Previous Articles: International event on 3rd-party player ownership | Korea's LG pours money into European football | English FA and Player's Agents still in dispute | Sanjeevan Balasingham appointed to FIFPro Asia | One EPL player's salary equal to half gate income | Yeung still processing Birmingham City deal in HK | US military criticised for donating soccer balls | Australian anti-doping tribunal suspends Lazridis | Ghotbi on Asian Cup and South Korean players | Indian regional club aims for national respect | Breaking News: [HOME]

Korea's LG pours money into European football

LG Electronics, South Korea’s second-largest electronics maker, is promoting an aggressive premier marketing campaign from mobile phones to LCD TVs in Europe in a way to intensify its brand image. "Sports marketing seems another must-win card for LG to raise its brand recognition in European markets," observed Kim Yoo-chul in The Korean Times. In July, the company signed a three-year shirt sponsorship agreement with English Premier League club Fulham. The move is in line with the company’s continued effort to step up its marketing drive in Britain where LG’s monthly sales had exceeded $100 million last year. "The multi-year sponsorship agreement will offer us an important opportunity to strengthen our premium marketing in Britain," said Na Young-bae, an executive for LG’s British business.

The electronics maker also held the friendly football "LG Amsterdam Tournament" in Ajax stadium, the Netherlands, from 2 August bringing together Ajax from the Netherlands, Arsenal from England, Atletico de Madrid from Spain and Lazio from Italy. LG said the one-time show helped the firm raise its brand image to European football fans.

One EPL player's salary equal to half gate income

Steve Gibson, Chairman of English Premier League club Middlesborough has explained the relationship of his club's match-day gate income with payments to players. Very little, it seems. Referring to the salaray request by the club's former striker Mark Viduka, Gibson claimed the player's agent had said Viduka would go to the highest bidder. "Mark Viduka is 32 on his next birthday and he was asking for a three-year contract and asking for a figure which, over a year, would equate to over half of our gate income," Gibson said. Viduka now plays for Newcastle.

Adelaide Utd attracts mining company sponsor

The Adelaide United Football Club has announced Exact Mining Services as the club’s new ‘front of shorts’ sponsor for the 2007/08 Australian A-League season for an undisclosed amount. “What Adelaide United has achieved in such a short period of time is a great success story for South Australia’s up and coming sporting profile. It is an achievement which we are all proud of at Exact Mining Services and our commitment to Adelaide United as shorts sponsor will be a rewarding partnership as a key supporter in their future success. A special mention should go to Johnny Johnson for introducing us to the club and for enabling us to have the opportunity to partner a great sporting organisation,” Greg Rhodes, Managing Director of Exact Mining Services said.

A-League targets 50,000 club members in 2007-08

Australia's 8-team A-League is seeking a substantial club membership hike in its coming third season and an overall rise in crowds following double-digit growth in attendances at the Pre-Season Cup. "Membership will become a vitally important ingredient in growing the game in the next number of years," Football Federation Australia CEO Ben Buckley said at the season launch. "I can report that current participants have somewhere between 10 and 15 percent growth so far versus last year and, pleasingly, Melbourne continues to set the pace with something like 16,000 members ... We are targeting 50,000 members and we are hoping that in the opening rounds of the season, we can certainly get them."

Last season eventual champions Melbourne Victory topped the crowd graph in a growth season, with average gates of 30,000 at Telstra Dome. "That momentum has continued to build throughout the pre-season. We have had record crowds in the pre-season of a little over 20 percent. We have played in venues all around the country to introduce new supporters to the league. There were over 8000 in Geelong and in Launceston, while matches were played in Darwin and Christchurch," he told Michael Lynch of The Age.

Birmingham City has "only 13,700" ticket holders

David Sullivan, Chairman of the holding company of English Premier League club Birmingham City claims most of the team's supporters are 'armchair fans' who only come to St Andrews for the biggest games. 24,898 fans attended Birmingham's first Premier League game of the season against Sunderland and the figure only increased slightly to 24,981 for the visit of West Ham at the weekend. St Andrews has a capacity of 30,000 but only 13,700 fans are season ticket holders.

