Next June Poland (and Ukraine) will host the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, the second biggest international football tournament in the world, but according to a recent poll by Puls Biznesu many Poles aren’t crystal clear who is sponsoring the competition. The February research shows that 24% of respondents said they had no idea who the tournament’s main sponsors were, and 16% said they could not associate any brands at all with Euro 2012.
Quite what this means for the international brands sponsoring the event (such as Continental, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Hyundai, Kia, Sharp, Adidas, Carlsberg and Castrol) and the Polish sponsors (which include Wedel, Bank Pekao, and TP).
This is the first time Poland has qualified for the tournament and the first time the country has hosted an event on this scale – so it is certainly a unique opportunity for the sponsors. Despite the poll results, most Polish national team sponsors are already gearing up to try and make the most of a unique opportunity to leverage their rights.
For national team sponsors this is perhaps their biggest ever engagement opportunity – whether the objective brand awareness, communicating values and message, or simply the chance to develop deeper emotional relationships with existing consumers based on patriotism and pride.
The team’s flagship and shirt sponsor is the France Telecom-owned mobile telecoms network Orange. It recently launched its initial Euroe 2012 campaign – the first wave in what will be an in-depth activation programme .
This kick-off campaign focuses on a consumer promotion – giving all those Polish consumers who purchase any Orange product and send in a competition-related text message chance to win tickets for Euro 2012 matches of official balls.
The executions also drive consumers to a new Orange National Team Euro 2012 webpage at www.2012.orange.pl
Other national team sponsors already activating include Polish mineral water brand Cisowianka with football-themed TV, print and outdoor work leveraging its Euro 2012 sponsorship under its tagline ‘A source of good emotions’.
Poland’s largest supermarket, Biedronka (Ladybird), is also a national team backer. The retailer, which boasts 1,700 outlets around the country, has already launched a humour-led TV campaign fronted by brand ambassador and national team coach Franciszek Smuda.
The creative theme revolves around press conference in which Smuda announces the names of the players in the Polish squad for the Euros, but instead of naming his well known star players he caalls out a random list of Polish names no one has ever heard of. The ad runs with the tagline ‘We are all the national team’.
This pay-=off copy is not dissimilar to that being used by another national team sponsor, beer brand Warka. Its current Euro 2012-related campaign takes place in the brewery and uses the line ‘Together we represent Poland’.
Comment:
With classic creative themes of patriotism and pride, as well as consumer and brand-created messages of support for the team, the Polish team sponsors look set to make the most of this huge opportunity.
One interesting angle to watch is whether the focus continues to be exclusive on the local market and be dominated by Polish brands, or whether this becomes a genuine global event for Polish sponsors.
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