Fifa WC Brand Elements

Sport Marketing Quarterly, 2011, 20, 174-184, 2011 West Virginia University

FIFA World Cup Brand Elements andLocal InspirationsPawel WeszkaPawel Weszka is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sport and Movement Studies at the University of Johannesburg. Hisresearch interests include sport mega-event branding, brand management, de.stination management and sport marketing.

FIFA World Cup Brand Elements and LocalInspirationsThe Fdration Internationale de Football Association(FIFA) unveiled a brand new logo for the upcoming2014 FIFA World Gup Brazil on July 8, 2010 ("OfficialEmblem," n.d.). The Official Emblem of the 2014 FIFAWorld Gup, called Inspiration, features three victorioushands together raising the World Gup Trophy. Yellowand green are Brazilian colors and they dominate thedesign. The words 2014 FIFA World Cup Brasil com-plement the picture (see Figure 1). The official launchtook place in Johannesburg, South Africa, three daysbefore the final match of the 2010 FIFA World Gup.This high profile event drew 500 guests, includinginternational media, who were treated to an hour-longshow featuring Brazilian celebrities and artists. The starof the night, though, was the new Official Emblemdesigned by Brazilian agency Africa, which was chosenfrom the pool of 25 designs presented to FIFA by 25Brazilian-based agencies.

The 2014 FIFA World Gup is the fourth tournamentthat follows the consistent and integrated brandingprocess initiated by FIFA in the 21^^ century. It is also thefourth World Gup that incorporates local inspirationsinto the event's imagery in an organized manner. Since2002, FIFA World Gup has been co-branded with hostdestinations and the country's name has been incorpo-rated into the Official Name and Emblem of the tourna-ment. It is through these and other brand elements thatthe relationship between the FIFA World Gup and the

Figure 1.The 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Official Emblem. Printedin compliance with the 2010 FIFA Public Guidelines.

Host Gountry has been exposed in Korea and Japan(2002), Germany (2006) and South Africa (2010).

This does not mean that there was no connectionbetween FIFA World Gup and its host destinations inthe event's imagery prior to 2002. For over 80 years thehosting destinations have provided inspiration for theWorld Gup logos, posters and later mascots. Yet, priorto 2002 those messages appeared inconsistent in theway they portrayed the main event and its HostGountry, whic h resulted in limited marketing potentialof those two entities. The year 2002 marked the turn inFIFA's approach to the branding of the World Gupand a new direction in terms of enticing future WorldGup hosts ("More than a game," 2002).

The present case study aims to recognize how eachWorld Gup destination inspired FIFA's chosen brandelements in the three most recent World Gups. To thebest of the researcher's knowledge, the area of pairing amega-event with a destination through a combined setof brand elements is virtually unexplored. As has beenestablished, merely hosting a sport mega-event does notguarantee economic benefits (Preuss, 2000).Gonsequently, destination marketers more often lookinto co-branding to leverage their brands (Eberl, 2007).Since Brazil's World Gup related marketing has justtaken off, the information gathered through the analy-sis of the newly re-branded event will provide someindication as to how the local themes may be incorpo-rated in the bianding of the 2014 FIFA World Gup.

The extent of local inspirations featured in brandelements of the past three World Gups varied fromtournament to tournament. As this case study willshow, FIFA's new branding of the event broughtopportunities to leverage the destination brand, butalso challenges in the way of including the 'local' in thetournament's global communication strategy. Brazil'slove affair with soccer has made the sport an integralpart of the Brazilian national identity, and it almostplaces the country in the tournament's branding poleposition. The Official Emblem revealed in South Africawas only the first step to positioning the tournament ina Brazilian context and selling it to the world.

174 Volume 20 Number 3 2011 Sport Marketing Quarterly

Brand ElementsKeller, Apria, and Georgson (2008) define brand ele-ments as trademarkable devices that serve to identifyand differentiate the brand. In otber words, tbey derivefrom brand identity where a visual picture, sound andtheir meaning are conveyed in brand elements. Thedevices include: names; logos and symbols; characters;slogans and jingles; and packaging and signage. Brandname exposure benefits the brand by increasing thespeed of brand awareness and by facilitating brand lik-ing through the mere exposure effect (Baker, 2003). Alogo, symbol or emblem creation is a base of any brandidentity (Buttle & Westoby, 2006). It identifies an enti-ty and must clearly communicate the personality, char-acter and nature ofthat entity (Landa, 2006). Brandcharacters are created to promote a brand by establish-ing brand identity and favorable brand associations(Garretson & Niedrich, 2004). They also help brandsto come alive with human qualities of emotion,thought and personality (Mize & Kinney, 2008). Brandslogans influence the meaning consumers give to abranded entity (Adamson, 2007). They have the poten-tial to convey a brand message more directly than sym-bols, but ideally they should work together. Brandjingles form a really powerful memory trigger thatincreases the ability to recall (Bindea, Seserman, Bara,& Iancu, 2009). They 'marry' the name of the brand tothe melody that clings to the mind (Buchanan, 2005).Brand packaging is especially important in the retailindustryit conveys brand identity (Newman, 2009).If done effectively, it can tell a brand's story and builda deeper connection between the consumers and thebrand (Lister, 2009). Lastly, signage is an especiallyimportant element during events. For instance, duringa mega-event like FIFA World Cup the signs must bethere to direct the crowds and provide informationwhile also being consistent with all the other brandingsupporting the event. 1

FIFA World Cup Brand !Sport mega-events own a place in consumers' minds assome of the strongest brands. Brought to existence in1904 by a Frenchman, lules Rimet, FIFA was an organ-ization that recognized the power of sport, soccer par-ticularly, and aimed to unite nations for peace(Lichfield, 2006). Rimet became the head of FIFA in1921 and committed himself to convincing the worldof need for an international soccer tournament. Ineffect, 13 countries took part in the first ever FIFAWorld Cup in Uruguay in 1930. Rimet was the firstambassador of the FIFA World Cup brand, which hasgathered more and more support over the years to

eventually outstrip the Olympic Games in its globalspread (Cashman, 2004).