"Many clubs in the Championship get bigger gates than us and the other promoted clubs, Sunderland and Derby, have 32,000 and 28,000 season ticket holders respectively," he said. "Our season ticket prices and match day admission prices are the second lowest in the division."

Sullivan and his partners, David and Ralph Gold, have sold 29.9 percent of the club to a Hong Kong company controlled by Carson Yeung but Sullivan told Lewis Rutledge of Sky Sports he and the Golds will only relinquish power if they feel someone can take the club forward. "I know some people are concerned about what is going on with the club's shareholding and I want to assure them there have been no changes," he said. "The club is being run by the people who have done a great job for the past 14-15 years and therefore the club is in good hands. We welcome the investment of Carson Yeung's company Grandtop. David Gold and I will only cease to be majority shareholders if we think someone can do a better job of running Birmingham City than we have."

Australian A-League added to EA's FIFA08 game

Football Federation Australia has signed a licensing partnership with Electronic Arts, the world's leading independent developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software through the FIFA 08 football video game. “This is the first time that the Hyundai A-League will feature in an official EA Sports videogame and as a result more than 20 million people globally will be directly exposed to Hyundai A-League clubs and players during the next 12 months,” said FFA CEO, Ben Buckley. “It also gives me great pleasure to announce that Qantas Socceroo and Melbourne Victory striker Archie Thompson will be the face of FIFA O8 in the region, featuring heavily in the promotional campaign for the game.

The A-League will join a group of around 30 football leagues from around the globe to feature in this game. EA Sports have undertaken strong research to accurately capture the skills/abilities and traits of A-League players to place them into this global videogame. FIFA 08 will be available for purchase from the 27 September 2007.

Infant club plans to be Asian football powerhouse

Geoff Lord, the Chairman of Australian A-League champion club Melbourne Victory intends to build the biggest sporting club in Australia and a powerhouse in Asian football. "I have always been passionate about building something Melbourne can identify with … to give something back which in 20, 30, 50 years' time becomes an icon would be a way of putting something back, not just in sport, but for the city," Lord told Michael Lynch of The Age. A former President of the famously successful Australian Rules AFL team Hawthorn Hawks, he admits he is still learning about soccer. But he knows a good sports business deal. In 2005, when Football Federation Australia was desperate for investors to help bankroll a Melbourne A-League club, and few were prepared to step forward, Lord provided enough capital, "reportedly $250,000", to become Chairman of the Victory board. He and his management team put together a five-year plan to cover sponsorship, members, revenue and crowds resulted in such exceptional revenue growth for the infant club that it had to revamp projections. Its membership, for instance, is now more than 15,500 and rising.

"Our full-year sponsorship number for 2007-08 is already ahead of schedule at A$2 million," Lord said. "We would try to grow that to $A3-$4 million a year over the next couple of years. "When you compare that to AFL clubs it's not an unreasonable objective. For every 100 people who follow AFL in this city, 50 follow soccer, probably more. For every 100 AFL people in Melbourne you have to divide them by 10, which is 10 per club. But if you have 50 people following soccer you just have to divide it by one as there is only Victory. So in sponsoring Victory you reach 50 people, not 10. So why shouldn't logic say that in time Melbourne Victory should be bigger than any Melbourne-based AFL club ... we are working on a business plan approach which will take us to those levels."

Lord's focus this season is also on increasing its off-field revenue. Lord and his management team wants to build the Victory brand so that irrespective of the team's on-field performance it can still make money. "We have also opened a merchandise store in Swan Street. If it works out we may then roll out a couple more. The one thing we haven't covered is gate receipts. We won't know those until game days and that depends to a large extent on being a successful team on the park," he said. "Our aim is to build up non-football related income, to have it regardless of our performance on the field. Gates are totally dependent on on-field success, and sponsorship and marketing are very dependent on it."

Lord also believes Australian business will catch on to the global market place that soccer, and A-League clubs in particular, can deliver. "As we go to Asia and play the Asian Champions League games, any Australian company with Asian affiliations is getting an added benefit of exposure in massive marketplaces. That's something that AFL can't deliver," he said. "I am informed that 120 million people watched the A-League grand final in 70 countries. My personal objective is to see if we could have all the A-League games being beamed live into Asia to boost audience ratings across different time-zones and give greater exposure to our game, the league and club sponsors."

