Fever suppositories and football
Column Not all brands tolerate football fever equally well, writes Alexander Jaggy.
Column Not all brands tolerate football fever equally well.Berlin, July 9, 2006: Hordes of Dutch fans celebrate the World Cup title. Flemish battle cries, fluttering flags, roaring crowds. A Dutchman lifts his jersey, revealing two rubber breasts. A car drives past, someone sticks his bare buttocks out of the back window. The Berlin Victory Gate is drowning in the Orange Sea. A city in a state of emergency. Then a chart: Don't let it get that far! A second chart: hollandstoppen.de.Thank God. It was all just a horror vision of the computer game provider EA Sports. A refreshing TV spot in an otherwise rather dull advertising environment. Irony seems to be on the list of banned substances around the World Cup anyway.
Dozens of football campaigns have sprung up on the pitch in recent months. The campaigns are so numerous that the German trade newspaper Horizont recently converted its Galeria section, where creative highlights from around the world are usually presented, into Balleria. A platform specifically for World Cup campaigns.
This is precisely where the curse and blessing of themed advertising is revealed. Blessing, because as a creative you normally find a green field. Everything is possible, many things are affordable. A curse because you can't really come up with much that's new. Worse still: there is no relevance between the sporting event and the product.
At a time when product benefits are melting away and differentiation through emotional added value is becoming increasingly diffuse, a clear theme such as the World Cup is hard to beat. No wonder everyone is trying to bring their product closer to football. Even those who shouldn't actually be doing so. When sponsors Adidas, Coca-Cola and Master Card spend 40 million euros each to call themselves the "Official Partner of the 2006 FIFA World Cup", they are less than pleased when their competitors Nike, Pepsi or American Express steal the show.
However, it is not only direct competitors who are surfing on the crest of the popularity wave. Let's remember: Media Markt launched its campaign for the World Cup last year with the slogan "Best Media Markt of all time - we'll win the title". The term "Soccer World Cup 2006" was not used in any advertisement or commercial. Media Markt is one of the companies that is making consistent use of the World Cup without investing sponsorship money.
However, the mass of World Cup campaigns also clearly shows that certain brands are immune to football fever. When products that have spent decades honing their confidence-building positioning and deliberately ignoring humor in their communication suddenly advertise with cheering people painted in national colors, it looks like a Tourette's attack in brand management.
The bright spots among the commercials are the usual suspects such as Adidas or Nike. Brands that have their emotional home close to the subject. They no longer need to explain themselves. It is enough to trigger the right feeling.
All the football hysteria in Germany is just a foretaste of what is in store for Swiss advertising agencies with Euro 2008. We will see marketing managers somehow trying to make the connection between insurance and football, cough drops and football or suppositories and football. Perhaps they will come to the conclusion that in an advertising block full of football ads, you stand out most if you advertise without football. In any case, it would be differentiating.
Dozens of football campaigns have sprung up on the pitch in recent months. The campaigns are so numerous that the German trade newspaper Horizont recently converted its Galeria section, where creative highlights from around the world are usually presented, into Balleria. A platform specifically for World Cup campaigns.
This is precisely where the curse and blessing of themed advertising is revealed. Blessing, because as a creative you normally find a green field. Everything is possible, many things are affordable. A curse because you can't really come up with much that's new. Worse still: there is no relevance between the sporting event and the product.
At a time when product benefits are melting away and differentiation through emotional added value is becoming increasingly diffuse, a clear theme such as the World Cup is hard to beat. No wonder everyone is trying to bring their product closer to football. Even those who shouldn't actually be doing so. When sponsors Adidas, Coca-Cola and Master Card spend 40 million euros each to call themselves the "Official Partner of the 2006 FIFA World Cup", they are less than pleased when their competitors Nike, Pepsi or American Express steal the show.
However, it is not only direct competitors who are surfing on the crest of the popularity wave. Let's remember: Media Markt launched its campaign for the World Cup last year with the slogan "Best Media Markt of all time - we'll win the title". The term "Soccer World Cup 2006" was not used in any advertisement or commercial. Media Markt is one of the companies that is making consistent use of the World Cup without investing sponsorship money.
However, the mass of World Cup campaigns also clearly shows that certain brands are immune to football fever. When products that have spent decades honing their confidence-building positioning and deliberately ignoring humor in their communication suddenly advertise with cheering people painted in national colors, it looks like a Tourette's attack in brand management.
The bright spots among the commercials are the usual suspects such as Adidas or Nike. Brands that have their emotional home close to the subject. They no longer need to explain themselves. It is enough to trigger the right feeling.
All the football hysteria in Germany is just a foretaste of what is in store for Swiss advertising agencies with Euro 2008. We will see marketing managers somehow trying to make the connection between insurance and football, cough drops and football or suppositories and football. Perhaps they will come to the conclusion that in an advertising block full of football ads, you stand out most if you advertise without football. In any case, it would be differentiating.
Alexander Jaggy is Managing Director Creation and partner at Jung von Matt/Limmat.
