On the MIC with Robert Lampman, Head of business development & sales

Canadian marketers, take note: It doesn't matter who your target is, soccer will deliver. FIFA's Robert Lampman says the sport cuts across all social-economic and age groups, according to the org's research in 26 markets. Plus, soccer has both genders hooked; 37% of women worldwide typically tune into the World Cup tournament, which kicks off this year in Germany on June 9. Lampman was a principal author of the org's new sponsorship program, which was brought in house three years ago. It's been a well-choreographed play, enabling more efficient communications with partners and leading to more innovation, such as Coke's 26-country trophy tour and McDonald's campaign to select 22 German kids aged 6 to 12 to be player escorts. Between 1994 and 2006, the value of FIFA's sponsorship deals has doubled to 1.1 billion Euros.
By Staff 
May 2, 2006

Canadian marketers, take note: It doesn’t matter who your target is, soccer will deliver. FIFA’s Robert Lampman says the sport cuts across all social-economic and age groups, according to the org’s research in 26 markets. Plus, soccer has both genders hooked; 37% of women worldwide typically tune into the World Cup tournament, which kicks off this year in Germany on June 9. Lampman was a principal author of the org’s new sponsorship program, which was brought in house three years ago. It’s been a well-choreographed play, enabling more efficient communications with partners and leading to more innovation, such as Coke’s 26-country trophy tour and McDonald’s campaign to select 22 German kids aged 6 to 12 to be player escorts. Between 1994 and 2006, the value of FIFA’s sponsorship deals has doubled to 1.1 billion Euros.

The good news for Canadian marketers is that there’s an opportunity to get involved locally with the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, which will run June 30 to July 22 next year in six host cities: Burnaby, Victoria, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa. About 500,000 spectators are expected to attend, 52 matches will be broadcast and there will be one billion viewers for the event. In Toronto alone, the Canadian Soccer Association estimates 100 million fans will watch the finals. Strategy editor, Lisa D’Innocenzo, turned the MIC on Lampman, who attended the Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada’s Annual Conference last week to find out more.

What are you looking for in Canadian partners?

We’re looking at telcos, banks, any category not covered by our top six (Adidas, Coke, Sony, Emirates, Visa and Hyundai). What’s critical for us beyond money is to have Canadian companies who want to communicate the message in advance of the event. We’re also looking for companies with a national presence.

What’s the most innovative program you’ve seen so far?

The opportunity to create a global music program with Sony/BMG is one. We do a FIFA anthem, which is played in the stadiums during the event, an official pop single that becomes a trademark song of that particular World Cup, and then we create concerts. With Hyundai, we’re creating a program called Road to the FIFA World Cup, which is a short TV program documenting the teams. That will be broadcast worldwide.

What kinds of opportunities are there for partners to get involved in FIFA’s Corporate Social Responsibility programs?

As a non-profit we make a lot of money, but we give back – to development efforts, like educational and fitness programs and putting pitches [in developing countries]. In four years, Adidas has delivered 100,000 balls around the world. We’ve worked with Phillips in the past to put lighting in certain places. Each partner can sit around the table and talk about creating a program that’s giving to a cause. This will be taken to a new level [as] we’ll have the ability to create marketing programs in Africa. [The 2010 World Cup will be played on the continent for the first time.] So it will be largely corporate social responsibility programs that have a marketing element.