Organising sporting trips and travel is something else on the Lord agenda. "We have registered the name, the Victoryans, which would be a bit like the Fanatics hopefully. By the time we get to the Asian matches we will be packaging trips. You could go to the next World Cup; we will be involved in that. We also want to do other sporting events, like cricket or tennis or whatever. "Longer term we will look at coaching academies which we are keen to do, coaching players in a live-in environment. It may include buying land and putting up accommodation."

Melbourne Victory kicked off its 2007/08 season by launching the Samsung “Kick for a Million” promotion which will see 10 supporters receive the chance to kick for A$1 million at Melbourne Victory's final home game for the season at Telstra Dome on 11 January 2008.. To enter, fans need to purchase any Samsung Mobile Phone from a participating Telstra Shop or Telstra Dealer and connect to the Telstra mobile network, or any other Samsung product, excluding LCD monitors and printers, from participating consumer electronics retailers nationally and enter online at www.samsung.com.au.

Yeung & friends talk of Birmingham's China mission

Hong Kong businesman Carson Yeung insists his friends Steve McManaman and Christian Karembeu are unlikely to have any direct influence on football policy at English Premier League club Birmingham City once his publicly-listed company Grandtop completes its buyout. According to Colin Tattum in the Birmingham Mail, Birmingham City manager Steve Bruce is "intrigued by the pair's involvement" but Yeung and his associates, who gave an impromptu press conference at St Andrew's yesterday, said too much was being read into the duo's presence. "We have a big plan for China, and they are part of it," said William Chan, Yeung's right-hand man, speaking on his behalf. "They have been good friends of ours for many years. They have an important mission to build an image. They are very welcome and famous people in China. They have time to go around the cities one by one, which is a good promotion for us. A lot of press are guessing why Steve McManaman has appeared. But it is just to help us and promote our expansion, our China plan."

McManaman was made an executive director of Grandtop just before it launched its successful bid to buy 29.9 percent of the club from curremt directors, making it the club's largest single shareholder. The former England winger was joined on the board by French World Cup winner Karembeu at the start of this month. "They are more like international icons to technically support our development of the club. Perhaps you might be thinking that they will affect Steve Bruce in some way - they won't. They are helping Mr Yeung as a friend and are helping Birmingham City to develop at an international level," Sammy Yu, chief operating officer of Grandtop, said. "We would like to work as a team, no matter who the people are," Yu added. "Christian, Steve, Mr Yeung, Steve Bruce - everybody. We know that to become an international club, we need talent. All of the talent will work together to make it happen."

Yeung revealed his hope that he would assume full control of Blues "immediately, in a couple of months maybe". His people are undergoing due dilligence at the moment, he said. Tapping into the huge Chinese market to boost Blues revenue streams was a key strategy, he said. He also has plans to set up a series of football academies in 10 cities initially which, in time, could provide Blues with the best players China has to offer. "I have confidence we can do very well for Birmingham in China. We have the support of the Chinese government, and we have a very good plan which will allow our idea to help promote Birmingham and turn it into an international club," he said. "You will find the name of Mr Yeung in the newspapers in Hong Kong and China every day," said Chan. "The whole of China will want this club to be successful now." Yeung added: "Next year, Birmigham could become the fifth most popular team in China."

Brandscore seminar highligjhts Indian opportunities

Brandscore, a sports marketing forum organised in India by ESPN-STAR Sports and media agency Mindshare, aimed to study successful international sports brands and sports marketing trends that will help the Indian sports marketing community. "The sports marketing genre is gaining ground in this country,” said Sundar Raman, Manging Director of Mindshare India. “More and more brands are hooking on to sports as a media vehicle to reach out to their target audience. The sports forum is about understanding how and what we can do learning from these leading brands and corporates." ESPN Software India Managing Director, R C Venkateish added, "The perception that cricket is the only sport is slowly but surely changing. Look at the deliveries of the English Premier League and Formula One and you would know that consumption of various forms of sports is steadily on the rise."

