At last year’s FIFA World Cup, Mars Incorporated’s Mars bar brand changed its name to ‘Believe’ in the UK as part of its effort to rally support behind the English football team. It was the first time since it was created in 1920 that the chocolate bar had taken the dramatic step of changing its name – albeit briefly.
The stunt created global headlines and proved that a brand doesn’t need to be the official sponsor of a major sporting event to steal the spotlight.
The launch of the Rugby World Cup in France has seen a barrage of activity among marketers in Australia.
But for those who are not official sponsors of the Cup, activity is heavily restricted.
Local ramifications of this means Wallabies sponsors, including Qantas, Tooheys New, Panasonic and Vodafone are muzzled from making any direct references to the IRBRugby World Cup.
However, Brian Meinrath, executive director at promotional agency Acrobatt Marketing and Communications, whose clients include Panasonic, believes generic campaigns have the power to create just as much impact,pointing to the success of the Mars barname change.
“It was not an official sponsor but, was effective in capturing the hearts and minds of English football fans,” Meinrath says.
For Lion Nathan’s Tooheys New brand, it has enlisted Momentum Worldwide to developed an interactive campaign. Wallabies fans are being invited to create the world’s largest photo mosaic which will be presented to the team in France.
The Tooheys New supporters’ mosaic, centres around the website where fans can see the mosaic as it is being created. They can download their images to help make up the mosaic either through the website or interactive JC Decaux panels.
In Qantas’ case, it has given its Frequent Flyer members a chance to win a 2007 Qantas Wallabies jumper signed by the team. Tickets to the Cup have also been given away. Coca-Cola’s Powerade brand gave consumers the chance to win hundreds of prizes at its ‘Wallabies HQ’ website.
Panasonic invested in trade promotions and aligned its high definition plasma range to the sponsorship of Network Ten’s high definition broadcasts.
But according to Acrobatt’s Meinrath, tothis day, sponsorship-supported experiential marketing in Australia is yet to be completely embraced. “When it comes to experiential marketing I think sponsorship still has a way to go,” says Meinrath. “One of the challenges for an agency like ours is to try and get companies to fully integrate their sponsorship leveraging, including experiential, with traditional media campaigns. More and more companies are utilising experiential activity as part of their leveraging activities … but it doesn’t happen all the time.
“There are still companies who invest much of their sponsorship budget acquiring the property and then don’t leave much in reserve to leverage, and when they do, stick to the tried and tested media.”
Dom Hay, general manager at promotional marketing agency Bamboo (which currently works with Wallabies sponsor Vodafone) points out there are restrictions even for Wallabies’ sponsors, but overall, sponsorship-supported experiential marketing is an effective method of creating brand awareness.
“Sponsorship is seen by many as a way of winning the hearts and minds of consumers, if you are passionate about AFL and someone like Vodafone comes in as a partner or sponsor, then immediately, fans will feel warmer towards that brand.
“This is largely why a lot of these sponsorships do last such a long time, because it does infiltrate the brand into a consumer’s mind in a unique way, and of course Qantas does that as well with its title sponsorship of the Wallabies – it feels like they are carrying the national flag, so they are effective.”
For the Rugby World Cup’s official sponsors, it’s a slightly easier sell, with Heineken, Vediorbis, Capgemini, Orange, Toshiba International and Emirates all on board this year.
Alcoholic beverage giant Lion Nathan has the rights to Heineken in Australia and with the help of Respublica Public Relations has extensively leveraged off its official sponsorship program. Kylie Wallbridge, Heineken’s marketing director says the brand has a full experiential strategy in Australia.
Locally, Heineken has set up RWC Clubhouses in pubs and clubs which will broadcast live games in each venue and only last week, unveiled its hero Clubhouse at Sydney’s Cabana Bar. The bar was transformed into a Heineken-sponsored rugby environment. A pocket guide was produced with News Limited, containing a full listing of all Clubhouses, including links to the Heineken website. Under the banner “One World, One Cup, One Beer”, the campaign will feature a global TVC, PR, web-based activity and the re-launch of Heineken’s 5 litre DraughtKeg.
It is also the broadcast sponsor of the cup with Network Ten.
“While our activation in Australia has only recently commenced, we are very pleased with the response from consumers … indicating that this is going to be a fantastic leverage and trial platform for Heineken, as it was in 2003,” Wallbridge says.
