Not too high a price when you are reaching 2.78 million stadium attendees and a television audience of 30 billion in 209 territories. However, as any sponsoring company knows, the costs don't stop with buying a sponsorship rights package. A second budget needs to be available to leverage maximum value from the sponsorship.
According to Octagon SA Group MD Neill Duffy, who also chaired the conference: "There are 200 brands competing with each other at the 2006 World Cup to be held in Germany. This is far too much clutter. We were pleased to hear the announcement at SoccerEx, held in Dubai on the 30 November 2004, that the commercial structure will be changing for our World Cup."
There will be only six 'tier one' partners, eight FIFA World Cup sponsors and four to six national sponsors, he says. "The cost of the other packages are currently speculative. My message to corporate South Africa is - if these sponsorships are financially out of reach, there are lots of smaller opportunities in between each FIFA World Cup to build an association with this overwhelmingly popular game, and to integrate your products with the masses of SA consumers, who are passionate followers of football."
With the tender process starting on the 20 December 2004, the conference answered a lot of questions for the attending promoters of most of South Africa's largest brands.
Asked which brands and in particular which SA brands were likely to get involved at a high level, Phil Carling, Octagon UK Senior Vice President answered: "The top six partnerships are likely to be multinationals that have a football sponsorship pedigree. Only Coke and Philips have been with this game from the onset and are likely to continue. Mass target market brands in the industry categories - airline, automobile, fuel, digital, soft drink, financial services, alcoholic beverage and a restaurant chain, are the most likely to get involved. A technical supplier such as Adidas, Nike or Reebok will also feature and will supply the sports gear. FIFA's goal is to get a major South African brand on board that has global ambitions and my best guess is probably South African Breweries."$40 million is the sponsorship entry fee for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which begs the question - what does the $125 million buy prospective sponsors in 2010? "Hospitality rights, 500 tickets per match, designation, accreditation, category exclusivity, media exposure, broadcast rights, internet, on screen credits, rotation boards, public viewing rights, a lot less brand dilution and the same for 2014," says Carling.
Danny Jordaan, 2010 FIFA World Cup Bid CEO, who spoke about the overall impact the FIFA World Cup will have on South Africa said: "One major partner, a technical supplier, will be announced this December and FIFA hopes to have all local and international sponsorships sold by 2007."
Speaking about television broadcast rights from a local perspective was Mvuzo Mbebe, MD for SABC Sports: "The SABC intends taking a more flexible approach towards potential sponsors. We will be asking what the brand wants to achieve and we will be developing packages that not only work for both of us but also for the sport. We encourage marketers to take a long-term view. Build a relationship around soccer now especially the brands that are targeted towards LSM's 5 - 8 where there is currently 11 million soccer fans and is set to increase. There are lots of opportunities between June 2005 and June 2010. There are also all the FIFA qualifying matches before 2006 that present an opportunity. One thing for sure, we will be more conducive to speaking to those companies that have invested in Soccer prior to the 2010 World Cup."
Carling said there is a now a more modern way of looking at sponsorships. "Companies need to ask - is there a brand fit and is there going to be a business return? Make sure that part of your package as a sponsor, is access to the audience. One way of doing this is to create an extension to a sponsorship like simple merchandise sales, which often makes back the sponsorship fee."
"New media is also going to play a major role in how sponsors will engage with its audience," says Vice President of New Media at Octogan UK Dan Markham. "In Japan we already have cell phones that can transmit television waves. By 2010, we will be able to sit down on a park bench and watch the whole game on our mobile phone screens."
Markham emphasised that cell phones would play a major role and that the content of the sponsor's message across all mediums needs to be simple, engaging, interactive, very creative and if possible induce viral marketing.
Duffy added: "In 2010, South Africa will be the focus of the world and research has shown that brands that add value to the soccer fans' enjoyment of the game, will get the best return on its investment."
Of ambush advertising, Duffy said it has been a problem in the past, but Government needs to enforce new legislation protecting the sponsor's rights. "We envisage brand 'police' employed by FIFA at every game, enforcing this legislation."
Duffy emphasis: "The best advice I can give mass target market brands is to use the next six year period to become synonymous with football with smaller, more affordable sponsorships. And use tactical, cleaver and creative advertising to build an association to the game."
Other speakers and topics at the conference were: Stuart Baxter, Head Coach of Bafana Bafana and Simon Wardle from Octagon US, who was sharing for the first time his research into soccer fan passions in the UK, US and China. He said that there was a direct and positive correlation between a person's passion and using brands. "Successfully build that 'passion' relationship with the target market and a sponsor is far more likely to achieve brand loyalty," said Wardle.
