Sponsors trying to call the shots about the events they support is always a cause for unease – just as it is when advertisers try to influence editorial content. But football’s world government body FIFA is enough to make anyone ...
Read More »What’s next for Becks as he joins rush to retire?
Well maybe it’s not a rush but David Beckham’s retirement, announced yesterday, at the age of 38 follows hard on the heels of that of his old manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Team-mate Paul Scholes, who some would say was an ...
Read More »Now Sir Martin’s WPP tunes into dance music
Sir Martin being Sir Martin Sorrell of course, not another new rapper on the block. WPP is planning to invest up to $10m in SFX Music, Robert Sillerman’s new online media business built around dance music. Sillerman (left) says he ...
Read More »Lance Armstrong and Jimmy Savile – celebrities who make fools of us all (and sponsors)
For years he wove a cynical circle of deceit around the community, perpetrating the most heinous misdeeds while masquerading as a benefactor of mankind. Of course, there were a few whispers. Doubters who thought the myth he had wrapped around ...
Read More »Andy Murray confounds the sceptics (including me) – now how much is ‘Brand Murray’ worth?
In February 2011 I mocked the likelihood of tennis player Andy Murray ever becoming the serial slam winner his supporters hoped for and questioned if he was worth the £10m or so his advisers were trying to raise in sponsorship ...
Read More »Capello resignation shows why the FA-run England team is a marketing disaster
Let’s try to look at this logically. Football is a big business in the UK (BSkyB’s humungous profits depend on it, almost entirely). We have a very expensive Premier League of high-performing clubs, some of whose players are English. The ...
Read More »Sponsors Coca-Cola and Adidas whack FIFA boss Sepp Blatter
That’s ‘whack’ in the sense of a Mafia hit, it’s going to be very hard for FIFA president Sepp Blatter to recover from the assault launched on him yesterday by Coca-Cola and Adidas, two of FIFA’s and world football’s biggest ...
Read More »Formula One looks for marketing director – but is it already in Bernie’s bag?
Formula One is looking to appoint its first marketing director following pressure from the F100 Alliance which represents the brands who pour £458m into the sport. On the face of it this looks about the best marketing job in the ...
Read More »Now only the Premier League can save Rooney and co from brand oblivion
As English football hits (another) low, rudely dumped from the World Cup by Germany, it seems a bit strange to say the Premier League is the only rescue agent on the horizon when many people blame its greedy owners for ...
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