Coca-Cola "won the World Cup" according to research

Not only did Italy win the World Cup but, in terms of corporate sponsorship, it appears Coca-Cola can claim a victory.

According to initial research compiled for FIFA, Coca-Cola "won the World Cup" in terms of sponsorship.

"From all the data we have seen we believe that Coca-Cola really enjoyed the best success in 2006," said Jamie Graham, managing director of Sponsorship Intelligence, FIFA's official researchers. "They are the best recalled of all sponsors from the tournament."

Speaking at the European Sponsorship Association's "Who Won the World Cup?" event, Graham pointed out the soft-drink firm had worked over the years to promote a successful partnership with football.

Coca-Cola was one of the 15 official FIFA "partners" at this year's event, but has been a World Cup partner of FIFA's since the 1970 tournament in Mexico.

"Coca-Cola has benefited from the equity it has built up in football over many decades," said Graham.

This year, it was also immensely helped by its pre-tournament sponsorship of the World Cup trophy's tour of different cities in African countries and the UK, where it was accompanied by England forward Wayne Rooney.

"Wayne Rooney generates interest like no other player at the moment," said Steve Cumming, head of sponsorship for Coca-Cola GB. "He is an important part of what we do. Association with the World Cup was our objective. "You do not get front pages of tabloids easily, but we got that time and time again by combining two elements - the World Cup trophy and Wayne Rooney."

The company admits that it was also able to attract fans to its products, as were all 15 sponsors, by the offer of tickets through competitions and other promotions.

Coca-Cola also decided to give its full backing to the Fan Festivals held before each match in Germany – events which proved to be a phenomenal success with crowd sizes treble those originally predicted.

During the tournament, Coca-Cola was innovative with its on-field branding, changing the colours on perimeter boards to reflect the teams that were playing.

Research has shown the World Cup attracts consumers who are not traditional football fans. It contains a larger number of women and younger followers than the usual breakdown of supporters.

"Many are only interested in football when the big events, such as the World Cup, come around," Graham said. "So for sponsors the event delivers consumers that they would not get through domestic sponsorship."

Roughly 80 firms were connected with some aspect of World Cup sponsorship, even if they were not one of the official FIFA partners.

New research from Sportcal points to the 2006 World Cup as being on course for profits of EUR 1.1 billion, with the estimated EUR 1 billion staging cost offset by sales of tickets, merchandising, sponsorship and media rights.

FIFA told the authors of the "World Cup 2006: The Commercial Report" that the tournament would generate EUR 1.9 billion in marketing revenue, with the sale of TV and new media rights raising EUR 1.2 billion.

The remaining EUR 700 million comes from other sources such as sponsorship and hospitality.

The trends show the event will continue to grow, and viewing records were set in France, Germany, Italy, Brazil and Vietnam.

That, in turn, will lure companies to be connected with the appeal of the World Cup.

"It is the drama that is the core promotional hook for sponsors," Graham said.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.