When I first saw Nestle's Kit Kat ad which allied itself with English football fans across the country in support of England in the 2010 World Cup, I immediately added it to my list to update on brandopoly. However, I wrote my whole blurb and never posted it because I just found the 'Cross Your Fingers' ad rather uninspiring. Also, their microsite wasn't loading and I just decided the whole thing was a flop.
However, in last week's issue of Marketing, the front page article was about how Mars and The FA are considering legal action against Nestle for what they consider to be a breach on sponsorship rules. Basically, they claim Nestle is guilty of 'passing off' an association with the England team despite not actually being an official sponsor.
But there's more. Marketing says that Mars undertook similar 'ambush marketing' tactics in the 2006 World Cup in Germany... despite not being an official sponsor of Team England at the time. Woops...
Nestle of course maintains they have not breached any third-party rights and although I certainly can't claim to have read The FA sponsorship contract, I would have to say that Nestle does a pretty good job of avoiding the World Cup altogether. Never is the World Cup or South Africa mentioned and all football shots centre on the Premier League. Let's see what happens...
Kit Kat ad below. Mars ad to follow.
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