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CR7's 'wake-up call' for brand sponsors

Ronaldo stays cool, but do big brands like Coke and Heineken need to pay better attention to their sponsorships?

Backstory
When superstar footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (aka CR7) removed bottles of Coca Cola at a recent European Championship news conference, pointedly opting for water instead, the images went viral. Coke's stock immediately dropped $4 billion (but soon recovered).
Subsequently, Italy's Manuel Locatelli followed Ronaldo's lead over Coke, while practising Muslim Paul Pogba removed a (beermaker) Heineken bottle from the table.
Ukraine skipper Andriy Yarmolenko pranked the trend by moving around bottles from both Euro sponsors and joking: "Coke and Heineken, please get in touch."
At ADDS, we help you find out what the untargeted audience really thinks on such issues.

So we ran a poll:-
Sample comments from our survey:
 

...put your ad throughout the stadium or in the interview’s backgrounds, but not in front of the players. This is a sneaky way of taking advantage of these players without paying them. A very low marketing technique.


It's so important for figures like Ronaldo, who are role models to millions of young people worldwide, to keep them informed about the importance of health and diet!

 

... even drinking pure water from a glass, you can't be sure it's not from Coca Cola. Btw, was Ronaldo's water branded or plain?


Did he explain (afterwards, perhaps) if he was against the particular company, or just against sugary carbonated drinks? 


As sponsors "REACT" to things like this, they are cow-towing to 1/3rd of their audience...and who goes into any marketing discussion saying "hey, let's just target 3 out of every 10 potential customers!!"


The concept of Coke as any kind of sports drink is incongruous. It makes no sense and sends the wrong signals to kids.

 

Sponsoring big events

The move was also described as "a useful prompt for sponsors to consider the practical implications of their activation and marketing tactics around major events".

It comes after the top tennis player Naomi Osaka sparked a showdown with the moneymen by refusing to do post-match interviews on mental health grounds.
One respondent said the ADDS poll is
 
...a great picture of our world and one that sponsors need to keep in mind
 
Agree or disagree?
Or are you more bothered by the close runner-up in the poll - "Aaargh, who cares?"

ENDS


Posted by Tree Elven on 08/08/2021

Keywords: Cristiano Ronaldo, CR7, Ronaldo and Coke bottles, brand sport sponsors, footballers as role models, Andriy Yarmolenko, sports sponsorship

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