It’s been an exciting, if highly controversial, World Cup so far; one that has posed a number of problems for marketers despite the huge TV audiences.
Both hosts Brazil (the pre-tournament favourites) and Holland have become within a whisker of exiting early – in the last 16 round – which would have made some marketing plans looks rather foolhardy.
And then there’s Luis Suarez. The Uruguay star, Adidas ‘property,’ and serial miscreant, has been sent home and banned from football for four months for biting an Italian defender. Luis said his teeth and the Italian met by accident.
This has happened to Luis twice before – once in Holland, once in England – so you Would have thought that Adidas and its agency might have resisted the temptation to draw attention to his molars.
My colleague Paul Simons recently outlined why tournament advertisers needed a ‘Plan B. They might also be advised against asking for trouble – or, maybe, biting off more than they can chew.
