Club Germany' - a database that has nothing to do with soccer.
- Invest in Germany - a business location campaign to foreign investors resulted in many events all around the world to target foreign investment.
The outcome was 3.5 billion contacts worldwide prior to the Soccer World Cup tournament and over 30 TV stations globally reporting regularly about nation building in Germany.
"It was an enormous success," De Vries said, proudly.
Key learnings for South Africa
De Vries put together 10 key learnings for South Africa, based on his experience in contributing to building the brand message, 'Germany - Land of Ideas':
- Start early with all activities, that means start now - Germany says they started too late.
- There must be close co-operation between FIFA and the Local Organising Committee (LOC).
- The World Cup is the emotional platform. Use it as a vehicle and catalyst for your own campaign. De Vries says Germany was surprised at the legs of its brand message.
- Work with a single and unique roof brand and message. The profile of the nation brand must be very strong.
- Organise a commercial and non-commercial use of the brand which won't interfere with the activities of FIFA.
- Offer possibilities for participation and integration. Every single one is part of the move - you are on your way.
- Add the interests of the continent Africa. Let others take part. Not only 'The Brand South Africa' - there are lots of opportunities to present Africa as a continent, highlighting positive aspects, said De Vries.
- Use your friends and networks internationally as ambassadors and let them multiply your message on the global stage.
- Don't stop at crises. It's a long way to 2010. This is normal - there will be problems, but don't stop or put them in the frontline, put your message out first.
- South Africa has to go its own individual way and find its unique solution. "I'm very impressed with information I've learnt in the past few days in your country. You are right at the beginning and you are on the right track," said De Vries.