Played every four years, FIFA World Cup is the mosttelevised, popular and largest soccer tournament in theworld (Florek, Breitbarth, & Conejo, 2008). For exam-ple, the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany was broad-casted to 214 countries and had 26.29 billion viewersworldwide ("TV Data," n.d.). The number of teamshas grown from 13 to 16 to 24 to 32. Initially theWorld Cup was mainly hosted either in Latin America .or Europe. This changed in the 1990s, after the ColdWar, when for the first time the World Cup was hostedin the United States. At the turn of the century theevent went to Asia and, most recently, Africa. Drivenby the four FIFA values of authenticity, unity, integrityand performance, the World Cup organizers workhard to make sure that brand elements are consistentin their portrayal of the best soccer tournament in theworld yet bring unique characteristics of the HostCountry.

The Role of Destinations in the FIFA WorldCup BrandingEconomic, promotional (Burton, 2003) or develop-mental benefits are most often cited as motives for ahost community to stage sport mega-events (Preuss,2000). The hosting of sport events is also viewed as abroader tourism strategy intended to enhance the pro-file of a destination (Kotze & Visser, 2008). FIFAWorld Cup and the Olympic Games have become twoof the main platforms to drive the attractiveness ofplaces. It has had a lot to do with technologicaladvancements and the growing role of media inspreading the popularity and perceived benefits ofmega-events. Development of brand identity became akey element in building a destination brand (Morgan& Pritchard, 2002) and with countries and cities realiz-ing the power of branding, sport mega-events havegrown into some of the most appreciated marketingmediums, enabling destination brands to access thecustomer base of the event.

The relationship between FIFA World Cup and itsHost Countries could be best described as co-brand-ing. Co-branding is combining two or more brandsinto a joint product or marketing them together insome fashion (Keller et al., 2008). According toLeuthesser, Kohh, and Suri (2003), a co-brandingarrangement very often includes a strong parent brandand a complementing secondary brand. The parentbrand is determined by the category driver, has fullcontrol over marketing and distribution systems, holdsa status of a modified brand and owns the customerbase (Uggla, 2004). Therefore, FIFA World Cup is theworld renowned parent brand and controls the mar-

Volume 20 Number 3 2011 Sport Marketing Quarterly 175

Figure 2.The FIFA World Cup Official Posters, Emblems, and Mascots: Italy 1934, Mexico 1986, France 1998. Printed in compliance withthe 2010 FIFA Public Guidelines. Since 1950 the FIFA World Cup also has an Official Emblem and Official Mascot. The posterof 1934 does not carry significant references to the hosting nation Italy, whue the inspirations are more apparent in the remain-ing two designs. Also, the lack of consistency in terms of use of language and name of the tournament can be observable.

. i

CAMPIONATOM O N D A L EDI CALCIO .:

keting of the event ("2010 FIFA World Cup SouthAfrica: FIFA Public Information Sheet," 2007), ticketprices and their distribution ("Ticketing processexplained," 2009). It is modified by the destinationbrand (for instance incorporating destination theme inthe event branding) and owns the customer base of theevent, which it allows the destination brand to access.

The role of the secondary brand (destination) is tocontribute brand equity to the parent brand via brandassociations (Uggla, 2004). These brand associationsare secondary to the immediate territory of the parentbrand (the World Cup). For instance, every FIFAWorld Cup is given a unique set of characteristicsderiving from a particular destination. Many of themare communicated via co-branded brand elements.These elements, although owned by FIFA ("SouthAfrica 2010 - Final Report," n.d.), bring opportunitiesof massive exposure for the host nations prior to andduring the tournament.

It is therefore mainly through brand elements thatFIFA has provided destinations with a way of increas-ing the scope and influence of their brands, enteringnew markets, embracing new technologies, andrefreshing their brand image (Keller et al., 2008).Taking into consideration the exposure of the FIFAWorld Cup brand elements via broadcasts, sponsors'advertising, media reports and licensed merchandise,the opportunities to leverage a destination brand havebecome significant.

FIFA World Cup Brand Elements Prior to 2002Brand elements have accompanied FIFA World Cupsince its very beginnings. The Official Posters were themain marketing tools incorporated in the promotion

of the World Cups between the first tournament inUruguay in 1930 and Fngland in 1966. They often con-tained the name of the event in the local language,dates of the competition and graphic designs usingvarious images of a soccer ball. Since the World Cup inBrazil in 1950 the posters have been accompanied bylogos and the graphic design was limited to the nameof the country, name of the competition and a soccerball incorporated in a simple colorful backgroundreferring to the host destination. The words World Cuphave been appearing on the Official Emblem of tour-naments only since 1994.

Figure 2 presents some of the World Cup brand ele-ments used over the course of the past century. Forinstance, in 1934 in Italy, 100,000 posters, 300,000 post-cards and one million stamps were issued to commem-orate the occaiiion (Cordon & London, 2006). GinoBoccasile's image of a player kicking the ball with vari-ous flags in the background emphasized the interna-tional nature of the competition. The player had a Swissflag on his shirt, rather than the flag of the HostCountryItaly. The poster was in Italian and con-tained the words: Campionato Mondiale Di Calcio. Fastforward to Mt xico 1986 and the Official Poster present-ed a shadow of a presumably Mayan warrior thrownover statues remembering the ancient Mayan civiliza-tion. The figure had a soccer ball at his feet and the let-ters in the right bottom corner stated: Mexico '86.