According to Mindshare Performance Asia Pacific Managing Director Mike Rich and Marketing Director Jamie Lord, four myths of sports advertising are (1) women do not watch sports; (2) sports cannot be measured; (3) sports is expensive and (4) there is no emotional quotient for brands that associate with sports. They told forum delegates that Mindshare's 3D database shows that while men watch sports, women also do. In a survey 43 percent of women expressed an interest in football and women also watch badminton and golf, so clients should not completely ignore women in their sports campaigns. They said here are three areas where measurement of sports is occuring: media evaluation, quantifying the exposure of brands in a broadcast environment; effectiveness tacking; and econometric modelling. Regarding sports being expensive, they explained that what really counts is return on investment (ROI). On sport not giving a brand emotional visibility, they gave the example of Tiger Beer in Singapore. Earlier the brand had been associated with golf but that proved to be a "waste of money" in terms of getting to the TG so the agency shifted the brand's focus towards soccer. It created the platform Tiger At Sea and worked with ESPN Star Sports to get brand good visibility with EPL. "Sports is not the only solution for advertisers. However, if you decide to use the platform, then embrace it completely. The sports theme needs to be introduced in all communication channels," they said.

Phil Lines, the English Premier League's Head of International Broadcasting and Operations told forum delegates that the best advice to sports federations hoping to run a strong business was to invest well in the clubs and have a strong relationship with a broadcaster that works like a partnership. He said the EPL now receives 1.7 billion pounds from UK Pay-servoces Sky and Setanta and around 700 million pounds from overseas TV services, half of which came from Asia. However, the starting point was in 1989 when English soccer reached its lowest point when 100 fans died in a tragedy during a FA Cup semi final. At that time the stadium facilities were poor, hooliganism was rife and English soccer took a long hard look at itself. It realised that it needed a more professional structure. It was decided that a Premier League would be established and the clubs signed rules governing the league. It was also decided that the league would negotiate its own broadcast and sponsorship terms. The EPL came into existence in 1992 which was also the year Sky Sports launched and Lines gave credit to Rupert Murdoch for his vision. "Sky revolutionsed how soccer is covered in the UK with features like close ups. Due to their investment, the clubs are able to spend money on facilities and infrastructure as well as getting in top overseas players. This is something that Sky understands which is why it pays us more each time the deal comes up for renewal, although it has successfully managed to keep competition at bay. We have had trouble with the regulators on several issues including the fact that soccer should not onl6y be on free TV. The fact though is that earlier when it was on free TV not many matches were shown live," Lines said.

The league has 341 overseas players compared to 1992 when there were less than 100. EPL is now being seen in 200 countries. "We are seeing Japanese, Korean players participate in the league and I am hopeful that Indian players will also take part in the future. The game has over the years become more fast and masculine. A lot of matches are played in front of capacity crowds," Lines added. What has also helped the league has been the fact that English clubs started doing well in European competitions after the EPL was established. For instance Liverpool won the UEFA Cup. Sky paid 617 million pounds in 1997. In 2001 the figure crossed one billion. In 2001 the league added 40 pay per view matches and in 2004 it was decided to consolidate this and have 138 matches. The league has also benefitted from the fact that new platforms have come up. Telecom firms now compete with traditional broadcasters for EPL rights. Untill 2003 the PL used an agency to sell rights, now it sells directly to the broadcasters. The league sells clips of matches in a separate deal. In order to be a solutions provider, it also does shows. A new one added this year is called Premier League World. Barclays has been sponsoring the league for nine years. The production unit IMG has been with the league for several years now. This has contributed in a big way to the solid ground on which the league stands today, said Lines.

Indian advertisers who want to leverage sport beyond just cricket, need to look at more than just eyeballs. They should look at being associated with a unique platform which will grow in scale as it gets repeated from year to year was the major point of the 'Sports And the Indian Advertiser' panel session with Globosport India VP Anirban Das Blah, Harit Nagpal, GroupM CEO India and COO South Asia Vikram Sakhuja and HUL GM media services Rahul Welde. In India the fact is that only a few brands like LG and Pepsi have sports as the central part of their marketing plan. At the moment apart from cricket, brands are also flirting with sports and testing the waters. Brand managers need to realise that sports gives authenticity to a brand. The trouble with getting on to a unique platform and then seeing the fruits of it as it grows from year to year is that advertisers want immediate returns. Therefore there is always the temptation to simply run after the low hanging fruit. Advertisers argue that they do not have the time to wait for a sports brand to grow. They look for some amount of scale right off the back - and that in India comes from cricket.

