Football Partnerships

By Matt Cutler

Coca-Cola has decided not to extend its three-year £18 million title-sponsorship of the English Football League beyond the end of the 2009-10 season.

Coca-Cola replaced building society Nationwide as headline sponsor in 2004 and signed a three-year extension in 2007.

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The Coca-Cola Company today unveiled elements of a global integrated marketing campaign inspired by the joyous dance celebrations familiar to Africa, the host continent for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The campaign developed to support its sponsorship of the landmark sporting event is an extension of the current Coca-Cola brand platform “Open Happiness.”

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By Karl Greenberg

Coca-Cola North America has signed a deal with Mexican football goalkeeper Francisco Guillermo “Memo” Ochoa. As official Coca-Cola spokesperson, Ochoa will make customer appearances, do autograph signings, and participate in meet and greets with U.S. fans.

“We’re proud to partner with a tremendous athlete like Memo, who inspires fans to dream big and live positively,” said Reinaldo Padua, assistant vice president, Hispanic Marketing, Coca-Cola North America. “As an official sponsor of the MNT, Coca-Cola continues to enhance its initiatives to bring the excitement of soccer to Hispanic communities throughout the U.S.”

Coca-Cola has been one of the major partners of the Mexican National Team for 30 years, and expanded the marketing relationship to the U.S. in 2003.

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Setanta Sports’s decision Thursday to sub-license the U.S. Internet rights to the Carling Cup, Coca-Cola Championship League and Football League to ESPN sends a message loud and clear that the Disney-owned corporation has the Premier League in its sights.

In the agreement between ESPN and Setanta, ESPN will broadcast many live Carling Cup, Championship and Football League matches via ESPN360.com in the United States. ESPN360.com’s schedule will include up to two Football League matches per week (totaling up to 84 matches this season), Football League playoff and final matches, and will feature five matches from rounds 1-5, four semi-final matches and the finals from Carling Cup competition.

In total, ESPN 360 will bring live coverage (and replay availability) for up to 100 English soccer games this season.

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By Alex Kotler

While the nature of what one finds offensive depends upon his/her culture, sponsors must cast an eye towards the actions and messages conveyed by the person or parties with whom it partners.

On August 11th, the Guardian newspaper ran a story about an advertisement in the sport daily Marca, Spain’s best-selling newspaper, which featured the country’s national basketball team making ’slit-eyed’ gestures at the camera - a reference to the pronounced epicanthic folds of people of Asian descent. The story was picked up and has circled the globe twice over, reeking various degrees of havoc - depending upon the readers’ sensitivity to the matter.

While Spain and its players defended the picture, American’s responded sharply, calling the “affectionate” gesture “tasteless”. Jason Kidd, a member of the US Olympic basketball team and NBA player, said:

“We would’ve been already thrown out of the Olympics. At least, we wouldn’t have been able to come back to the U.S. …There would be suspensions.”

And for his European peers, Kidd speculated, “They won’t do anything to them. It’s a double standard.”

Whether that would be the case remains to be seen; however, the Guardian columnist who wrote the piece, Sid Lowe, a recognized football journalist based in Madrid, has found himself on the unfortunate end of the backlash.

Meanwhile, on August 5th, several players of the women’s Argentine Olympic football team were photographed striking a similar pose in Olé, an Argentine sports newspaper. Reports of the photo surfaced after the Spanish advertisement, bringing into question the views of Spanish-speaking peoples around the world. Interestingly enough, and perhaps because of either the sport or the sex, the story didn’t have the same legs here in the US as the one on basketball.

The importance, though, should resonate with sponsors of all sports - including soccer. Coca-cola and San Miguel, not to mention the Olympic brand, have their logos emblazoned on the Argentina and Spain jerseys, respectively. Each has been relatively mum on the controversy, understandably distancing itself from it. The problem, though, is that they are now forever framed in these - inappropriate to some, misunderstood to others - photos.

The moral, if there is one, is for sponsors and their partners to see eye to eye from the beginning, ’slit-eyed’ or not.