The world's a stage as sponsors trade shots

WITH LESS than a month to go until the first match kicks off, Britain is in the grip of World Cup fever. Hundreds of brand owners want a piece of the action and those who have not signed official sponsorship agreements are preparing to hijack football's biggest tournament.

Official involvement with the World Cup does not come cheap. The 12 sponsors, including McDonald's, Coca-Cola, General Motors and Adidas, have each paid about GBP 20 million for the privilege of advertising in the stadia and using the World Cup 98 logo on their products. In return, they are guaranteed a television audience of 500 million across 195 countries.

Event organiser Fifa has warned companies not to jump on the bandwagon, but in practice there is little it can do to stem the flow unless a company uses the World Cup logo or mascot without permission. Graham Bednash, of media consultancy Michaelides & Bednash, says: "Companies locked out of the official sponsorship deals will be running football-related campaigns and there is a lot you can do with imaginative marketing which doesn't infringe Fifa's copyright." There are already a host of football-related advertisements on British television, from BT's price-cutting campaign, featuring goalkeepers making saves, to the Ford Ka ad which states: "If only Ka made football boots." Promotions are commonplace too. Electrical retailer Comet has launched a scratch-card and Tango is running a "worship at the shrine of soccer" promotion, with prizes which include inflatable sofas, meat pies and forklift truck loads of fizzy pop to drink while you watch vital games. Karen Earl, a sponsorship specialist, says: "It is a big problem for official sponsors. While much advertising space is booked up for official sponsors, they can't buy everything. Nike, for example, bought up poster sites all over France two years ago." Given its past form, Nike is expected to make the most of "ambush marketing". During Euro 96 it bought all the poster advertising space around the stadia where matches were played and many consumers believed it was an official sponsor. This time, Nike is building a World Cup village in Paris and is sponsor of Brazil. Official sponsors are unhappy that other firms are associating themselves with the event. "We made a considerable investment for the long term in the World Cup, and we take a dim view of companies with no real connection with the event hijacking it," a Coca-Cola spokesman says: Sainsbury's has an exclusive arrangement with the Football Association designating it "the official England supermarket". It is selling 350 World Cup products from sausages to tissues, but accepts competitors will try to muscle in. "It would be naive not to think that lots of companies will try to get involved, but we have got the Three Lions logo which proves to our customers we have official endorsement," says a spokeswoman. Meanwhile, some advertisers are unrepentant about cashing in. Van den Bergh Foods, which owns sausage snack Pepperami, is planning to run a GBP 3 million promotion for the brand. It is planned to include television and press advertisements, a website and its own sausage-shaped, battery-operated mascot which consumers can send off for. Jo Rosenblatt, brand manager, says: "This provides a great opportunity for Peperami. We really believe that hijacking the World Cup is a perfect fit for our target market - men aged 15 to 35 - and fits with the rebellious personality of the brand."

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