Since 1966 the World Cups have also had OfficialMascots promoting the event, like Pique in Mexico.Both the post(;r and the mascot carried associationswith the Host Country of the competition. It is hard toimagine a more distinguished sign of 'Mexicaness' thana sombrero. Also, the last World Cup of the 20*" cen-


tury in France refiected the French national colors inits poster, logo and mascot designs. The World Cupwas translated to Coupe du Monde on the poster toemphasize the destination.

Although decades separated the tournaments inItaly, Mexico and France, and technology develop-ments brought new ways of reaching out with theWorld Cup messages, these three examples show thatbrand elements have been accompanying the competi-tion since its humble origins. The FIFA World Cupbrand has been built for over 80 years and the destina-tion of the event has mattered. Frankly, destinationsmore often than not were providing inspirations forthe poster and emblem designs. In the previous centu-ry, the words World Cup were sometimes adapted inthe host nation's language and the designs tried toappeal to and showcase the destination's spirit.

However, looking at Figure 2, one may also observe alack of uniformity and integrity between the elements.Although local inspiration between the posters andlogos is apparent, from the images to the letters to thelanguage, it appears that the World Cup brand was notgiven adequate attention. After all, strong and uniquelinks to one source complement and protect the brandfrom being interchangeable in the marketplace(Zaichkowsky, 2010). Also, brands with marks that areconsistent in their design with the name better com-municate the brand's meaning (Klink, 2003).

The soccer ball appeared in all three designs, butwould one glimpse at the posters of Mexico 1986 andItaly 1934 automatically triggers associations with theWorld Cup? In fact, the Jules Rimet Trophy, as theWorld Cup Trophy was known then, was featured onlyon the Official Emblem in 1966. The emblem of France1998 went much further in showcasing the World Cupbrand, but still built no easy connections with the pre-vious events. Each event was given a unique characterwhile long term strategies seemed to be lost, not exist-ing or depending on the sole global phenomenon ofthe game of soccer. The World Cup, although already abrand with strong images and associations, was lackingconsistency as a brand, which limited further opportu-nities to leverage.

FIFA World Cup Brand Elements after 2002At the turn of the century, FIFA made a decision to re-brand the organization and their most precious prod-uct. It started with the name. The new officiallytrademarked FIFA World Cup did not shy away fromthe past, but was building on its heritage. Lookingback, it was a logical move when the name World Cupwas used for the first time in the Official Emblem inUSA 1994 (the name FIFA World Cup had been usedin West Germany in 1974 before, but the idea was

abandoned four years later). The term World Cup wastoo generic, though, and could have brought all sortsof associations (there are World Cup competitions inother sporting codes, i.e. rugby or cricket). When FIFAtook on the role of the brand's endorser, the messagebecame clear. It also provided the consistency in theway the Official Name has been applied since then.

For FIFA it was a strategic decision that had its con-tribution to the rapid growth of the value of televisionrights. Between the World Cups in Spain (1982) andFrance (1998) the broadcast revenue was growingsteadily, from $23 million to $97 million respectively.However, the new branding strategy incorporatedbefore the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japanallowed for an unprecedented broadcast revenuesgrowth to $789, million pushing it all the way to $910million for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany(Solberg, 2004).

The role of the Host Country brands has grown aswell, as they have been providing inspiration to theunique yet consistent set of the event brand elements.Hence, FIFA recognized the growing role of anddependability on destinations in staging their tourna-ments. Not only was the World Cup brand to appearattractive to soccer fans, sponsors or broadcasters, butto potential hosts of the tournament as well. A strong,focused brand aligned with all of FIFA's activities, con-sistent in its communication of brand elements andincluding the host destination imagery was easier tobuild associations with and more difficult for mar-keters of non-sponsoring companies to ambush(Chalip, 2004). The following section will investigatelocal inspirations behind the brand elements of the2002, 2006 and 20JO FIFA World Cups.

Background and brand namesThe J7th FIFA World Cup took place in Korea andJapan between May 31 and June 30, 2002. It was anexceptional World Cup for several reasons. First, it wasthe first time FIFA agreed to co-host the event. It wasalso the first tournament that was hosted in Asia.Korea and Japan were competing separately in the finalbid, but eventually got into an unfriendly businessrelationship which was managed by two separateorganizing committees. Lastly, before the event, FIFAmade a decision to re-brand the organization. In con-sequence it was the first World Cup that went througha rigorous branding process ("More than a game,"2002) and the first one that trademarked its name andother brand elements.

There were two benefits of the new strategy. Onebenefit was clearnew and distinct brand identity. Abrand name is the verbal identity of a product, themain point of reference and the main verbal marketing


tool (Landa, 2006). The FIFA World Cup was a SoccerWorld Cup and was clearly differentiated from otherevents. The second benefit was in tbe trademarks,wbicb allowed FIFA to make sure tbat tbe media por-trayed tbe brand correctly ("FIFA Event Titles," 2011).In 2002, after a long battle between tbe Japanese's andKoreans' organizing committees over tbe order inwbicb tbe Host Country names would appear as tbeOfficial Name (McLaucblan, 2001), tbe 2002 FIFAWorld Cup Korea/Japan was agreed on.

