Tournament News
Sponsors hail SWC success
2010-07-13 09:39
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Paris - Adidas is world champion, but Nike scored the tournament's winning
goal: for the World Cup's official suppliers and sponsors, the planet's
most-watched sporting event is an unmitigated success.
Adidas,
which supplies the Spanish team's kit, congratulated itself on the
'rojas' 1-0 victory against the Netherlands in Sunday's final, which
saw its trademark three stripes march to the top of the podium.
"Adidas is world champion," a brand spokeswoman told AFP. "The outcome is absolutely positive."
The
German group, also official partner of world football governing body
FIFA, is eyeing sales of 1.5 billion euros (1.9 billion dollars) this
year, with the "Jubulani" competition football its hottest product, the
spokeswoman said.
The company has also sold 1.2 million Germany
shirts, over a million Mexico, Argentina and South Africa shirts and
around a million Spain shirts.
Nike, which supplies the Dutch
team, put the emphasis on the fact that "the winning goal was scored by
a Nike boot" in the final's 116th minute by Andres Iniesta.
"On
the pitch, there were more Nike boots than of other brands," or 47
percent Nike and 32 percent Adidas, said Charles Brooks, spokesman for
the US sportswear giant.
"The competition has been an immense
success" for Nike, said Brooks, with a 39 percent rise in
football-related sales in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the
same period last year.
German brand Puma, the World Cup's third-biggest supplier, also hailed its success.
"We are very happy, the World Cup's outcome is very positive for us," said Ulf Santjer, Puma's head of communication.
"We not only established but even strengthened our number three position" in the football market, he said.
With
seven national teams contracted to Puma, including semi-finalists
Uruguay, the brand took part in 26 out of 64 matches, spending around
39 hours in front of the cameras and hundreds of millions of viewers
around the world.
Puma is also the number one sponsor of African
teams, and the success of quarter-finalists Ghana shows "that African
football is now top level," said Santjer.
Sponsorship success is
not limited to shirts and boots, with Japanese electronics giant and
FIFA official partner Sony hailing "a real success."
"Not only
because of the brand's presence as an official partner, but also
because for the first time we could show 3-D pictures" around the
world, said a spokesman in Tokyo.
"That has had a bigger than
expected impact on sales of 3-D televisions," the unnamed spokesman
said, declining to provide a figure.
"For Sony, such an event is also beneficial for our music and video game activities."
Little-known Chinese solar panel manufacturers Yingli Solar hailed the competition's ability to strengthen its brand.
Jason
Liu, vice-president in charge of marketing, said that "the impact has
been very good... the reaction from our clients, people in the
industry, from the general public, has been very good."
Other
sponsors such as German car parts maker Continental say it's too early
to assess the impact of involvement with the competition, which can
cost tens of millions of euros.
The World Cup is "a very
interesting communication platform for us" said a Continental
spokesman, adding that "we'll also be on board for the next competition
in Brazil."