Jabulani - Opens the debate around naming/branding of objects/things and Celebrity Endorsements....
Ke Nako and Congratulations to Bafana Bafana for their great effort and for making us proud with their performance during the opening round of matches of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Tournament; finally on African soil.
The football spectacular in South Africa has done wonders for our country and the people who made it possible up to now. Media coverage ranged from exceeding expectations and some touched on the not so ideal incidents, which will resurface after the event. Each one of us had our own highlights and disappointments with the tournament so far. The labour dispute, which resulted in a strike by the security officials at some of the World Cup stadia, left a bitter taste with most of us. This was supported by the fear of the looming Eskom strike and its associated implications on the image, reputation and perceptions about South Africa.
Our people have waited and prepared tirelessly, to stage the first African World Cup and now this. Leading up to the tournament there were also displeasure and negative sentiment towards Jabulani, the official 2010 Fifa World Cup soccer ball. As people (Marketers specifically), we always feel comfortable to name things/objects to ensure we can label and package it to enable promotion, profiling and to some degree protection of the newly named solution. Jabulani was born under the auspice of the African World Cup umbrella, its arrival was shared with the world as the official name for the tournament ball, to create excitement, colour and texture to the tournament.
Coverage and opinions, regarding Jabulani so far, has not done any justice to South Africa's ability to host this historic soccer event. Jabulani equals 2010 World Cup; there is no way you can divorce or single out the official ball as a product of Adidas (not known by the uninformed). Some people have desperately attempted to distance South Africa from the negative coverage. Jabulani is integral to the event; the controversy around its performance has direct implications on how people experience and perceive the tournament. More so, if your country has not delivered on expectations, generally people look for someone or something to blame. Unfortunately, for South Africa, the tournament is held here (Africa), Jabulani is topical and the ball has and still receives, airtime, social network debate and column space globally. For all the wrong reasons.
The ball, which was used during the2006 German World Cup, was specially produced, only for the final of the Tournament; they named it Teamgeist. Other names for the official ball in previous tournaments had names like the Tango and Tri-colour. There are probably more informed readers on this topic and the history of the Soccer World Cup.
Before the birth of Jabulani, I was unaware of the baptism and naming of the official World Cup ball. The negative sentiment and coverage has been a catalyst to find out more about Jabulani's predecessors and their performance/behaviour/rating. I agree, it is easier to market an object if we can touch, see, smell, taste or hear that object/product/service. The Tiger Woods brand, took the taste, smell and touch product marketability element, unfortunately too far. The implications were also visible and it stunned the world, especially those who had a commercial relationship with the Tiger Woods brand. Before the scandal broke, his sponsors leveraged his excellent form, good, clean and robust family-man image. Sponsors were looking for a measurable return on investment for their association with Tiger; which implied that their brand is on par with the highest paid and best golf player/ sportsperson of this century. Because of his performance, it made budget motivation and justification an unchallenged exercise for his sponsors.
The revelation and dynamics around his private life, forced some of his commercial partners (sponsors) to discontinue their relationship with him. He lost millions in endorsement money as a result of his actions and the unfavourable coverage, which has been generated. There were contracts in place, which stipulated what he pockets from the partnership/association with the commercial partner; the sponsors were given a breakdown of their list of entitlements. Win-win for everyone, but there are always casualties. Unfortunately, no contract or settlement amount agreed upon after the fact was/is able to undo the damage/impact of his actions on the reputation and image of the Sponsor.
Tiger Woods is just one of the many "stay away from celebrity endorsements" case studies. Other celebrity's include Kate Moss and David Beckham just to name a few. There have also been some local celebrity endorsement blunders, which also had some paralysed outcomes for the brands associated with the celebrity. Yet, the temptation and appetite for celebrity endorsement is not going away despite the negative results associated with this perceived Marketing option/solution.
Consumers today, are far more informed and they don't have a one dimensional view of your brand. Jabulani is not viewed as an Adidas ball; it forms part of the total 2010 FIFA World Cup, South African experience, which will be mentioned as a negative of the World Cup and perceived as a product produced in and for the event in Africa....impacting on our image and reputation as Host Nation. Just imagine an intoxicated Zakumi...
Stick to what you know and what you able to manage, taking into consideration, various scenarious...
The reputation of your brand is unique for your brand, it is impossible to transfer or donate your reputation to your competitors ...think about it.
Look for alternatives...and resist the temptation.