Tbe next, 18* FIFA World Cup, was played inGermany between June 9 and July 9, 2006. Twelvecities were selected to bost tbe World Cup games. Itwas tbe first World Cup played in tbe unified Germanysince West Germany bosted tbe event in 1974. Tbetournament followed tbe branding rigor initiated in2002 and consistently kept tbe Official Name: 2006FIFA World Cup Germany.

Finally, the most recent FIFA World Cup was stagedin Soutb Africa between June 11 and July 11, 2010. Itwas tbe first World Cup on African soil, and tbe HostCountry took on tbe proud role of representing tbecontinent. Tbe games were played in ten stadiums andtbe signage and otber brand elements carried strongAfrican and Soutb African tbemes. Tbe Official Nameof tbe tournament kept tbe continuity: 2010 FIFAWorld Cup Soutb Africa.

Hence, since tbe Korean-Japanese World Cup, FIFAbas established a distinctive and memorable brand.The distinction came with FIFA making a decision toendorse its tournaments wbile still drawing on tbememories of past events. By combining tbe event andtbe destination names, a co-branding arrangement wasformed. Thus, every four years FIFA includes tbe bostdestination in tbe Official Name of the event wbicbmakes every tournament unique. Additionally, in cer-tain instances FIFA provides a translation to tbeOfficial Name in German, Spanish and French (allnames are composed of the same elements and mustbe used accordingly), wbile tbe 2014 FIFA World CupBrazil will also have a Brazilian equivalent ("FIFAEvent Titles," 2011).

LogosTbe FIFA World Cup brand autborities searcb for localinspirations in grapbic designs of particular tourna-ments. As mentioned before, althougb a standardizedbrand to some extent, every World Cup brings differ-ent experiences, and the destination matters. By incor-porating various references to Host Countries in thedesign process, tbe FIFA World Cup brand promisestbe world a unique experience every four years.

Tbe logo for tbe 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japanwas designed by London-based agency Interbrand. The

organization v/anted to move away from tbe clichsoccer ball tbat was so overused in tbe past. They cameup witb a fresli idea. Tbe FIFA World Cup Tropbyitself was the central feature of the emblem. Tbe tropbywas placed in a circular device symbolizing tbe uni-verse of tbe Asian cultures as well as the asymmetry,dynamism and harmony (Asian artistic principles).Below tbe picture, there was a name of the tournamentwritten in gold for quality wbile tbe two zeros in theyear of tbe evtnt (2002) were representing the unity oftbe co-bosts ("More than a game," 2002). For the firsttime the year of tbe tournament, tbe name of tbe HostCountry and tbe name of tbe event appeared next toeacb otber. The word FIFA was complementing tbename of the tournament as tbe endorsing brand fortbe first time as well. That practice bas been conse-quently incorporated in the events tbat followed.

The Official Emblem for the 2006 FIFA World CupGermany was designed by UK-based agencyWhitestone. Although designed by a different institu-tion, similarly to tbe design of tbe logo of the 2002World Cup, tbe emblem escaped the image of a soccerball. Instead, tbe central features were smiley facesmarketed as tbe Celebrating Faces of Football. Tbe mes-sage bebind it was to convince people to bave fun in2006 as well as to present bappy faces to tbe world todepose existing stereotypes about Germany (Mason,2002). Again, tbe FIFA World Cup Tropby found itsway into tbe picture, but tbis time not in a central role.The colors of tbe German flag were also visible subtlyon the left below one of tbe faces. The use of tbe greencolor in tbe design could bave symbolized tbe environ-mentally friendly cbaracter of tbe event, actually thefirst one ever wbere tbe emission of tbe greenhousegases was full)' compensated (Stabl, Hocbfeld, &Schmied, 2006). Again, as in 2002, tbe Official Nameof the tournament appeared in full.

Lastly, tbe 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa's logowas designed iind developed by Soutb African compa-ny Switch Design. The logo included strong referencesto the South /ifrican history and culture. A figure of aman kicking a soccer ball referred to tbe rock art pop-ular in tbe country centuries ago, wbile tbe bicycle kickposition brougbt dynamism to the picture ("AnnualReport," 2009). Tbe figure was placed on a backgroundresembling tbe sbape of the African continent paintedin the colors of tbe Soutb African flag. Similarly to tbetwo previous logo designs, tbe FIFA World CupTropby was fc atured in a circle in tbe top right corner.Tbe soccer ball came back to tbe picture, but as a sup-porting element ratber tban tbe main focus. Tbe FIFAbrand's blue colors complemented tbe design andagain, tbe full Official Name of the competitionappeared on tbe emblem.


Figure 3.The FIFA World Cup Official Emblems: 2002 Korea/Japan, 2006 Germany, 2010 South Africa. Printed in compliance withthe 2010 FIFA Public Guidelines. All three designs feature the FIFA World Cup Trophy and references to the Host Countriesthrough symbols and the application of color.

2OD2FIFA WORLD CUP

JAPAN sooe

SOUTHAFRICA

2010

Figure 4.The FIFA World Cup Official Posters: 2002 Korea/Japan, 2006 Germany, 2010 South Africa. Printed in compliance with the2010 FIFA Public Guidelines. All three posters feature the Official Name, Emblem and dates of the tournaments. The con-nection to Germany is not as apparent in the middle design where the organizers chose more global application.

2002 FIFA WORLD CUP

i

Figure 3 presents all three Official Emblems. It maybe noticed that the image of the World Gup Trophyalong with the Official Names of the tournaments forman integral part of each of those designs. Furthermore,the designs are all inspired by the destinations wherethe events take place, especially through the choice ofcolor. However, in comparison to the suggestive refer-ences in the first two designs (especially in the case ofGermany focused on changing the existing perceptionsrather than looking for an inspiration in them) the2010 FIFA World Gup emblem drew directly from theSouth African and African cultures while expressingthe dynamism and love for the game on the continent.The South African logo was also the only one designedby a local company, the situation repeated in relationto the graphic representation of the 2014 FIFA WorldGup Brazil.

