Bitburger Best-Recalled World Cup Sponsor in Germany

With the national squad barely having returned home from Japan, the results of a study conducted in Germany the day after the World Cup final reveal that the tournament has generated as mixed a series of results for the sponsors as was the case for the teams involved.

Having surveyed (CATI – Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews) over 1,000 viewers of the tournament coverage nationwide, SPORT+MARKT AG concluded that from a German point of view, domestic beer brand Bitburger were the biggest commercial victors of this year’s competition.

Having been outscored by both Adidas and Nike during the 1998 World Cup, Bitburger who sponsor both the German squad and the live coverage on national television topped the rankings of the best recalled sponsor/advertiser in the environment of the World Cup and also ranked first as the strongest advertiser around the tournament with mentions from ¼ of all German viewers.

According to Andrew Walsh, Senior Account Manager at SPORT+MARKT, ‘broadcast sponsorship is clearly the most penetrant form of advertising in such a tournament. In the absence of advertising on the national squads’ jerseys, the intense frequency of opportunities to see the broadcast campaign over the course of the month (with matches virtually daily) creates an unparalleled platform – the most obvious drawback, however being the international, geographical limitations inherent in the reach of each channel.

While for a brand with a more national focus such as Bitburger, this is not a problem it should be remembered that the high levels achieved around the tournament are short-lived nevertheless and the end of the tournament generally signals a return to the levels previously experienced unless the rate of activity can be somehow maintained through alternative, complimentary properties.’

In 2nd and 3rd positions respectively in terms of unprompted awareness, both Adidas and Nike scored noticeably lower than previously with the decrease considerably more profound for the American brand.

In fact the advantage enjoyed by Adidas over their main competitor during the last tournament doubled this time. In terms of being considered the strongest advertiser around the World Cup it was noticeable that while Nike’s score halved compared to France ’98, Adidas as both kit supplier to the German national team and tournament sponsor, managed to match their previous result.

It would appear that the audience is slowly recognising the difference between official sponsorship and ambush marketing, a point that may have been enhanced further by FIFA’s famous labelling of Nike’s approach as ‘parasitic’ prior to the competition. To all intents and purposes, Nike’s ‘Scorpion’ campaign can be considered a success and is a generally popular advertising campaign, however the brand’s tactics no longer appear to be fooling the increasingly marketing-savvy audience into associating it with sponsorship.

Further results from the study suggest that in Germany at least, the official tournament sponsors did not fare well (with the exception of Adidas) and suffered from a combination of early kick-off times, a lack of leveraging of what were often new engagements (i.e. Avaya, Hyundai, Yahoo and Toshiba) and in many cases the fact a lack of local relevance outside the host markets (E.g. Korean or Japanese telecommunications companies).

For further information please contact:

Hazel Pandya
SPORT+MARKT AG
COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH
T: + 49 (0) 221 43 0 73 178
F: + 49 (0) 221 43 0 73 161
E: Hazel.Pandya@sportundmarkt.de
W: www.SportundMarkt.de