With the 2006 FIFA World Cup kicking off soon, athletic brands, major fashion designers and stores around the globe will be in the thick of the action.
As the official athletic sponsor for the World Cup and the licensee for the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA, Adidas will have the largest presence of any apparel brand. Fashion firms such as Dolce & Gabbana, Prada and Giorgio Armani, as well as retailers, including Colette in Paris and H&M are also planning World Cup tie-ins.
The tournament — considered the world’s largest sporting event — begins in Germany on June 9 and runs through July 9, with teams from 32 countries competing. Cumulative viewership is expected to total more than 20 billion for the entire event, which will be broadcast in the U.S. on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, with many of the matches shown live.
Armani, who is designing the nonplaying uniforms for the England team for the fourth season, said he was “delighted” to design the looks since England is “one of the world’s great footballing nations.…It is exciting to be designing for such a young and enthusiastic squad. Athletes today are modern day gladiators — they have become icons both on and off the field.”
Sarah Lerfel, a buyer for Colette, said the directional Paris store plans to show its sporty side by decorating its windows and providing live broadcasts of the matches in its basement bar.
“It’s impossible to not reflect an event such as the World Cup at Colette,” Lerfel said.
The shop will provide a vast selection of World Cup-inspired offerings, such as T-shirts by Marshall & Vox, balls customized by Berlin-based designer Bora Herke, Nike’s limited-edition Footscape Woven tennis shoes and Japan’s Bearbrick toy teddy bears with varying national jerseys.
“It is very inspiring for some designers,” Lerfel said.
Although this is the men’s soccer tournament, millions of female spectators will be watching. A survey by FIFA after the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, found that 35 percent of women said soccer was their favorite sport to watch on TV. Basketball was second with only 7 percent.
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Many firms have developed women’s lifestyle soccer-inspired collections for spring, including Nike, Adidas and Puma, as well as Lotto, Umbro and Hummel.
Even Trussardi Parfums is seizing the moment. This spring the Italian firm will hold a promotion at perfumeries that sell its scents. The events are tentatively called “Animation Soccer Ball,” a window campaign showcasing limited-edition and numbered Trussardi handmade leather soccer balls that will be awarded through “lucky draw” promotions. There will be 2,350 of the balls made by hand.
Adidas has aggressive plans for the tournament and has been ramping up its efforts all year. The German activewear giant unveiled its World Cup advertising campaign, dubbed “Impossible Team,” on April 3.
Soccer “is Adidas’ DNA,” Hainer told analysts in March. “It’s our most important product category and the World Cup is taking place in our home field.…Adidas will dominate this event. We are the official sponsor supplier and licensee for the World Cup, so you will see our product on countless volunteers, referees, players and fans in stadium, on TV and on the streets.”
The company’s World Cup marketing is called “+10” and includes a comprehensive campaign comprising print, retail, Internet, TV and grassroots marketing, said a spokesman at Adidas America.
Adidas is also making sure that fans are getting in on the action through the interactive Adidas World of Football being constructed in front of the Reichstag in Berlin. Adidas is investing a “high-single-digit- million sum” in the sports center, said Adidas Group chief executive officer Herbert Hainer. The company is also erecting a temporary mock-up of the Berlin Olympic Stadium, the site of the soccer finals. The mock stadium will seat 10,000 fans, who for a processing fee of 1 euro will be able to watch large-screen broadcasts of the games.
In addition, the 430,000-square-foot area will feature playing fields for those who would rather participate than watch. To appeal to the growing number of female fans, the stadium will host a women’s football theme day in June during which soccer stars will personally select a female soccer fan to play on their teams. On game-free days, the stadium will be used for concerts featuring musicians such as James Blunt and The Black Eyed Peas.
Hainer said the company also sees the World Cup as a big revenue driver this year for its soccer-related merchandise.
“We expect category sales to grow by at least 20 percent and top 1 billion euros for the first time this year,” he said.
Nike has also unveiled a comprehensive strategy around the World Cup. The company, which sponsors eight national teams, including the U.S., has introduced soccer-infused lifestyle apparel for spring, as well as a new generation of performance products and equipment. The company has a soccer Web site called Joga.com as part of its marketing message for the season.
Soccer merchandise has become a key driver at Nike. Sales in the category skyrocketed to about $1.5 billion in 2005 from $40 million in 1994, the company said.
“Nike soccer represents one of our top three businesses today,” Nike brand president Charles Denson said in February. “We have great momentum. In the past four years, we have more than doubled Nike’s soccer business worldwide.”
Nike spent more than two years developing the new national team looks that will debut in Germany, a company spokesman said. The “kits” or team looks, are made of Nike’s Sphere Dry performance material and versions for consumers are hitting stores this month.
Puma, another German athletic giant, has also embarked on global marketing initiative comprising TV, products and prints ad, said Barney Waters, vice president of marketing for Puma North America. The campaign is called “Welcome to Football” and is Puma’s largest marketing effort.
On the product front, Puma and fashion designer Neil Barrett collaborated on creating performance uniforms for the Italian team. Puma is also outfitting 11 other national teams, including some from Africa.
“Our on-field presence will be extensive and is the best statement we can make,” Waters said.
The company has paired with United for Africa, a charity, to develop a lifestyle collection of men’s and women’s products.
