Under the shadow of the global FIFA scandal, 12 teams from South and Central America have gathered to compete in football’s oldest international tournament – the Copa America – hosted by Chile and running from 11 June to 4 July.
The tournament is being promoted via the usual set of organiser trailers and teasers and by sponsor activations that come despite the ongoing corruption investigation that has indicted 14 people – 12 of whom are from Latin America and the Caribbean (the twin homes of the Copa America).
The sponsorship portfolio for this year’s Copa América comprises 10 partners split into five categories.
At the top sit three platinum sponsors in Santander, MasterCard and Kia – with each thought to be paying around US$5 million for their top tier rights.
On the second rung Claro, the sole tournament gold sponsor, is running pan-regional and local market executions (such as this example from Colombia), while the third tier of silver sponsors consists of logistics partner DHL (which is airing both a mainstream tournament campaign and work highlighting its status as a co-sponsor of the Trophy Tour), Kellogg’s and and Coca-Cola.
The partner portfolio is completed by official suppliers LAN & TAM Airlines and Canon and the local sponsor AirBnB (which has created a web portal which allows private homeowners to rent rooms to tourists on a nightly basis, has created a dedicated hub on its website for the Copa América).
The scandal clearly poses a risk for both the property owners CONMEBOL (the South American Football Confederation) and its commercial partners (who have paid around US$60m and were signed by ‘WeMatch’ – an organisation that includes Traffic Sports which is also under investigation by the FBI).
‘We expect any entity we conduct business with operates with the highest ethical practices and standards, without exception,’ said a MasterCard PR statement following the scandal. ‘We are following this developing situation very closely and we will continue to do so as it evolves.’
While both Kia and Kellogg’s said they are ‘continuing to monitor the situation’ and a Cola-Cola statement said that FIFA needs ‘to act with urgency and win back the trust of fans through concrete actions.’