The session pointed out that the advantage of investing in another sport though is that you can own it. Cricket has now become too expensive to own. The days of the 1987 Reliance World Cup are long gone. The Mumbai Marathon is a good example of how a brand - Standard Chartered - used sport as a platform effectively in a way that goes beyond eyeballs. But it is important that the event gets repeated year after year or else it and the brand will be forgotten. Brands can also look at leveraging an existing passion for a sport.The common belief in soccer is that interest in EPL and Spanish league come from soccer states like Goa. However, Anirban argued that there is growing interest in those leagues from affluent pockets of Mumbai like Bandra where a lot of water cooler conversation happens around it. Once that has been identified, then a brand can think of doing initiatives around the event like contests and thus tap into the aspirations of the fans. It would be more effective for a brand to hook onto a sport at this level as opposed to a grassroots level.

Future Brands CEO Santosh Desai dwelt on the relationship between sports and the Indian consumer in another session. He noted that there is a tenuous relationship between what sports people play and what they watch. A lot of people would have played table tennis but how many watch it? Sport allows us to embark on a symbolic quest for perfection. Therefore there are rules, it is very fair. Sport, he noted, is the ultimate in reality TV as the storylines are unscripted. "We are also seeing the emergence of the spectator owner in cricket. Here fans feel that they are entitled to a good performance from the team," Desai said. Addressing the forum to offer a ratings service provider's point of view, Tam CEO LV Krishnan says that sports as a genre needs to move from a commodity to an engagement arena. Drama is essential for sports to get good viewership. This drama could, maybe, come from a good batsman versus a bad batsman. It is important that sports broadcasters think of new ways to create drama. Krishnan gave the example of the Shaz and Waz show on ESS back in 2004 when India toured Australia. Drama can even be created around a local hero which was the case when Kartikeyan was driving on F1. The FIFA World Cup coverage in print last year was huge and the cricket that was being played at the same time paled in comparison.

The world's biggest brands are in sports marketing

Sean Jefferson, CEO Europe of MindShare Performance, WPP’s sports and entertainment marketing division, is a veteran of sports and entertainment-led brand marketing. He shared his views and experiences with the Economic Times on how the global sports and entertainment marketing landscape is changing. [Excerpts]

How would you define sports marketing — is it marketing sports (game or event) or consumer brands using sports as a media? It is both – the marketing of sport and the marketing of brands through sports – and a bit more. It can include non-consumer brands, for example, you might have a B2B brand that has a sports marketing programme. I would also add athletes to your definition of sports – individual endorsements and campaigns can be very powerful.

What exactly do you do for your client’s brands? Essentially, we help our clients build their brands and their businesses through sport, entertainment and partnerships. The aim is to influence consumer attitude and behaviour. But so much of sports marketing – especially sponsorship – can work tremendously well as a B2B platform. At Performance, our team of consultants, creatives and commissioning editors develop global sponsorship strategies for the likes of BP, negotiate and manage sponsorship and content campaigns for Ford (Champions League), manage the sponsorship activation of Vodafone’s sponsorships with Champions League and McLaren in Formula One, commission and distribute branded content for Unilever, develop and embed content for Nike. Again in football, for Castrol, we provide strategic sponsorship consultancy, negotiate the brand’s sponsorship of Euro 2008, manage the integration of the sponsorship into their operating companies, lead their other marketing communications agencies’ contributions to the sponsorship and integrate the sponsorship into communications planning.

Sports marketing is restricted to product endorsements and sponsorships in India. But internationally even content generation is becoming a part of sports marketing. Yes, across the globe, more companies are funding the creation, rather than the sponsorship, of content – a TV show, an event or a website. This is driven by a number of factors at a macro level – cost, clutter, control and cash. The cost of sponsoring major properties – the London 2012 Olympic deals are being done for £80-million – can be prohibitive. Sometimes a sponsorship offers presence in a highly cluttered environment – just watch a Formula One race or an Italian football match and count the brands. Creating content places you earlier (ahead) in the supply chain, you tend to be more in control of the published content, so should be able to communicate key messages more clearly. Lastly, cash, it can be more cost-effective to fund or co-fund content, than to sponsor a smaller portion of the end-product. But more importantly, content generation offers IP opportunities that can be monetised. While this may seem like a new development, and it is certainly a growing trend, it actually takes us back to the founding of commercial TV where many of the first shows were funded by the sponsors, hence the term soap opera.