PostersSince 1930 every World Gup has had an Official Posterpromoting the event. The Official Poster design for the2002 FIFA World Gup was reflecting the culture of

soccer and the two host nations. The art of brush-strokes that the main poster was designed with was torepresent the values of drama, speed, agility and beautyfound in the game of soccer. It was a result of thecooperation between two artists from Korea and Japan("The Official Logo & the Official Poster," 2002) wholooked for inspiration in their respective countries.

The Official Poster of the 2006 FIFA World GupGermany was chosen by the host nation for the firsttime in history. Over 50,000 of phone calls and mes-sages were received with the vote for one of the fiveshortlisted designs ("Official poster for 2006 FIFAWorld Gup unveiled in Stuttgart," 2004). The posterwas supposed to depict the sparkle and the significa-tion of the event in an emotive way. In addition, to theOfficial Poster of the event, all the host cities revealedtheir individual posters carrying the 2006 World Guplogo a few months before the tournament.

In 2010, the hero of the Official Poster was chosenby South Africans from the shortlisted four candidates.It portrayed the continent in the shape of a man head-ing the ball. The design depicted the relationship


between soccer and the African continent while alsohighlighting the passion of South African people("2010 Poster a Symbol of Africa," 2007). The posterwas designed by the same South African agencyresponsible for the artwork on the 2010 FIFA WorldCup Official Emblem. In addition to that, all nine hostcities in South Africa revealed individual posters pro-moting the event around the country 500 days beforethe event.

The three Official World Cup Posters accompanyingthe tournaments in Korea/Japan, Germany and SouthAfrica are displayed in Figure 4. All of the designs wereinspired by the game of soccer and to a certain extentby the destination. Nevertheless, although the Germanposter was chosen by the host nation, apart from theOfficial Emblem it does not seem to be inspired by thedestination, whereby in the case of the other twoposters that connection seems clearer.

CharactersThe 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan had threecomputer generated mascots called The Spheriks.Their collective name was supposed to create a uniqueand wonderful atmosphere around the World Cup("The Official 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/JapanMascots," 2002). They were three eccentric characterscoming from the planet Atmozone where Atmoballwas practiced that resembled terrestrial soccer. Thecreators of the mascots, Interbrand, gave them thenames Ato, Nik and Kaz which were chosen by a voteof soccer fans in McDonalds across Japan and Koreaand announced 400 days before kick-off ("The Official2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan Mascots," 2002).The mascots were promoting the World Cup for thefirst time through a computer animated televisionseries which made them famous even before the eventtook place. They also appeared as life-size characters inthe stadiums and during activities preceding the event,like the Official Trophy Tour passing by all of the 20

host cities. The futuristic mascots were chosen toreflect the technological advancement of Korea andJapan, homes to some of the leading global electronicand automobile brands. However, despite their com-mercial success, it may be argued that the abstractcharacter of the mascots made them disconnectedfrom the host nations of Korea and Japan and the orig-inal inspiration may have been lost (Grant, 2002).

The 2006 FIFA World Cup went in another direc-tion, unveiling the life-size character of the lionGOLEO VI at an official press conference. The namederived from I he mascot's father's cries: "Go Leo, Go!"during soccer games while the number was added byFIFA as GOLED was the sixth applicant for the OfficialMascot ("GOLEO VI - Official Mascot of the 2006FIFA World Cup," 2004). GOLEO was unique in a waythat he could talk, dance and had a talking soccer ball.Pille, as his partner. The mascot was the winner of the2008 FIFA ballot for the most popular mascot of alltime, especially among the German fans ("Goleo VItakes lion's share of vote," 2008). Although rated sohighly in 2008, back in 2006 at the beginning of thetournament the mascot failed to capture hearts of soc-cer fans (Scott, 2006). In May 2006, a German plushtoy manufacturer filed for bankruptcy due to poorsales ("First World Cup Casualty," 2006). One of thereasons behind it was claimed to be its lack of rele-vance to Germany ("Top Designer Says World CupDesign Just Embarrassing," 2006) where the nationalsymbol is an eagle, not a lion. Those disappointingsales results were even in spite of GOLEO's animatedtelevision show and busy marketing appearancesschedule before the World Cup.

Last, the World Cup in South Africa followed theroute of GOL1O, with some unique exceptions.Leopard Zakumi's name came from ZA, standing forSouth Africa, and Kumi which means Win variousAfrican languages. His character was another life-size

Figure 5.The FIFA World Cup Official Mascots: the Spheriks, GOLEO VI, Zakumi. Printed in compliance with the 2010 FIFA PublicGuidelines. Local inspirations seemed to be lost in the design of GOLEO VI, while Zakumi represents one of the Big Five ani-mals of Africa and carries the name of the country on his shirt.


figure, this time limited in his performance by stayingsilent. Zakumi did not have its own television show,like his predecessors, and did not speak or give inter-views, like COLEO VI. What distinguished the mascotfrom other characters marketed by FIFA in the 21^ *^century were his South African and African roots. FIFAdescribed the character as a 'mascot with attitude'("Zakumi: Spirit of South Africa 2010," 2010). Leopardis, beside lion, rhino, buffalo and elephant, one of theBig Five, Africa's greatest wild animals. The creatorsgave him a birth date tooJune 16, 1994, symbolizedthe day and month of the Soweto youth uprising andthe year of the first democratic elections in South Africarespectively ("Zakumi: Spirit of South Africa 2010,"2010). Zakumi participated in many promotional activ-ities before the World Cup, including the OfficialTrophy Tour and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.At the same time the mascot did not escape negativepress when a Chinese factory producing the toy wastemporarily shut down due to hard working conditions(Corcoran, 2010). FIFA was also criticized for overpric-ing the product and taking its manufacturing to Chinainstead of choosing a local company ("Zakumi mer-chandise too expensive," 2010).

