Quick, lock up the Bundy Bear, Pocari Sweat is coming
SMH online - March 28, 2009
Soccer's drive to deliver "clean" stadiums to international sponsors is coming at the expense of local companies, writes Julian Lee.
WHEN Australia meets Uzbekistan in Homebush on Wednesday, it will not be at ANZ Stadium but at Stadium Australia, Panasonic's branding on the giant television screen will be obscured in deference to a competitor and the Bundy Bear will be locked away in a cupboard.
The chance for those brands to get before a 60,000-strong crowd there to watch what will be a pivotal qualifying game for next year's World Cup will be lost.
It is all part of a drive by soccer's governing bodies to deliver "clean" stadiums to its international sponsors, at the expense of local companies who struggle to negotiate an increasingly complex sponsorship landscape.
In January 2008 ANZ took over the naming rights from Telstra to the stadium in Sydney Olympic Park. It will pay $31 million over seven years for the privilege.
Before the match FIFA is forcing ANZ to relinquish its naming rights and strip its branding from tickets, ringside advertising and signage. Branding by stadium sponsors such as Bundaberg Rum, Energy Australia and Tooheys New will disappear to accommodate FIFA's sponsors, which include Adidas, Emirates and Sony . Coca-Cola - a sponsor of both - is the only one that will remain intact.
Venues for the Asian Champions League - which fields two Australian teams - must also deliver clean venues. But rights enforcement does not stop at a stadium being shorn of its naming rights, as happened this month when the beer brand Bluetongue was dropped from the Central Coast Stadium's name.
When the South Korean team, the Pohang Steelers, came to Gosford earlier this month, to play the Central Coast Mariners, even the branding on the Sunbeam kettles and Westinghouse fridges in the corporate hospitality boxes had to be obscured.
"We had to deliver a completely clean stadium. I had to go around taping up the kettles and the fridges. It's ridiculous, but that is what we have to do," says Monique Marks, the stadium's managing director.
Many of the Asian league's sponsors such as Nike, Toyota and Emirates will be familiar to Australians. Others such as the Pocari Sweat water brand, Qtel and Qatar Petroleum will not.
But it is not Australian eyeballs that are at stake here but Asian ones. "They are coming at it from a broadcast perspective. It's really about their ability to deliver sponsors an uncluttered environment for television," says Andrew Condon, a senior consultant with sponsorship advisers Gemba Group.
The Asian matches are beamed into million of homes in Asia. Ringside advertising by local sponsors who are of no value to an Asian audience would only clutter that ad environment.
The issue of sponsor conflicts first became a major issue for the 2003 Rugby World Cup when the code's international body demanded clean stadiums for what was meant to be a trans-Tasman event. New Zealand's inability to comply with that request left the door open for Australia to be the sole host and reap the dividends.
The number of international matches that require clean stadiums is still small, but Condon says that will change as more Australian teams compete globally. "That will only continue to erode the value for local sponsors," he says.
A pecking order is emerging. As a FIFA sponsor Coca-Cola, for example, takes precedence over Schweppes, which is a Football Federation of Australia sponsor. So when it comes to a World Cup qualifier it's Solo 0, Coke 1.
Some venues are unhappy about having to roll over. Management at the newly named Etihad Stadium - which is in the middle of a stoush with the AFL over whether the Melbourne stadium should be named after an airline or its location in the city's Docklands - have hinted they might push back. A spokesman said that in the nine years of the stadium's life it has not given up the venue's naming rights for a single event. During the Rugby World Cup, Telstra managed to cut a deal to preserve its naming rights at Telstra Dome. A spokesman for the site's owner, Melbourne Stadiums Ltd, says it expects to stage more large-scale international matches. The next one is in June. But will it relinquish its naming rights to say Emirates, a global FIFA sponsor?
"We will deal with this issue when or if it arises. We have good relations with FIFA and the Asian Champions League hirers and we expect we can work our way through any issues which might emerge," the spokesman says.
ANZ Stadium acknowledges that to net large matches there is a trade-off between its local sponsors and the prestige - and the cash - that comes with staging a World Cup match.
Tony Partridge, general manager commercial of ANZ Stadium, says such events are flagged during negotiations and are factored into the price. As for its sponsors, they are being "understanding", he says in a statement.
"They all have sophisticated brand managers that understand the industry of sport and appreciate that it is much better to secure these events than not," says Partridge, adding that Bundy Rum and Tooheys New will still be on sale on the night. "For years to come people will recall the magic moment when Australia qualified for the World Cup again at ANZ Stadium regardless of the name on the door on the night." And doubtless will do so enjoying Pocari Sweat ads.
just to start with. Don't understand why a Sony, LG or Toyota, Kia etc don't capitalise on the exposure they could get from us in the cross Australian/Asian market 
Hell a company of these magnatudes could 'pick whatever' marquee suits their own ceo's personal fancy. 
