The World Cup is coming, brands trying to take advantage of the hype need to avoid these pitfalls!

The World Cup, which is held every four years, is already in the countdown. Are you a little excited?

Fans began to get agitated, and marketers also entered a "wartime" state, launching the first wave of leverage in advance.

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However, please note that you can’t just take advantage of the hot spots if you want to!

FIFA may be on the way to sue you for infringement ! !

Recently, TCL TV and Changhong received warnings from FIFA because the two brands used World Cup-related logos and advertised themselves as "World Cup designated products" without becoming official sponsors of the 2018 World Cup. At present, these promotional materials have been quickly removed.

Beware of pitfalls, learn about the World Cup sponsorship system~

Without sponsorship, there would be no World Cup. The sponsorship fees for the World Cup are very high. Therefore, in order to protect the interests of sponsors, the World Cup has always had strict regulations on advertising rights.

According to the official website of the 2018 Russia World Cup , there are currently 19 sponsors of this World Cup, divided into three levels. Different levels of sponsorship can obtain different degrees of marketing rights.

The first level, FIFA partners, can use FIFA and all its event trademarks for all kinds of promotion at any time and anywhere.

There are currently seven sponsors at this level, including one Chinese brand Wanda , and the other six are Adidas , Coca-Cola , Qatar Airways, Hyundai/Kia, Gazprom and VISA.

Second level, FIFA World Cup sponsorship – can be promoted worldwide but only in relation to the World Cup and Confederations Cup trademarks.

There are currently five second-tier brands, including Budweiser, McDonald's , Hisense, and two Chinese brands, Vivo and Mengniu.

The third level, regional sponsors – can only promote and market the event within their own country.

There are 20 seats for regional sponsors, with a maximum of 4 seats per continent. Currently, the European region is fully recruited, including Alfa Bank, Rostelecom, Russian Railways and Russian diamond miner Alrosa. There are three companies in the Asian region, all of which are Chinese brands, namely Yadea Electric Vehicles, VR technology company Zhidian Yijing and Dipai Men's Wear.

In addition to sponsorship, brands can also sign contracts with stars and participating teams

In addition to sponsoring the World Cup, many domestic brands have signed contracts with some international stars and related popular teams to attract fans.

For example, the domestic kitchen appliance brand Vatti has officially cooperated with the French team, the favorite to win the championship; the Portuguese national team, which has Cristiano Ronaldo, was signed by two brands, Wahaha and Mentholatum; Baidusheng and Vanward became the official sponsors of the Argentine national team; in addition, NetEase has reached cooperation with the French team and the last world defending champion German team. According to the regulations, NetEase News will enjoy the collective portrait rights of the players, exclusive videos of the French team, interviews, and camp visits, etc.

As the popularity of the World Cup grows, Vatti also took advantage of the heat of signing the French team to carry out a "high-profile" marketing campaign . Last week, Vatti's official Weibo account announced, "If the French team wins the championship, all products will be refunded, and the chairman has officially signed and published it in the newspaper!!!" Vatti stated that if the French team wins the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Vatti will refund the full invoice amount to consumers who purchased Vatti's "Championship Package" between 0:00 on June 1, 2018 and 22:00 on June 30, 2018.

On the individual level, Brazilian star Neymar is the most sought after by domestic brands. He has been signed by three brands including TCL TV, Honda Accord under GAC, and Harbin Beer. In addition, he has also reached a cooperation with Tencent's "Penguin Team"; Argentine star Messi has become the spokesperson for Mengniu, the sponsor of this World Cup, and has become a member of Tencent's "Penguin Team" together with Neymar; Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo has become the spokesperson for WEY, an SUV brand under Great Wall Motors .

Messi becomes Mengniu spokesperson

Neymar becomes TCL TV spokesperson

So the question is, can other brands take advantage of this opportunity?

So the question is, can non-official sponsors, non-stars and non-team partner brands still take advantage of the momentum? The answer is of course yes –

According to regulations, unofficial sponsors (including brands that have signed contracts with football or teams) cannot use the World Cup and FIFA logos, official symbols, produce souvenirs and related terms in advertising and marketing without charge. For example, TCL TV mentioned at the beginning of the article cannot use World Cup-related logos without charge even though it has signed a contract with football star Neymar. Therefore, the brand also received a warning from FIFA.

Even though there is no relevant cooperation, other brands can still make some posters, videos, activities, etc. to take advantage of the situation. The official broadcasting plan can appear in the posters, and elements such as footballs, stadiums, goals, fans and national flags can also be used. But remember not to offer World Cup tickets as prizes in raffles, as tickets are also the privilege of official sponsors.

Secondly, brands must be cautious when using athlete images . Every time there is a large-scale popular competition, we will see a lot of posters using athlete images. Although this can help to attract attention, it is very likely to bring risks and troubles to the company.

If you can’t use images of athletes, how else can you leverage the momentum? For details, please refer to the old driver Durex . During the Olympic Games, Durex never used images of related athletes, but each time it took advantage of the momentum was equally exciting.

(Durex China's first gold medal in the 2016 Olympics)

It is worth reminding here that brands that have signed contracts with a certain star or a certain team must also pay attention to the scope of use of relevant rights and interests. For example, if a brand obtains the right to use the collective portraits of the players of a national team, it does not mean that the brand has obtained the right to use the individual portraits of each player in the national team. The relevant rights and interests must be clearly defined.

Finally, brands should also use event pictures with caution. In pursuit of speed, we often see this practice: many new media editors simply photoshop news pictures, then add some copy and LOGO and publish them. On the one hand, this practice carries the risk of infringing on athletes’ portrait rights; on the other hand, it also carries the risk of infringing on the copyright of news images. It should be noted that the copyright of these news images belongs to certain media and institutions.

Okay, that’s all for today’s knowledge points. Have you learned the above key points of leveraging momentum? Save this article quickly to avoid pitfalls!

This article was compiled and published by @梅花网(Qinggua Media) when reprinted. Please indicate the author information and source!

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