Figure 5 presents the pictures of all three mascots.Comparing these images, one may assume that onlyZakumi represents a local inspiration behind the con-cept. Although the Spheriks' futuristic design can beseen as a reference to Asian television programmingand technological progress of the region, the challengesrelated to co-hosting prevented a more relevant out-come. GOLEO VI missed any associations withGermany, the host of the 2006 event. It may be due tothe creators trying to change the perception of thenation still carrying a stigma of the Second WorldWar. After all, the national symbol of eagle was alsoused by the Nazi regime and that may be one reasonthat justified the choice of a lion. Nevertheless, theneutral GOLEO VI seemed too unattached to buildany meaningful associations with the Host Country.Eventually, FIFA found the right balance with Zakumi,a leopard proudly displaying his South African andAfrican roots.

' J 1 _, ..

SlogansThe 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan did nothave any tagline attached to it. The strong rivalrybetween the two Host Countries to have the OfficialName of the event featuring their respective nationsfirst (Korea/Japan vs. Japan/Korea) resulted in FIFAdemanding one name to be used in both countries inthe same manner (McLauchlan, 2001). In such anenvironment, the creation of a slogan promoting thetournament never materialized.

On the other hand, the Official Slogan was an impor-tant element of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germanybrand. A time to make friends complemented theOfficial Emblem of the event. It reflected the atmos-phere during the competition where the main goal wasto show the world that Germany was a hospitablenation and the country was fun (Eberl, 2007).

Most recently, the 2010 FIFA World Cup SouthAfrica's slogan was Ke Nako. Celebrate Africa'sHumanity. Ke Nako in Sotho means It is time andthose words were reflecting the long awaited first tour-nament on the African soil. Ke Nako was implementedin various marketing communications and OfficialPosters of the tournament. Ke Nako was also a FIFAquarterly magazine available for free in the OrganizingCommittee's headquarters and some areas surround-ing the World Cup stadiums.

Thus, looking closer at the Official Slogans of theprevious three World Cups, it appears that onlyKorea/Japan did not take advantage of incorporatingthis element in branding of the tournament at thetime. Their lack of an Official Slogan missed on theregional inspiration. In 2006 the brand looked withinthe Host Country to produce a slogan supporting themessages carried on the Official Emblem. Similarly, inSouth Africa the enthusiasm behind the slogan repre-sented the readiness of the nation and the continent.Originating in Sotho, Ke Nako expressed the hope ofthe country sharing the turbulent past of the Africancontinent (Clarke, 2010). In 2010 Africa was ready.2014 FIFA World Cup BrazilBrazil launched an official bid to host the 2014 FIFAWorld Cup in December 2006 ("Brazil to make 2014World Cup bid," 2006). According to FIFA's rotationpolicy at the time, the tournament was to be staged inSouth America. Brazil was the only bidder from thecontinent and eventually was awarded with the hostingrights on October 30, 2007 ("Brazil bid," 2007). Brazilis the fifth largest country and the fifth most populouscountry in the world, inhabited by 190 million people.It stretches for almost half of the continent with anAtlantic Ocean coastline of over 4,500 miles. It is theonly country that has participated in every singleWorld Cup since 1930, and it also has the richest excel-lence of soccer in the world.

For the second consecutive time FIFA revealed theOfficial Emblem of the following World Cup only daysbefore the preceding event concluded. The logo of the2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil was unveiled in SouthAfrica in July 2010. The timing was importantFIFAused media scrutiny of the competition held in SouthAfrica to leverage their 2014 brand and maintain theevent brand continuity. Similarly to the previous


World Cups, more brand elements are to be developedat a later stage ("2014 FIFA Public Guidelines," n.d.).Brazil's Tourist Board, Embratur, launched a globalmarketing campaign Brazil Is Calling You across multi-ple media platforms in July 2010. The main goal of thecampaign was to invite the world to visit the country.Brazil was also aggressively promoted at the airportsand main tourist hubs of Johannesburg and CapeTown during the 2010 FIFA World Cup ("World Cup2014," 2010). FIFA currently promotes the HostCountry and the host cities in the Destination sectionof the official 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil website.

ConclusionThe purpose of this case study was to recognize howthe Host Countries inspired FIFA's chosen brand ele-ments in the three most recent World Cups in order toestablish how local themes maj be incorporated in the-Tahle 1.Characteristics of the FIFA World Cup Brand Elements

branding of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. Table 1presents the summary of the analysis of the FIFAWorld Cup brand elements before and after 2002. Themost striking difference is the branding approach, orlack thereof, between the two eras. The lack of consis-tency and focus dominated throughout the decades ofthe 20th century. The easiest to observe was differentnomenclature referring to the Official Name of thetournament for almost 70 years. The last decadebrought a new direction. The consistency in the namehas been striking since 2002, which has created clearunderstanding about the official naming of futuretournaments. The logos and posters, which in the pasthad been inconsistent in their portrayal of the eventand its Host Ciountry, became the key trademarks inthe 21st century. The mascots have provided morepromotional opportunities since 1966, but only recent-ly have they been incorporated in various brand activa-

