FIFA is in crisis but you’d be mad to give up a sponsorship
FIFA has been thrown into chaos after the arrest of officials over claims of corruption in football. But former Visa global sponsorship head Andrew Woodward argues while change is needed sponsors would be mad to dump the organisation now.
Around the world today, PR folks in places like San Francisco, Seoul , Chicago, Nuremberg, St Louis and Atlanta are fielding calls from breathless journalists asking if they will continue their sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup.
Meanwhile, marketing is on the phone as social media is turning over at pace as people say things like “I am going to boycott your product unless you dump FIFA”.
The cities mentioned are the homes of the some of the big sponsors of the most prestigious sporting event in the world. In the offices of companies like Visa, Kia Hyundai, McDonalds, Adidas, Budweiser and Coca-Cola, these same PR folks are being summoned to the C-suite to discuss the company’s response while others ponder whether their sponsorship should continue. Then there’s the question of how to respond on the company Facebook page.
Great piece, from someone who has obviously been around for a few cycles of this
Are you serious Mr Woodward?
Quote: “People love it. They don’t care about the corruption.”
Really? You suggest sponsors ignore the ethics of this issue.
Does corruption at the highest levels have little to do with businesses that fund the world game? And where does the sponsorship funding buck stop?
Perhaps FIFA rots from the head.
As someone invested in sponsorship, it infuriates me to see the inevitable “X calls for sponsors boycott” in the days after any sporting controversy, be it Essendon/Cronulla/FIFA, etc etc. Sponsors can get a great deal of brand equity out of sticking with a beleaguered organisation. In regards to FIFA, the category sponsors involved (FMCG, automotive, airlines) are so competitive that if a brand pulls out, a slightly less scrupulous rival will just take their place.
Seriously ?! here’s a bit of history about Visa and FIFA
http://www.independent.co.uk/n.....98086.html
FIFA appears to be a truly corrupt organisation. Yet they’ve shrugged their shoulders at crisis after crisis. Why? Because the money doesn’t stop flowing. Real change within the sporting body will never happen unless it hits them in their back pocket – eg. sponsors drop their support.
In other words, this is really an issue of corporate social responsibility for sponsors – the time for talking has finished, the time for action is at hand.
absolutey – I agree that calling for boycotts on everthing is extreme
…. but this is the one situation where the corruption is blatant, systemic, enormous and has gone on for decades.
In truth it constitutes the ability of a handful of greedy pigs to tax the planet for one of its true universal public goods.
They’re unaccountable to anyone (governments, fans, clubs, players) but the sponsors and Visa and the like have done nothing to enact reform, just feed the corruption. Its truly a global responsibilty that they are shirking.
Sponsorship is always a risky business. Ask those who sponsored Tiger Woods.
There’s a lot more to this then usual graft & corruption FIFA is famous for – the ITUC estimates that 4,000 workers will die in Qatar by the time the World Cup is actually held in 2022.
This is not just about how much a brand can make from a sporting event but also the ethics of their involvement – a cursory skim of social media will show you where the public heads are at.
This Australia, Andrew Woodward. In recognition of the fact that there is more than one prevalent code of “football” in Australia, true Australians refer to your favoured code as “soccer”.
Oh and it’s NOT the “Football World Cup”, it’s the “FIFA World Cup”. If it was genuinely the “Football World Cup”, all football codes would be represented.
seems your old colleagues don’t agree with you Mr Woodward
http://www.theguardian.com/foo.....ppointment
For those who may have missed the Guardian article, here’s what it reported from worried sponsors. Perhaps Woodie would comment:
“Football sponsors, including Adidas, Visa and Coca-Cola, have joined calls for Fifa to reform its practices.
“This lengthy controversy has tarnished the mission and ideals of the Fifa World Cup and we have repeatedly expressed our concerns about these serious allegations,” Coca Cola said.
Visa issued a statement expressing its “disappointment and concern with Fifa”, adding that it “will reassess our sponsorship” if the governing body does not make immediate changes.
South Korean firm Hyundai Motor, the sole Asian Fifa partner for the 2018 World Cup to be held in Russia, said it was “extremely concerned”. Brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev, whose Budweiser brand is a sponsor of the 2018 World Cup, said: “We expect all of our partners to maintain strong ethical standards and operate with transparency.”
McDonald’s said it was monitoring the situation.”
Will they pull their sponsorships. Doubtful. And I go a
Ha! We all know what “reassess” means in PR world. Wait for the storm to pass and not give up the sponsorship. Tough words only. I completely agree with Andrew. It’s sad but true. Go work in the NGO sector if you have any moral issues with this. Corporations don’t have souls, they have shareholders.
We need a chief who puts football first and not money and yes, believe it or not, there are great people out there who would treat the job in that manner.
…and then there’s the not too small question of the projected deaths of 4000 migrant workers working on the Qatar 2022 world cup infrastructure.
Hi, thanks for the comments. A few things…
I have done an updated post following the weekend’s events:
https://staging.mumbrella.com.au/if-fans-want-to-hit-fifa-where-it-hurts-they-should-look-at-their-media-deals-not-sponsors-297190
To the above…
Gawen: Abuse of human rights and bribery are not the sole domain of sport. They are in every line of business and government. In a societal sense, sport and in particular football does far more good than harm in uniting communities and encouraging people to lead healthy and active lifestyles. I am not condoning anything that has come to light this week. FIFA must change its leadership, bidding rules, governance and philosophy. I am saying that business needs to react maturely to events such as these.
Sub-editor: Exactly!
AJ: See comment to Gawen.
Nic and Andrew: In addition to the leadership and governance issues, FIFA also needs to use this current period to make some hard decisions about the 2022 FIFA World Cup, currently scheduled for staging in Qatar. There are serious questions about the awarding of rights; it defies logic on geographic, demographic, climate, facilities and scheduling grounds and, construction is problem plagued. It will remain a brand, reputational, logistical and game-integrity issue for FIFA and its commercial partners for as long as it remains scheduled for staging there.
Agency guy: Yep. They hit send when I hit send.
Thanks everyone.
Andrew
There is just so much wrong with this article. I’m not a leftie, but the corporate nonsense that is spouted to justify utterly abhorrent behaviour is just disgusting. Its that classic approach of ‘well someone else will just make money out of it, so why cant I?’
No different to the ‘I raped the girl dressed in a mini-skirt because she was asking for it’ school of ethics.
Yes I know that man Mr Hitler has some very anti-Semitic and racist views and his henchman are killing his enemies but these Berlin Olympics are going to be the best yet in shiny new stadiums and the people will love it. Where would you have stood Mr Woodward?