Is sports & entertainment marketing becoming fundamental to brand management for increasing number of brands? It is very difficult to calculate how much is invested by brands in content overall as it is often bundled up in advertising, promotions or public relations spends, but if we look at sponsorship, the latest estimate from WPP is that at $33-billion sponsorship equates to about 8% of the global advertising market. However, that spend might not equate to the value and importance of sports and entertainment, notably to those brands that use it as a core component of their marketing efforts. Think of the world’s biggest brands, and you tend to see them in this space – Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Ford et al. Fundamentally, if the consumer and customer of the brand are very interested in a particular type of sport or entertainment, then so should the brand be and not just from an advertising point of view, but from a genuinely engaging, associative marketing perspective.

Telekom Malaysia signs TSM for sports marketing

Telekom Malaysia has appointed Total Sports Asia as its sports marketing agency. TSA will be supporting TM’s sports and sponsorship strategy and activities in areas related to TM’s title sponsorship of Liga Malaysia and various other involvements in sports, including the hugely successful College Caged Futsal tournament. TSA will provide TM with a full range of sports marketing services, ranging from consulting, content development to below-the-line execution.

Pakistan firm makes world's largest football

A leading football manufacturing firm in Sialkot, Pakistan, has unveiled the world’s largest handmade football, measuring 34.7 feet diameter and weighing 800 kg. The huge ball took 50 stitchers over two months to complete the required 22,000 stitches. Ahsan Naeem, Chief Executive of Vision Technologies, said the football had been manufactured in record time on the request of MPM Telephone Company of South Africa and will be displayed in South Africa as part of the preparations for the 2010 World Cup. "It will be dispatched to South Africa on a special chartered flight to ensure its safe landing," he told Pakistan Times.

A-League wins advertising gold award for launch

Football Federation Australia and advertising agency, Lowe Hunt have collected a "Gold Award" at the 9th Advertising Federation of Australia - Advertising Effectiveness Awards for the "It's Football. But Not As You Know It" campaign that was used to the launch the inaugural Hyundai A-League competition. FFA was one of five gold award winners, from 26 finalists around Australia, with the winning campaigns judged on Return on Investment, lasting effect of the campaign, ability to isolate the performance of the campaign in driving consumer behaviour and perception and the degree of difficulty of the task at hand. "The "It's Football. But Not As You Know It." campaign was a key plank in the re-positioning of football in the Australian sporting landscape through the Hyundai A-League",said Geoff Parmenter, FFA Head of Marketing, Communication & Strategy.

Maxis spends $3.2m sponsoring EPL in Malaysia

Maxis Communications Malaysia Bhd has signed a three-year partnership deal with sports channel ESPN Star Sports to become the broadcast sponsor of English Premier League football matches in Malaysia. The broadcast sponsorship will run from 2007 until the 2010 season and, based on previous deals, is expected to be worth 11 million ringgit (US$3.2 million dollars) a year. "The sponsorship with ESPN Star Sports allows us to expand our successful association with football and consolidate our position as a leading brand in world class sporting events," Maxis chief marketing officer Tom Schnitker told AFP. Maxis, Malaysia's largest mobile telecommunications firm, takes over the football sponsorship from rival Celcom, a cellular unit of government-linked Telekom Malaysia.

US photographers resist being "mobile billboards"

US media are resisting the National Football League’s demand that media photographers on the field wear red "flak jackets" promoting NFL sponsors Ricoh and Canon. According to Philip M. Stone of FTM, the move is designed to make photographers "moving billboards" to earn more sponsorship money - the value of which was "proven by Nikon" at the Asian Cup. "Photographers at the Asian tournament in Indonesia had to wear yellow flak jackets with Nikon’s name in bold lettering on the back. As the fairy tale championship game ended with Iraq winning swarms of photographers flooded the playing field, surrounding the Iraqi team. And on television all one saw at times was a sea of yellow flak jackets prominently saying Nikon. Whatever Nikon paid for that privilege it sure got its money’s worth," he wrote.