Before 2002

Brand name Inconsistent - in various languages calledSoccer World Championships, World Cup,sometimes only carrying the name of the hostcountry and the year in the name (i.e. Mexico86); no references with exception of 1974when the FIFA World Cup name was used

Logo Inconsistent - various languages used, dominantrole of a soccer ball, the actual World Cup (thenthe Jules Rimet Cup) appeared only in 1966;irregular references to the Host Countries - i.e.Brazilian colors in 1950, no references inMexico 1970

Poster Inconsistent - dominant theme of a soccer ball.no consistent references (if any) to the HostCountries (especially prior to 1966), no FIFAWorld Cup Trophy

Character Most often carrying references to the HostCountries through the design or the name;accompanied by a soccer ball

Slogan None

AI ter 2002

Consistent - co-branded with thedestination. Official full name of thetournament is composed with the yearof the event (i.e. 2010) event brand (FIFAWorld Cup) and a destination brand (i.e.South Africa): 2010 FIFA World CupSouth Africa

Consistent - The FIFA World Cup Trophyalways in a logo; full name of the tourna-ment, references to the host destinationsin design and coloring

Consistent - logo always on a poster, fullname of the tournament with dates;references to the Host Countries not alwaysafparent (Germany 2006) .

Most often carrying references to the HostCountries through the design or thename; accompanied by a soccer ball; theOfficial Mascot also appears as a realfigure in the stadiums and during promo-tional events

The Official Slogans in 2006 and 2010were an opportunity to tie the event withthe host destination


tion strategies of FIFA and sponsors and bave vastentertainment opportunities in tbe stadiums (altbougbtbeir cboice and local inspiration bave been at timesquestionable). Finally, tbe slogans have tied the eventand the destination together and are now additionaldrivers to promote tbe FIFA World Cup and the desti-nation brands. | :

Brazil will be hosting tbe tournament in June andJuly of 2014. Altbougb the country tbat once gave tbeworld Pele seems to be tbe perfect matcb witb tbeWorld Cup brand, tbe analysis of tbe previous tbreeWorld Cups showed tbat tbe marriage of FIFA WorldCups and Host Countries through a combined set ofbrand elements can be a daunting task. We know tbeOfficial Emblem and tbe Official Name of tbe nextWorld Cup, more brand elements will follow.Nevertheless, the question still stands as to bow localinspirations may be incorporated in tbe branding oftbe 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.

References2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa: FIFA public information sheet. (2007).

Retrieved from http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/mar-keting/53/42/06/2010_fifa_public_guidelines_en_260908.pdf

2010 poster a symbol of Africa. (2007, November 26). Retrieved fromhttp://www.southafrica.info/2010/201 Oposter.htm

2014 FIFA public guideline.s. (n.d.). Retrieved fromhttp://www.fifa.com/mm/d()cument/affederation/market-ing/01/37/85/97/2014_fifapublicguidelines_eng^25012011.pdf

Adamson, A. P. (2007). Brand simple. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.Annual report. (2009). 2010 FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee South

Africa.Haker, W. E. (2003). Does brand name imprinting in memory increase

brand information retention? Psychology and Marketing, 20, 1119-1135.lindea. A., Seserman, A., Bara, M., & Iancu, I. (2009). Tune your brand in:

The perfect jingle mix. Journal of Media Research, 5, 101-112.Brazil bid: Inspection report for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. (2007).

Retrieved from http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/mis-sion/62/24/78/inspectionreport_e_24841 .pdf

Brazil to make 2014 World Cup bid (2006). Retrieved fromhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/6173775.stm

Buchanan, L. (2005). New laws of the jingle. Harvard Business Review, 83,20.

Burton, R. (2003). Olympic Games host city marketing: An exploration ofexpectations and outcomes. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 12, 37-47.

Buttle, H., & Westoby, N. (2006). Brand logo and name association: It's allin the name. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 1181-1194.

Cashman, R. (2004). The future of a multi-sport mega-event: Is there aplace for the Olympic Games in a post-Olympic world? In J. Bale & M.Christensen (Eds.), Post Olympism?: Questioning sport in the twenty firstcentury (pp. 119-1.34). Oxford, NY: Berg.

Chalip, L. (2004). Beyond impact: A general model for sport event leverage.In B.W. Ritchie & D. Adair (Eds.), Sport tourism: Interrelationships,impacts and issues (pp. 226-252). Clevedon, England: Channel ViewPublications.

Clarke, L. (2010, )une 11 ). 'Rainbow nation' welcomes World Cup. TheWashington Post. Retrieved fromhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/06/10/AR2010061004992.html

Corcoran, B. (2010, March 3). World Cup mascot plant in sweatshop alle-gation.s. Irish Times. Retrieved from http://www.irishtimes.com/newspa-per/world/2010/0311/1224266045243.html

Eberl, N. (2007). Brand ovation: Celebrating your brand. South Africa:IziCwe Academy.

FIFA event titles. (2011, May 5). Retrieved fromhttp://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/marketing/51/54/90/rifaeventtitles_050520U_fifaapproved.pdf

First World Cup casualty. (2006, Jun/Jul). License! Europe, 26.Florek, M., Breitbarth, T., & Conejo, F. (2008). Mega event = mega impact?

Travelling fans' experience and perceptions of the 2006 FIFA WorldCup host nation. Journal of Sport Tourism, 13, 199-219.

Garretson, J. A., & Niedrich, R. W. (2004). Spokes-characters. Journal ofAdvertising, 33, 25-36.

