FIFA fever

The World Cup futball games are now in the semi-final stage, with 4 teams (nations) left to play.  Fédération Internationale de Football Association (“FIFA”) says it is the largest single sports event and most-watched competition on earth.  Brazil is the host country, and one of the final four teams to play.  I happen to live in a town that has a large Brazilian population, and we have plenty of traffic jams downtown before and after each game with cars proudly displaying the Brazilian flag.

I have watched a few games, and like how the sideboards rotate the sponsor names in sporadic intervals. It made me wonder who the sponsors are, and how much they have to pay for the privilege.  I found some good info on the “official documents” page on the FIFA.com website.  

I had no idea that there was an official mascot

And an official slogan

An official look element. Say what?

An official poster with logos

Here are the companies that are allowed to use the above “Official Marks” for promotion:

According to their website, here is the breakdown of the sponsor levels:

FIFA Partners – pay between $25M and $50M for the privilege.

FIFA Partners are altogether 6 entities to which FIFA has granted or

will grant the most comprehensive package of global advertising,

promotional and marketing rights in relation to FIFA, all FIFA

activities and all FIFA competitions, including the 2014 FIFA World

Cup™.

FIFA World Cup Sponsors – pay between $10M to $25M each.

FIFA World Cup Sponsors are a maximum of 8 companies to which

FIFA has granted or will grant the second-most comprehensive

package of global advertising, promotional and marketing rights in

relation to the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ (and the FIFA Confederations

Cup Brazil 2013).

National Supporters – combined $170M to promote only in Brazil

National Supporters are a maximum of 6 companies to which FIFA

has granted or will grant a package of advertising, promotional and

marketing rights in relation to the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ (and the

FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013) for the territory of Brazil.

When I see that there is a price range for sponsorship, and everyone gets the same – it makes me nervous for the sponsor-sales peeps.  What if a company comes back at them with information that one company paid less than them?  I would always protect the integrity of my event by making sure that everyone pays the same.  No side deals. It helped me sleep at night knowing I was not going to have any uncomfortable confrontations.

These FIFA-folks are serious about their brand protection, and have a complete section on their website talking about intellectual property and enforcement.  I guess there really is such a thing as the Logo Police!  FIFA is serious about protecting the rights of their sponsors, and have a three-prong brand-protection plan: Communication, Surveillance and Enforcement. How do YOU protect YOUR event brand?

I found this under the Enforcement section, wondering if there is a FIFA-Hit-Squad for those street-corner-vendors selling unauthorized merchandise:

FIFA’s approach to brand protection focuses on education and guidance, rather than enforcement by means of legal threats and sanctions. FIFA prefers direct personal contact to bring infringing situations to an end by speaking to the business in question, explaining why the specific situation is problematic and seeking cooperation in solving the issue.

In more serious cases, where there is a clear intention to take a free ride on the goodwill vested in the event and the public excitement surrounding it, FIFA may need to engage in court proceedings to halt an infringing situation and to claim financial compensation for the damages suffered. However, FIFA will not resort to such legal action without an in-depth analysis of the intention, scale and commercial impact of the matter at hand.

Perhaps your walkathon should incorporate some of these tactics when your teams make their own shirts using your trademarked event logo. They should be supporting your cause by buying YOUR event shirt.

I wonder if the Logo Police will come after me for using these “official Marks” on my blog.  I’ll be waiting with the official Brazilian drink, a  Caipirinha, in-hand.   Good luck to my Brazilian neighbors today!