Infront and Ticketcorner in strategic relationship

Infront Sports & Media and Europe's Ticketcorner have established a strategic partnership to "identify areas of cooperation within the extensive sports property portfolio of Infront as well as other new business opportunities in the sports market industry" in including hospitality, perimeter advertising, client servicing, venue dressing, and ticketing. Infront Sports Services is focusing the experience and operational expertise gained on events such as the FIFA World Cup to the needs of other events, with the objective of assisting organising committees and sports federations to raise the standards of professional event management and operations. Ticketcorner has put an additional focus on sport by managing the advance ticket sales for the 2007 IHF Handball World Championship in Germany and signing greements with the two top football clubs of Zurich - FC Zürich and Grasshoppers Zürich.

Sports Sponsorship and CSR seminar in Jakarta

International seminar on Professional and Grassroots Sports and Development, Sponsorship and Corporate Social Responsibility in Asia

The first edition of the Asian Forum on Sports Innovation held in Indonesia was concluded the day after the historic victory of Iraq over Saudi Arabia in the final of the Asian Cup, also held in Jakarta. Forum speakers attending the game were warmly greeted by Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin Hamman and VIP guest FIFA President Joseph S Blatter.

Presentation documents have been added to the Asian Forum on Sports Innovation website, http://www.asianfosi.com/, as well as media report links and notices of future events.

At the high-profile 30 July conference at The Sultan Hotel Jakarta, the Forum's two integrated streams - 'professional sports dynamics' and 'sports and development' - proved timely for local private sector funders of athletes, clubs and sports competitions as a new Corporations Law just passed by Indonesia's parliament included, for the first time, 'Social Corporate Responsibility' obligations for most incorporated businesses.

Fritz E Simandjuntak, Vice President of the Indonesian Marketing Association and Head of External Relations of the Rajawali Group, emphasised the opportunity presented by this unprecedented legislative initiative for all domestic stakeholders in sports administration, athlete management and revenue raising.

Geneva-based David Winiger, Special Assistant to Dr Adolf Ogi, the Special Advisor on Sport and Development and Peace to the United Nations Secretary-General, presented a broad overview of the Special Adviser's mandate for the world of sport, sports industries and governments and UN organisations, to identify activities and programs which benefit from a partnership with sports organisations.

Johann Olav Koss, multiple gold medal Olympian and CEO of Right To Play, the international NGO leading the use of sports and play for the development of children youth, detailed Right To Play's projects in over 20 countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia using specially designed sport and play programs to teach life skills, peace building and health education to children affected by war, poverty and disease.

Clare Kenny Tipton, fresh from managing Asia’s biggest and most complex sports tournament, the AFC Asian Cup 2007 which involved 16 teams playing 33 matches in eight stadiums in four countries, outlined the scope for development, opportunities, challenges, realities and possible rewards for sports in Asia. The Asian Football Confederation's Deputy General Secretary, Director of Marketing and Director of Media and Communications, she backed the AFC's claim that the future of football is Asia - from grassroots through to the professional levels.

Dez Corkhill, Television Producer, News Editor and Director of Content for espnstar.com, also ESPN Star Sport’s sometimes controversial The Top Corner presenter and commentator on Asian domestic football, pin-pointed the marketing bias of sports broadcasters while identifying opportunities for Asian competitions to increase their profile. "The best of the action is right on your doorstep" he said.

Two excellent local case studies on the progressive social role of sports were presented to an international audience for the first time: Said Fauzan Baabud, UNDP Livelihoods Program Officer in Indonesia’s tsunami-disaster struck province of Aceh described sports and youth empowerment programs as crucial elements in post-disaster rehabilitation work and Anton Inbenai, Dept of Sport and Youth, Jayapura City and Henk Rumbewas, Papua province international representative for the Indonesian National Sports Committee, outlined the Persipura Football Club’s role in HIV/AIDS and safe-sex awareness campaigns.

