Months before FIFA 2010 kicked off, various brands started their own competitive marketing race. The brands represent all fields of the market, from apparel, to banks, to drinks and more and still more…
The official drink partners for the tournament is Budwiser, ESPN is minting money by being the official telecasters and adidas enjoying the glory of bringing out the FIFA football.
The FIFA 2010 cup began on 11th June with 32 national team battling it out to gain honour for their nation. Many sportswear brands struck deals with various teams to sponsor their team kits. Teams get kits and brands secure their advertising by just associating themselves with the feverish sports. Every brand wanted their logo on various soccer team kits, the more the better the chances of finally being with the winning team!
Out of the 32 teams, sportswear brand Legea, Umbro and Joma each got themselves one FIFA team, next came in Puma with seven, Nike with nine and adidas with thirteen.
The marketing strategies were straight, with print, TVCs and social media. Nike made eco-friendly team kits for its nine teams. Puma started with the `Africa Unity Experience`. Puma was the official sponsor for FIFA 2006 and associated with the winning team Italy. adidas is the official partner.
| Brand | Team | Brand | Team | Brand | Team |
| adidas | Argentina, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Paraguay, Slovakia, South Africa, & Spain | Nike | Australia, Brazil, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, South Korea, & USA | Puma | Algeria, Cameroon, Côte d`Ivoire, Ghana, Italy, Switzerland & Uruguay |
| Umbro | England | Joma | Honduras | Legea | North Korea |
The statistics changed as the top sixteen were declared, and will keep changing till there is one winner, one team holding on to that glorious golden trophy. Legea`s and Joma`s teams didn`t make the cut, but Umbro`s did, Puma came down to two, Nike to five and adidas to eight.
| Brand | Team | Brand | Team | Brand | Team | Brand | Team |
| adidas | Germany, Argentina, Mexico, Slovakia, Chile, Paraguay, Japan, & Spain | Nike | South Korea, USA, Netherlands, Brazil, & Portugal | Puma | Uruguay & Ghana | Umbro | England |
As millions flow into FIFA`s coffers from official World Cup sponsors, big name brands such as Nike, adidas and Puma have proven that an altogether better bet is to save the cash and bushwhack the event. Nike, are hammering rivals and official sponsors adidas for hits on video-sharing site YouTube for their respective World Cup TV adverts. Nike scored an opener with its campaign, featuring Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, then adidas counter-attacked with David Beckham. Nike continues to dominate early possession, with 16+ million viewers on YouTube for their campaign, which launched mid-May, compared to almost 3.5 million for adidas`s late strike in early June.
adidas seems to have an edge with being the official partners for FIFA 2010 and by having eight teams out of the 16 finalists, increasing their chances of being associated with the winning team and its players. They also have access to iconic properties like the adidas Golden Shoe awarded to the highest goal scorer of the World Cup and the Golden Ball that is given to the best player. adidas is also partnering with e-Bay to help it complete the loop for the digital consumer.