In June and July, when the finals are being held in Berlin, a Puma tram selling the label’s soccer leisurewear and staging celebrity events will tour the city. Puma will have a “soccer headquarters” in Café Moskau, one of Berlin’s hippest nightclubs, where concerts and events will be held throughout the summer.
Retailers are preparing their own World Cup marketing, with the aim of generating major business. In France, national soccer pride is on display at sports specialty stores and trendy fashion shops.
“It’s the economic key of the year,” said Gilles Raison, marketing manager for the sports division of luxury giant PPR, which owns the Citadium megastore in Paris and 19 Made In Sport stores. “It’s the ideal platform for our image and authenticity as a true soccer specialist.”
Starting on June 12, Citadium will devote 3,500 square feet of its first floor to Adidas, Nike and Puma, where the three soccer leaders can show off their World Cup marketing campaigns.
“We’ve organized a World Cup for marketing campaigns,” Raison quipped.
At Made In Sport, along with providing all the 32 official jerseys at the stores, customers will receive a “Pass-sport” with their World Cup purchases, a selection of promotional offerings such as a reduced subscription to France’s leading daily sports newspaper “L’Equipe,” as well as deals on pizza delivery during the World Cup and even baby-sitting services. If France wins the World Cup, Made In Sport vows to hold football fiestas in their stores. Confidence is so high that the chain promised to reimburse fans who purchased the French jersey if the team doesn’t take the cup.
In Italy, designers are flaunting their soccer style. Dolce & Gabbana designed the formal off-the-field outfits for Italy’s national team. The duo has been designing uniforms for one of Italy’s main soccer teams, AC Milan, since fall 2004. The previous year, Dolce & Gabbana published the book “Calcio,” with portraits of iconic soccer players shot by Mariano Vivanco.
“In recent years we have had a strong attraction for the world of soccer. Soccer players represent for us the new icons for the contemporary masculine style,” Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce said. For spring 2006, the brand’s men’s underwear ad campaign features some of the top soccer players on Italy’s team posing in a Fifties-style gym.
For the formal ensembles, the designers worked with Italy’s iconic color, blue, and the country’s flag colors of green, white and red. The dark blue tailored suits are stitched by hand and made with opaque satin, a mix of extra fine wool and silk. The suits come in personalized sizes and two-button closures and the outfit also includes a dark blue tie in duchesse silk, a collared shirt in cotton poplin and a dark blue coat in wool gabardine.
Prada has launched a collection of T-shirts designed by French artist HNT and dedicated to soccer. The T-shirts are available at Prada and multibrand boutiques, and department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, retailing at around $285. They are part of Prada’s Unspoken Dialogue project launched a year ago that asks artists to reinterpret the brand by reproducing their works on a specifically designed Prada T-shirt. The company described the project as “the encounter between clothing, creativity and culture,” with the goal of bringing “fashion out of context and to start cultural dialogues.”
German retailers are readying a series of activities to coincide with the matches. The Breuninger department store chain will transform the facade of its flagship in Stuttgart into a giant football pitch. The 8,000-square-foot surface will be covered with green material to resemble grass, as well as white lines and corner flags. Brand names will be positioned around the pitch where the players would normally be.
During the games, Breuninger will offer a free VIP shuttle service to players and fans between Stuttgart’s biggest hotels and the store. Once there, they will be given champagne and be able to use the services of a personal shopper free of charge.
The store will present the new World Cup collection by Strenesse, the official supplier of the German team. The collection is a combination of luxury and sport, with football-themed labels and prints. The official football uniforms by Strenesse will be available in the store. The Strenesse collection is to be the main feature of the shop windows that will be football-themed during the World Cup, the company said.
The Stuttgart store will be open later than usual during the games and open on Sunday, when it is usually closed.
The upscale Berlin department store KaDeWe will feature on the ground floor a 5,400-square-foot football-themed hall to showcase Nike’s soccer collection. Since Nike sponsors the Brazilian team, a lot of the display will be Brazilian-inspired, through music, as well as the national colors yellow and green. Flat-screens will show Nike ads from the past and pay homage to iconic soccer players. All the shop windows will also be devoted to the sport, while inside FIFA will have a football merchandise shop.
Karstadt, one of Europe’s largest sports retailers, is FIFA’s merchandising partner and has exclusive rights to host the federation’s official in-store shops. About 300 Karstadt stores throughout Germany will offer the FIFA World Cup shops, with artificial grass and spotlights helping to create a soccer atmosphere, while in the middle FIFA’s official merchandise will be for sale, including FIFA memorial souvenirs, such as badges, caps, towels, sweatbands and scarves, as well as lifestyle variations of the official team uniforms. Women’s offerings include fitted T-shirts and spaghetti-strap vests in national team colors or with World Cup logos.
A host of other companies are also getting in on the action.
San Francisco-based Sumo has developed a limited edition of World Cup iPod cases, and Warner Bros. was named a licensor for FIFA in markets outside of Europe and Japan.
Dan Romanelli, president of Warner Bros. Worldwide Consumer Products, said, “FIFA World Cup is one of the greatest sporting events in the world and we are pleased to be able to extend the reach of the merchandise program to fans around the world.”
— With contributions from Luisa Zargani, Milan, and Melissa Drier and Damien McGuinness, Berlin