COCA-COLA MISSES OUT ON ADDITIONAL (US) $7.7 MILLION OF BRANDING EXPOSURE AT JOHANNESBURG WORLD CUP MATCHES
PHILADELPHIA, PA- June 22, 2010 – Even though Coca-Cola is an official partner of FIFA, they still received the equivalent of a sponsorship red card at this year’s World Cup. Coke missed out on an additional (US) $7.7 million of branding exposure from their Naming Rights partnership at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa according to sponsorship evaluation firm Front Row Analytics. FIFA requires each World Cup host stadium to remove any corporate naming partner’s branding, during the tournament in support of FIFA’s official sponsors.
Front Row Analytics is the evaluation division of Front Row Marketing Services (www.frontrow-marketing.com), an industry leader in commercial rights sales and a subsidiary of the Philadelphia, PA based sport and entertainment firm, Comcast-Spectacor.
Countries and television stations that were used in this analysis; USA (ESPN/ABC), United Kingdom (ITV), China (CCT), India (ESS), Canada (Rogers SportsNet/ TSN), South Africa – SABC, Germany (ARD/ZDF) and France (TF1). The stadium’s name and brand identity would have received an estimated 1 minute and 4 seconds of in-broadcast exposure during each broadcast of the six games it will have hosted. This includes exposure from exterior and interior stadium signage and verbal mentions.
“While covering up signage is the norm for corporately named stadiums hosting World Cup matches, this particular situation is unique considering Coke is already an official partner with FIFA,” said Eric Smallwood, VP of Project Management for Front Row Marketing Services. “One reason that naming rights partnerships are valuable for branding is due to the named venues hosting big time events which bring in expansive media exposure. In this case Coca-Cola is losing out on almost (US) $8 million of exposure for a sponsorship that could have been an extension of its FIFA partnership.”
How the Naming Rights exposure value was calculated in various countries around the world.
|
Country/Broadcast Channel
|
30-Second Advertising
Equivalent
(Local Currency)
|
Exposure Value (Local Currency)
|
Currency Type
|
Exposure Value in US$
|
|
US- ESPN/ABC
|
$37,500
|
$480,000
|
US Dollar
|
$480,000
|
|
UK - ITV
|
£150,000
|
£1,920,000
|
UK Pounds
|
$2,787,840
|
|
China - China Central TV (CCT)
|
CNY 150,750
|
CNY 1,929,600
|
Renminbi
|
$281,722
|
|
India- ESPN Star Sports (ESS)
|
INR 30,000
|
INR 384,000
|
Rupees
|
$7,680
|
|
Canada - CBC
|
$25,000
|
$320,000
|
Canadian Dollars
|
$304,000
|
|
South Africa - SABC
|
R 75,000
|
R 960,000
|
Rand- ZAR
|
$98,880
|
|
Germany ZDF/ARD
|
130,000 €
|
€ 1,664,000
|
Euro- German
|
$2,246,400
|
|
French - TF1
|
90,000 €
|
€ 1,152,000
|
Euro- France
|
$1,555,200
|
|
Overall Value (US$)
|
|
|
|
$7,761,722
|
|
Note: This 30-second Advertising Equivalent is based on the average reported cost throughout the entire World Cup tournament.
|
|
Annual Cost of Naming Rights
(Cost of the Coca-Cola deal, was sold for 4.5 years)
|
Stadium
|
City
|
|
Reported Annual Cost
|
|
|
|
Pounds
|
Euro
|
US Dollars
|
|
Coca-Cola Park
|
Johannesburg
|
£6,666,667
|
€ 8,377,778
|
$12,888,889
|
For more media evaluation success stories check out www.frontrow-marketing.com.
Front Row Marketing Services, a subsidiary of the sport and entertainment firm Comcast-Spectacor, is based in Philadelphia, PA with offices in or near Los Angeles, CA; San Jose, CA; Fort Collins, CO; Miami, FL; Orlando, FL; Augusta, GA; Chicago, IL; Des Moines, IA; Portland, ME; Detroit, MI; Minneapolis, MN; Kansas City, MO; Albuquerque, NM; Albany, NY; Cleveland, OH; Vancouver, BC; London, ON; and Birmingham, UK. FRMS generates incremental revenue for public assembly venues, sports teams and municipalities through the marketing and sales of naming rights, advertising/sponsorships, exclusive product and vendor rights agreements, premium seating and hospitality features. The company currently develops incremental revenue for over 45 accounts.
Comcast-Spectacor (comcast-spectacor.com) is the Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment company which owns the Philadelphia Flyers (NHL), the Philadelphia 76ers (NBA), two Philadelphia arenas, the Wachovia Center and Wachovia Spectrum, four Flyers Skate Zone community ice skating and hockey rinks and Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. In addition, Comcast-Spectacor is also the principal owner of Global Spectrum, the fastest growing firm in the public assembly management field with more than 85 facilities throughout the United States and Canada; Ovations Food Services, a food and beverage service provider; New Era Tickets, a ticketing and marketing company for public assembly facilities; Front Row Marketing Services, a commercial rights sales company; and 3601 Creative Group, a full-service in-house advertising agency. In a partnership with Disson Skating, Comcast-Spectacor annually produces 10 nationally televised figure skating spectaculars on NBC.