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High-handed tactics and ambush pricing backfire

Increasing disdain for the tactics displayed by the heavy-handed Fifa, world soccer’s governing body – which is laughing all the way to the bank while showing little restraint or grace when dealing with people remotely ‘disobedient’ to His Highness Sepp Blatter and Fifa regulations – is threatening to overshadow that which happens on the playing field.

While the 2010 Soccer World Cup tournament becomes increasingly marked by player revolts, Fifa has also been on the receiving end of outcries from fans and journalists over what is seen as its aggressive and dogmatic approach by detaining 36 young women on Monday while supporting Holland in its World Cup encounter with Denmark.

They were detained because they were accused of ambush marketing, advertising Bavaria beer, a competitor to Budweiser – the only beer allowed at World Cup host stadiums – and selling at an ambush price of R30 a glass.

The arrest of two sexily dressed Dutch women on charges that they broke laws covering ambush marketing during a World Cup match has highlighted the mounting pressure on football's governing body to protect its interests – specifically its income stream – and those of its affiliates.

Around 30% of Fifa's revenue comes from sponsorship deals.

Fifa’s income

Fifa's income for the 2007-10 World Cup cycle is at least $3.2 billion, according to its latest financial report – with $1.2bn coming from commercial activities, including marketing sponsorship and licensing, and the rest from the sale of television rights, reported News24.com.

Budgeted income is at least $3.8bn for the four-year cycle up to the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

"Because these global sports events are becoming far more popular and moved into the mainstream, it's for this reason why more and more brands want to get affiliated, and it's blurred the line between official and ambush," said David Pinnington, head of sports marketing at Omnicom Media Group, which works with official sponsors at major sporting events. (Source: Sport24.com)

The likes of the little-known Bavaria beer company can see its exposure rocket in the space of a couple of days simply because it got 30 young, blonde fans to attend a football match at Soccer City stadium, wearing skimpy dresses in the country's national colour, a symbol of a beer advertising campaign back home.

Whether or not the arrests by local officials were an affront to civil liberties, it is clear that Fifa will do what it takes to enforce its commercial rules, which allow only official partners to use the World Cup for advertising and promotion campaigns. (Source: Sport24.com)

Fifa said it was "appalled" that companies "use innocent people as a tool to conduct these unlawful activities, thereby exposing them to possible criminal charges."

Fick Fufa

But many fans have complained about the Fifa ‘overkill’, and some have begun a local campaign, with a Cape Town-based artist selling T-shirts sporting the words “Fick Fufa”.

Fifa said it had written to a large number of companies before the tournament, drawing their attention to specific South African legislation – the particularly stringent Contravention of Merchandise Marks Act protecting intellectual property, which is now being used against the two Dutch girls.

"The matter is now under criminal investigation, and the South African Police Service is proceeding as per the normal legislation," said Fifa spokesperson, Nicolas Maingot.

Ambush marketing is nothing new – it was originally called "guerrilla marketing" – and has grown in line with the increase in the profile of global sporting events. It is widely thought to have started in 1996 around the European Football Championships in England and the Atlanta Olympic Games.

Nike is considered the pioneer: The sportswear company bought up poster sites all around the major stadiums during Euro '96, even though it was not an official sponsor.

Bavaria beer has a history of these gimmicks, although it insisted on Thursday that it will not be pulling anymore stunts – at least during this World Cup.

At a 2006 World Cup match in Stuttgart, Germany, a number of Dutch fans had to watch a match between the Netherlands and Ivory Coast in their underpants because officials took umbrage at their choice of outerwear – bright orange lederhosen carrying the name, Bavaria.

That fact alone suggests Fifa had its eye on any fresh stadium insurgency from Bavaria beer. Whether the heavy-handed approach has worked is doubtful, as the girls were splashed all over the world's media. Thanks to the way Fifa handled the matter, Bavaria beer is now known the world over – an incredible reward for no or very little investment.

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