Introduction
“Marketing can be defined as the process by which companies create customer interests in products or services.” (Eisenberg, p. 44) Marketing mainly spawns the strategy formulated regarding “sales methods, business communication and business development.” (Eisenberg, p. 44). For any organization to be successful in business, its marketing activities must be above par to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. This paper examines an article on how FIFA, the world football governing body is successful in marketing activities.
Background
“The Federation International de Football Association (FIFA), an organization that was founded in 1904 by a few cosmopolitan football officials from Europe is the governing body of the world football” (Eisenberg, p. 7) and this capacity has assumed the role of a global player in the relationship between sports, politics, and business. FIFA was initially created to administer rules and regulate competitive matches, as other organizations for other sports. It only began to extend its functions in the business direction in the 1970s when officials from new member states, particularly Africa, revised the interpretation of its laws and thus allow the promotion of the sport in every way possible. To meet these demands, FIFA began to engage more and more professional staffs and grew to a “business on a global scale with vastly expanded financial basis”: at first via sponsoring contracts with companies such as Coca Cola, Adidas, and other firms and later with help of its merchandising activities (Eisenberg, p. 13).
FIFA as a global Football governing body is represented in member countries by football as associations. These associations receive financial disbursements from FIFA depending on their specific needs. To sustain this, FIFA requires successful strategies to maintain a strong financial base. However, the ride is not always been rough due to the prestigious status accorded to football.
Marketing strategies
FIFA sources a bigger share of its finances from the selling of tickets during football matches, mainly confederation cups, major leagues, and the world cup. Thus it has formulated policies to guide ticket sales; the strategy includes promotions and advertisements. The advertisement for hospitality packages, especially ticket sales is carried out in Print, electronic media, and the internet. The magnitude of the football events such as the world cup makes it easy for unscrupulous dealers to sell fake tickets to unsuspecting fans. Thus to protect the fans FIFA has come up with several strategies. First, there is a legal framework that stipulates the selling and buying activities of hospitality packages. The sales regulations always apply to hospitality packages for specific football events. For instance for the World cup 2010 ticket sales in South Africa, the regulations were as follows:
The buyers were required to sign a proposal and deliver to the match hospitality before the purchase of the tickets, upon receiving the expression of interest to buy the hospitality package, the match hospitality agent is required to ascertain the availability of the hospitality packages, if they are available then the agent will provide the applicant with a complete proposal outlining the hospitality packages (includes payment conditions, applicable price, and other relevant information). The sales agreement consists of:
- The proposal ( in the form signed by the customer and the Match Hospitality)
- The product description
- These sales regulations
- The tickets GTCs; and the
- Stadium code of conduct (Hospitality Sales Regulations, FIFA).
Match Hospitality is the principal in the sale of Hospitality packages to Customers. The customer acknowledges, however, the Match hospitality packages have been authorized by FIFA to provide a ticket to the customer as an integral part of each “Hospitality package and FIFA, upon match hospitality notifications to FIFA of the sale of hospitality packages to the customers, automatically becomes the principal in the sale of the Tickets being part of a Hospitality package.” (Hospitality Sales Regulations, FIFA) The customer hereby accepts this direct contractual relationship with FIFA concerning the sale of the Ticket being part of the hospitality package and acknowledges that, based on this direct relationship between FIFA and customer concerning “Tickets, FIFA has the right to exercise any of the rights concerning Tickets pursuant to the Tickets GTCs as well as any other documents of the Sales Agreement.” (Hospitality Sales Regulations, FIFA) The payments for the hospitality are made 10 days from the date on which the applicable invoices are issued by the match hospitality. “The selling of Tickets is often launched three months before the beginning of the soccer tournament, but again this depends on the magnitude of the event.” (“FIFA unveils Ticket Strategy” sport24.com) For smaller events, the tickets may be sold a few weeks before the start. The tickets are often in three categories; 1, 2, and 3. The three categories are often sold differently with category one being the most expensive. For instance, for the 2010 FIFA world cup in South Africa, category 1 tickets were going for $900 while category three tickets were being sold at $ 80. “The tickets are sold through various channels such as Commercial affiliates, hospitality providers and broadcast outlets.” (“FIFA unveils Ticket Strategy” Sport24.com)International fans are required to pay for the Tickets in US dollars after which are provided with cards to redeem their tickets. (“FIFA unveils Ticket Strategy” Sport24.com) Normally, the tickets are sold as per the games the fun wishes to watch. Big teams like Brazil, Germany, France, and Italy often get the most bookings.
The advertisements for the tournament are normally carried out extensively; this is done in liaison with other sponsors such as Supersport, other pay-TV channels, Coca-cola, and other major companies across the globe. The emphasis is often placed on publicizing the event rather than the ticket sales. Advertisements for major events such as the world cup and confederations cup are often widespread in terms of frequency and number of Media involved. However, FIFA often rides on the popularity of the sport. Fans across the world are always eager to watch football matches, mostly through pay-TV as citizens of the host country are the only ones advantaged to watch live matches.
The revenue collection by FIFA does not only involve the sales of tickets and hospitality packages. Other ways include the sale of rights to broadcast matches by Pay-TV channels and other TV channels in different countries.
Views
The world football governing body FIFA is a successful business establishment. Unlike other organizations, FFAs success is not necessarily due to good marketing strategies its strategies impede the success of the football events. The ticket sales activities are usually rocked by cumbersome bureaucratic procedures that limit the access of many people. For instance, the requirements are that fans buy the tickets from FIFA affiliates and pay for them in US dollars besides waiting for almost a month to get hold of the ticket. The popularity of the sport is the major driving force behind FIFA’s success. FIFA should improve on their marketing activities, for instance, they should include the counter-ticket sales method that was tried in South Africa.
Works cited
- Eisenberg, Christiane. “The Business of Football development organisation.” Historical Social Research (2006): 1,55-78.
- “FIFA unveils Ticket Strategy.” sports24.com. 2010.
- “Hospitality Sales Regulations.” FIFA World cup 2010. Johannesburg: FIFA, 2010.