Adidas backs Liverpool's visit to Hong Kong

Adidas engaged Carat to launch a Hong Kong media campaign tagged "Are you Red enough?" to create awareness of English Premier League club Liverpool's visit to the Chinese territory and reinforce the sportswear brand's association with the club. The campaign targeting young football enthusiasts started last week with front cover exposure on Oriental Daily News and Apple Daily as well as Milk magazine to stir excitement of the ‘red wave' in the territory. The campaign also includes spots on NOW sports channel and OOH billboard in Mongkok to highlight the Asia Trophy, Marketing magazine reported.

Man United "hasn't forgotten" about Singapore

Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of English Premier League club Manchester United, has "revealed" to Steve Bates of the New Paper that Man United hasn't "forgotten about Singapore - but they don't know when they'll be back touring in Malaysia." Ferguson reportedly last visited the island republic in 2001 and "remembers the warmth and enthusiasm of the fans who greeted them when they stayed at the Shangri-La Hotel, visited the newly-opened Reds Cafe and enjoyed the local hospitality." Since then the club's popularity has increased in East Asia to rival fans in South East Asia. "The fans all over Asia are so fantastic we would like to visit them every year but it's just not possible. The last time we visited Singapore, we also toured in Thailand and Kuala Lumpur and we haven't been back there either. We would love to go back to Singapore and hopefully we will do in the future but it is hard to say exactly when because so many factors are involved.

'Two years ago we were in Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo but this time we have had to include South Korea because our fan base over there has grown huge especially since we signed Park Ji Sung. We consider ourselves a global brand and more and markets are opening up for us especially in Asia. For instance we know have a tremendous number of fans in Vietnam and we may have to go there soon.The problem is we can't go every summer because in even years we have the World Cup and European Championships and even the Copa America to consider. But we will certainly take the opportunity of coming back to Asia whenever they come along because it is important to us and we know we have a lot of loyal and dedicated fans here," he said.

Man United faces its "hysterical" East Asians fans

Jonathan Northcroft observes East Asian "hysteria" for Manchester United in The Sunday Times (extracts):

Ronaldo is a marketing-man’s dream: Ronaldinho with good looks. With the similar, cartoon-like quality of their ball skills, the Portuguese appears to capture the same imaginations as the Brazilian; in this part of the world young Asians emerging from previously regimented societies, chasing fun, keen on seeing individualism asserted.

Japan, with its distinctive J-League, is a more mature football market than neighbouring countries and the 56,000 fans packing the Saitama stadium on Monday were there largely to support their own team, Urawa Red Diamonds, rather than worship a visiting foreign entity. Some even gave United stick, but when Ronaldo took possession there was suddenly a galaxy of twinkling camera lights in the stands and screeched exhortations for stepovers.

Korean football is also established but its fans embrace foreign teams. Ji-Sung Park may have exaggerated when he said “for Korean people, United are the best club in the world, everyone supports them,” but not by much. The estimate is that 75% do.

In a hysterical World Cup stadium in Seoul, Ronaldo went down like Elvis in boots. Scoring one goal, making two, he did enough to win man-of-the-match by half-time and spent the second 45 minutes on the bench. Every time the big screen showed the United dugout there was a cacophony when Park was seen and an even greater one when a certain baseball cap and diamond earrings came into to view. Ronaldo loved it, and favoured the cameras with smiles and thumbs-ups.

With the weight of Nike campaign already behind him, he is well placed to make himself into a brand. For United, his rise is a fillip as the Glazer family seeks to expand business. Sir Alex Ferguson noted this is his fifth Far East tour and experience helps United understand better than any other club how to do these things. The games are showcases but offstage there have been a range of activities designed to show United’s commitment to this part of the world is sincere: visits to orphanages, signing sessions for children, coaching clinics and the launch of Japanese, Korean and Chinese language versions of United’s website.

Ferguson has become an old hand at flattering locals without having to be false. In Seoul, he praised South Korea for its exploits in the 2002 World Cup, in Tokyo he lauded the Japanese for leading the development of the Asian game ...

After the success of Guus Hiddink with their national team, the grey-haired boss figure is something Koreans can cherish and Ferguson was also treated like a movie star, mobbed at the Shilla and attracting screams when his face filled the stadium screen. On the United bus one fan scrawled: “Ferguson! Hand made chocolate.” Quite what that meant was unclear ...