As the tourney ended, the charges may
have been swept under the carpet for now
but may re-emerge once the trophy is
lifted by the new champions. those that could associate with the brands,
the ones topping the list were not even
sponsoring - these include Airtel, Coca-
Cola, Orange, Pepsi to mention but a few.
It is not in my place to cast aspersions on
the conduct of the CAF President and
other CAF officials. Surely this is not the
sort of coverage they would have hoped
for. To mitigate against such incidences,
the body must constitute a transparent
approach and officials be above reproach
in their dealings on behalf of CAF. This shows that the current title and
regional sponsors have not created top-
of-mind awareness and association with
the Africa Cup of Nations brand.It’s
interesting that there have been knee-
jerk campaigns with the tournament
while there is a myriad of opportunities
to leverage your brand. These would be
live activations at the petrol stations and
associated spaces, simple giveaways such as
footballs, jerseys or any other memorabilia.
Africa’s football federations maybe
mired in challenges up to and including
corruption, but this can be the turning
point of the game. There are myriad
opportunities to generate revenue and
funds not only to grow the game but
also to be rewarded for a job well done.
Daydreaming or snowball’s chance in hell?
Sponsorship
The tournament scores highly in terms
of awareness and interest. However, your
local football fans have not been able to
identify with the title sponsors and other
partners of the AfCON. From the GeoPoll
study mentioned before, over 50% of
the respondents could not associate the
tournament with any brands. And for
It shouldn’t take much investment to be
able to win the hearts, minds and maybe
wallets of your target audience.
Technology
Related to the broadcast media above,
is the role of technology. We must
acknowledge we’re in an era where I can
log on to some social media platform or
other and get live updates of the games.
Well, these must be considered for future
tournaments for both pre-tournament
and during the games. They can be used
effectively to hype and build attention and
interest. Technology can also be used to
ease the way we consume sports - from
improved stadium infrastructure - what
with the soaring temperatures of some
of the venues, to supporting evolving
transport infrastructure. Adaptability
of technology is a major positive for
developing economies and more so in
Africa.
I cannot emphasize the need for sports
administrators and football in running
sports as both vibrant brand and business
propositions. Goodwill must be built
at political and economic levels and a
collective approach from stakeholders in
each of these.
Upgraded infrastructure, training areas as
well as competitive leagues with attractive
packages for our players, why can’t African
football retain its own best talent as an
alternative of exporting to Europe and
other continents?
Richard Wanjohi is a marketing
enthusiast with interest in research
and sports. You can commune with
him on this or related matters via
mail at: [email protected] or
check his tweets @rwanjohi.
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