FIFA 2018 in Russia: What Promotion Opportunities Do Local and Foreign Brands Have?

FIFA 2018 is a superb, world-class sports event. The FIFA World Cup in Russia has already attracted many companies from different countries to place advertisements of their goods and services there. Their interest is quite obvious because such events are distinct in their massive scale. Advertising during the World Cup is effective and produces the result that an advertiser awaits.

How to organize your advertisements during FIFA 2018 in Russia? What tools should be used to achieve set goals? What do you need to know before you start an advertising campaign during organization of a sports event in Russia? What nuances should you take into account to make ads really effective? Read the article prepared by RMAA Group to learn how you can advertise services and goods of your company at FIFA 2018.

FIFA 2018 official partners and sponsors

Some companies have every right to use FIFA 2018 brand marks. Their status is recognized officially:

• Partners who take full advantage of advertising and marketing rights during all events sponsored by them. In 2018, these companies are Adidas, Hyundai/Kia, Coca-Cola, VISA, Gazprom, Qatar Airways, and Wanda Group, a Chinese concern that has become FIFA’s official partner for the first time.
• Sponsors who have rights for brand marks only within a particular events. The companies who will be present at FIFA 2018 in this capacity are Bud, MacDonald’s, Hisense, and Vivo, a new sponsor from China.
• Regional sponsors who obtain an official right to advertise their goods and service during the World Cup. This is a new sponsorship format: sponsorship packages are shared between 4 corporations from every continent. The full list of these sponsors has not been determined yet. It is known that only one of Russian banks obtained advertising rights there — and that is Alfa Bank.

Companies that obtain the status of an official partner or sponsor may advertise their goods and services without any limits that are always imposed during such events. However, this opportunity has to be seriously paid for. That is why official partners and sponsors are always big companies, corporations, and concerns that have formidable funds.

What can foreign small and medium-sized businesses do if they want to organize an advertising campaign at FIFA 2018 in Russia?

Advertising in airports and at railway stations

One idea is to place advertisements in airports where football matches will take part. As it is known, the Sheremetyevo Airport has a huge capacity since people from various countries go by air. In 2018, Russian cities where matches will be held will be actually assailed by football fans all over the world. A lot of those willing to see stages of struggles between the strongest football teams will come through airports of these cities. Consequently, advertisements placed in an airport terminal will reach their goal, and many people will learn about goods and services of one or another company.

Another option is ad placement at railway stations. Again, we mean the stations that are located in cities in which stadia FIFA 2018 qualifiers will be taking place. Like in the airports, crowds of people will be there, too. Please be aware that most of them will be middle-income because railway is more affordable than air connection. That is why this advertising option is perfectly suitable for those foreign companies willing to specifically make middle-income consumers aware of their goods and services.

Outdoor advertising at FIFA 2018

During the World Football Cup in Russian, outdoor advertising placed along the route of official delegations to a stadium that will host a FIFA 2018 match is one more brilliant opportunity to advertise their goods and services for foreign companies. The routes by which football teams will go will definitely be popular among fans and those willing to see a world event. However, it is known about a prohibition that will apply to non-football advertising. If the ads are not related to football, they may be prohibited for placement along the route of official delegations.

This restriction can be circumvented. An advertising campaign should be elaborated in such a way so that it could be related to football. RMAA Group experts, possessing high professionalism in advertising and marketing, will easily connect any goods or services with the sports game that obsesses people worldwide. Consequently, if the ads are “football-like”, they may not be prohibited for placement along the routes of football teams to the stadia where matches will take place.

FIFA 2018 advertising: opportunities for beverage manufacturers

At FIFA 2018, wonderful advertising opportunities are open for drink producers. Why? Football matches will take place from June 14 until July 15. It is pretty hot in Russia at that time. The main products that will be of the highest demand will be cold soft drinks. Consequently, the ads of such beverage manufacturers will produce a flash-like effect.

It is all not that simple with regards to beer advertising, whereof we already wrote in our articles about organization of non-alcoholic frothy drink advertising campaigns and advertising of alcoholic drinks with more than 5% alcohol. It is known that at FIFA 2018, this restriction will be removed. As it turned out, this permission will cover not all producers, but only official sponsors of the sports event.

Unusual ideas to promote goods and services at FIFA 2018

More original ideas can be used for brand promotion:

1. Ads placement on pleasure yachts and boats cruising along the Moskva River where the World Football Cup matches will be broadcast;

2. Public transport branding – stylized designing of taxis, subways, buses that will be delivering football fans to the stadia where the World Cup matches will be played;

3. Organization of special advertising events. For example, a promo action can be run for football fans who won a ticket at the official website of a football club. An interesting idea is organization of events devoted to modern football with attraction of mass media and invitation of famous football players.

FIFA 2018 brand marks and their use

All advertising options listed above are methods that are accessible for foreign small and medium-sized enterprises to organize advertising campaigns. But, as it was already mentioned above, only FIFA official partners and sponsors enjoy the right for brand marks of the sports event. This includes not only the usage of the FIFA 2018 brand logo, but the prohibition also covers:

- usage of names of the producers who are partners or sponsors of the World Football Cup 2018;

- name of a legal entity that is identical to the name of the very sports event.

This is only a small list of limitations related to the use of FIFA 2018 brand marks. You should be quite careful when organizing an advertising campaign in order not to violate the prohibitions stated and to advertise your goods and services effectively at the same time.

As you have learned from our article, FIFA 2018 advertising has its peculiarities. There are many advertising channels that can be used efficiently when one has high professionalism in marketing and good knowledge of restrictions and limitations. RMAA Group experts will help to select optimal advertising methods and build an advertising campaign for FIFA 2018, which will be targeted at Russian audience, in the most effective way.

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