GOLEO VI - Official mascot of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. (2004,November 14). Retrieved fromhttp://www.fa.com/worldcup/archive/germany2006/media/newsid=32719.html

Goleo VI takes lion's share of vote. (2008, October 1). Retrieved fromhttp://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/southafriai2010/news/newsid=894279/index.html

Gordon, R. S. C, & London, I. (2006). Italy 1934: Football and fascism. InA. Tomlinson & C. Young (Eds.), National identity and global sportsevents: Culture, politics and spectacle in the Olympics and the FootballWorld Cup (pp. 41-64). New York, NY: State University of New YorkPress.

Grant, M. (2002). Virtual reality football can't compete with the real thing;Japan. Retrieved from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20020623/ai_n 12577000/

Keller, K. L., Aperia, T., & Georgson, M. (2008). Strategic brand manage-ment: A European perspective. Edinburgh, Scotland: FT Prentice Hall.

Klink, R. R. (2003). Creating meaningful brands: The relationship betweenbrand name and brand mark. Marketing Letters, 14, 143-157.

Kotze, N., & Visser, G. (2008). Sport tourism: Comparing participant pro-files and impact of three one-day events in South Africa. Africa Insight,38,61-72.

Landa, R. (2006). Designing brand experiences. Clifton Park, NY: ThomsonDelmar Learning.

Leuthesser, L. L. L., Kohli, C. C. K., & Suri, R. R. S. (2003). 2-^ 2=5? Aframework for using co-branding to leverage a brand. Journal of BrandManagement, II, 35-47.

Lichfield, I. (2006, lune 5). Jules Rimet: The man who kicked off the WorldCup. The Independent. Retrieved from

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/proflles/jules-rimet-the-man-who-kicked-off-the-world-cup-481145.html

Lister, L. (2009). Packaging that stacks up. B & TMagazine. Retrieved fromhttp://www.bandt.com.au/news/packaging-that-stacks-up

Mason, T. (2002, December 19). FIFA unveils World Cup 2006 smile logo.Media Week. Retrieved fromhttp://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/167280/BRANDlNG-FlEA-unveus-World-Cup-2006-smile-logo/

McLauchlan, A. (2001). Korea/Japan or Japan/Korea? The .saga of co-host-ing the 2002 Soccer World Cup. Journal of Historical Sociology, 14, 481-507.

Mize, J., & Kinney, L. (2008). Spokes-character influence on brand relation-ship quality factors. American Academy of Advertising ConferenceProceedings, 177-187.

More than a game. (2002). Creative Review, 22, 39-41.Morgan, N., & Pritchard, A. (2002). Contextualizing de.stination branding.

In N. Morgan, A. Pritchard, & R. Pride (Eds.), Destination branding:Creating the unique value proposition (pp. 11-41). Oxford: Butterwort-Hinemann.

Newman, K. A. (2009). Packaging is critical to brand identity. GlobalCosmetic Industry, 177, 30-33.

Official emblem, (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/ofFi-cialemblem/index.html


Official poster for 2006 FIFA World Cup unveiled in Stuttgart. (2004,September 30). Retrieved from http://www.nfa.com/aboutnfa/federa-tion/releases/newsid=94313.html

Preuss, H. (2000). Economics of the Qlympic Games: Hosting the Games1972-2000. Sydney, Australia: Walla Wall Press.

Scott, S. (2006, June 10). Mascot fails to capture heart of World Cup fans.Weekend Edition Saturday (National Public Radio).

Solberg, H. (2004). Sport broadcasting. In I. Beech & S. Chadwick (Eds.),The business of sport management (pp. 368-393). Harlow, England: FTPrentice Hall.

South Africa 2010 - Final report, (n.d.). SA 2010 World Cup Bid.Stahl, H., Hochfeld, C, & Schmied, M. (2006). FIFA green goal legacy report.

Frankfurt/Main: Organizing Committee (OC) 2006 FIFA World Cup.The official 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan mascots. (2002, May 18).

Retrieved fromhttp://www.nfa.com/aboutfifa/federation/releases/newsid=86215.html

The official logo & the official poster. (2002, May 18). Retrieved fromhttp://www.fa.com/aboutfifa/marketing/releases/newsid=86219.html

Ticketing process explained. (2009). Retrieved fromhttp://wvfw.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/southafrica2010/organisation/ticketing/news/newsid= 1149274/index.html

Top designer says World Cup design "just embarrassing." (2006, June 12).Retrieved from http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,2049898,00.html

TV data. (n.d.). Retrieved fromhttp://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/marketing/factsfigures/tvdata.html

Uggla, H. (2004). The brand association base: A conceptual model forstrategically leveraging partner brand equity. Journal of BrandManagement, 12, 105-123.

World Cup 2014: Campaign "Brazil is calling you" reaches 100 countries.(2010). Retrieved from http://www.brasil.gov.br/news/histo-ry/2010/07/14/world-cup-2014-campaign-201cbrazil-is-calling-you-201 d-reaches- 100-countries/newsitem_view?set_language=en

Zaichkowsky, J. L. (2010). Strategies for distinctive brands. Journal of BrandManagement, 17, 548-560.

Zakumi merchandise 'too expensive.' (2010, March 16). Retrieved fromhttp://www.sportindustry.co.7.a/news/view/1641/zakumi-merchandise-%27too-expensive%27

Zakumi: Spirit of South Africa 2010. (2010). Retrieved fromhttp://www.southafrica.info/2010/zakumi.htm

Editor's Note: Teaching notes for this case study areavailable at www.fitinfotech.com.


Copyright of Sport Marketing Quarterly is the property of Fitness Information Technology, Inc. and its contentmay not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's expresswritten permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

Documents

Fifa WC Brand Elements