Sponsorship is a great way to get your brand out there, right? It can be a cost-effective way to give the marketing department that platform it needs to really show off the brand. Right? 

That is generally the consenus. But some aren't having it. And by "some", I mean "Coca Cola's outgoing marketing director", Bobby Britain. And by "aren't having it", I mean "is actually quite scathing of it".

Coca Cola is a sponsorship giant. If you've watched some of the world's biggest sporting events, you've probably seen its logo all over the place. It's been a sponsor of the Olympic Games since 1928 and and sponsored its first FIFA World Cup in 1950.

Speaking at The Oystercatchers Club Panel earlier this week, Brittain said that Coca Cola's sponsorship of such events, referring specifically to the Olympics, have put the company at a "competitive disadvantage". Now, this isn't going to be a problem for every company, but Brittain believes that such high-profile sponsorship makes it the "easiest job in the world is to be the Pepsi marketing director".

"The model just does not function partly because whether you are hosting the games or not, competitively the easiest job in the world is to be the Pepsi marketing director,” he said.

“This is 2016 so Coke has got the European Championships from April to July then we've got the Olympics so we will do a ton of price promotion and we will ambush everything going in that period.

“It is utterly predictable the plan that Coca-Cola has in that period. So from that point of view it's a competitive disadvantage actually in many ways to be known as one of the top sponsors.”

 

By Jonathan Davies, editor, Digital Marketing Magazine

 

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