With Ireland qualified for EURO 2012, many marketers will look to see how they can exploit the undoubted lift which our participation will give the country in the lead up to and during the tournament.

Many of us will remember campaigns like “Shake a Shamrock” by Irish Biscuits for Italia ’90, “Snickers Fair Play” and “Stan the Fan” by Mars Ireland for World Cup USA ‘94 and Roy Keane’s tie up with Seven Up at the height of the Saipan controversy in Japan/Korea 2002, each of which delivered major benefits both in credibility and sales for their respective brands. However, what is not often publicised is the brands which have ended up in court by trying to ambush such tournaments, without properly understanding what is and what is not legitimate.

For example, Snickers UK were taken to court in 1996 by UEFA despite being a tournament sponsor, when they linked up with the SUN to give away jointly branded England bowler hats at euro ’96. Whilst Dutch fans had their Heineken branded loudspeaker hats confiscated on their way into games in Portugal in 2004, as they conflicted with the tournament sponsor. This was despite the fact that Heineken were a partner of the Dutch national team.

For the uninitiated, EURO 2012 can be a minefield for any brand or marketer trying to link their brand to the property, even when a sponsor of the tournament or national team. If the rights, entitlements and obligations of a brands involvement are not fully understood, then, with 14 tournament sponsors and 10+ FAI sponsors or partners, all paying significant sums of money for this privilege. You can be guaranteed that UEFA and the FAI, as well as every sponsor will ensure that their rights are protected.

It is likely that the players as a group will be linked to the FAI, unlike Italia ’90 where they operated as the Irish Players Pool. There are still defined rights attached to each sponsorship group.

The tournament name EURO 2012, is trademarked and can only be used by the official UEFA commercial affiliates, which include Adidas, Castrol, Carlsberg, Coca Cola, Hyundai-Kia, McDonald’s Orange and Sharp, who are permitted to use the tournament logos and marks, These commercial affiliates are also the only parties allowed offer tickets as promotional prizes, assuming this has been negotiated as part of their agreement.

According to UEFA, “Any person or entity using UEFA Marks (or adapted versions of the UEFA Marks or any combination of words or symbols referring to football, the numerals “2012” and/ or the words “EURO”, “European Championship” or the names of the host nations in any language) for promotional purposes, without UEFA’s prior written authorisation, will be considered to be using “parasite marketing” techniques and/or infringing the intellectual property rights of UEFA.”

You then have the FAI sponsors which include 3 Mobile, Umbro, Lucozade Sport, BoyleSports, DHL, Ford, Carlsberg, AVIVA, Nivea for Men and An Post. FAI sponsors rights relate to the Irish team, the FAI logo and any FAI EURO 2012 logo or mascot that might be developed as part of Ireland’s participation in the tournament. No doubt some arrangement will be made with regard to offering tickets and promotion around the Irish team, however, the scope of this will be very tightly regulated.

That said, creativity can always find a way to negotiate a route through this minefield and deliver for a brand. The recent winner of the European IMC Awards (Integrated Marketing Communications) Grand Prix – The Bavaria Dutch Dress is a brilliant example of where a challenger brand can take on the big boys with a very clever and creative campaign.

The Dutch beer market is dominated by Heineken (which has a long association with the Dutch national team), Grolsch and Amstel, whilst Bavaria likes to see itself as a bit of a rebel. In 2010 all the major beer brands in Holland were developing activation campaigns supporting “The Orange” (the national team).  Therefore how could a small brand like Bavaria gain cut through within the constraints of team and tournament rights and a significantly smaller budget?

In a male dominated target market, Bavaria launched the Bavaria Dutch Dress. The dress designed by fashion brand Supertrash and modeled by Sylvie van der Vaart (fashion icon and wife of a Dutch international footballer) was initially launched at retail as a fashion item. PR, viral and promotional personnel at Dutch warm up games drove the message that “it is going to be a lovely World Cup”, driving talk about and buzz around the dress. Bavaria then launched the dress as their World Cup premium, offered free with purchase.

Word spread like wildfire online, on twitter and in the news media both locally and internationally. The offer generated more than 2 ½ times the anticipated volume with promotional packs selling out. Promotional personnel wearing the dress turned up in South Africa at the Dutch games and were ejected from the stadium with 2 members of the team arrested, accused of hijacking the tournament. However in this case, the incident led to positive PR and worldwide coverage for Bavaria.

So for brands willing to take a creative approach, the benefits can be great, however the creativity must be combined with a clear understanding of what is and what is not allowed. Otherwise you could find your brand involved in a long and expensive legal process.

Padraig Smith is Client Service Director at Marketing Network and has worked on award winning campaigns for tournament and FAI sponsors of Italia 90, World Cup USA ’94, EURO 96, World Cup France 98 and Japan Korea 2002.

Ingredients:

Odlums Cream Plain Flour (for coating)
415g Tin Salmon or 2 x 217g tins (drained and flaked)
450g/1lb Potatoes (cooked and mashed)
1 Tablespoon Dill (chopped)
1 Dill Cucumber (finely chopped)
Rind of 1 Lemon
25g/1oz Grated Cheddar Cheese
1 Egg (beaten)

To Serve

Burger Buns
Ballymaloe Country Relish/Follain Red Pepper Relish