Asian brands leverage World Cup
Yes, we bring you yet more football, though this time from an Asian perspective. You see, with North and South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand from APAC all qualifying for World Cup 2010, brands from the region have really got into gear for the tournament.
“In China, CCTV is said to have paid in excess of the S$292.7 million it shelled out for coverage of the 2002 tournament,” says Xtreme Information in its Insight 2101 – Football Matters report. “Asian broadcasters such as iCable in Hong Kong and SingTel and Starhub in Singapore, are hoping to see a considerable return on their investment in terms of advertising revenue and, in some cases, subscription numbers.”
“The World Cup will be the biggest international sporting viewership event in Asia this year,” says Malcom Hanlon, managing partner at Zenith Optimedia. “There seems to be even more anticipation than the Olympics, certainly for the South East Asia markets.”
Xtreme says smart companies are running integrated campaigns to reach consumers, but with myriad brands – both official and unofficial – trying to leverage the tournament, gaining cut-through could prove especially arduous.
Which might explain why adidas Japan went left-field together with TBWA/Hakuhodo in creating a mural/comic book project, Sky Comic, which called for 13 huge murals to be created in 13 Japanese cities. “Used in promotional activities, the Sky Comic stands out from the raft of football-related advertising clutter,” Xtreme says.
The brand also created an animated comic featuring national hero Nakamura Shunske and describing the journey of the Japan team through to the World Cup finals.
However, not everyone’s that adventurous. Castrol, an official FIFA partner, opted for something more vanilla, offering analysis and chat with a branded Chinese website which also provides visitors with a set of performance trackers as part of its global Castrol Index initiative.
