World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper "will be very pleased with how things have unfolded," according to Tom Bazeley in an opinion piece for MARKETING MAGAZINE. Gosper "looked happy last week when announcing a 50% rise in the commercial value of the tournament from New Zealand" in '11. In the same statement, Gosper confirmed that the majority of this money has come from sponsors and "advertisers keen to associate" with "a sport like rugby, that is all about character." Character eh? I "guess this is the intangible value that advertisers are buying into." The very best marketing acknowledged this "Character" and "used it to good effect." Land Rover pulled off "the tricky task" of being headline sponsor of a huge int'l tournament, "while remaining true to its grassroots heritage." Samsung's School of Rugby demonstrated its "understanding of the game's sense of humour." Harder "than you might imagine for a big global corporation like Samsung to achieve." Adidas "paid homage to the integrity of the sport and showed a good deal of character by decking the All Blacks out with all black boots." A "typical fan won't have over-analysed such an unbranded move" by adidas, but "we should all be hoping" that such principle behavior "filters through to the way we perceive the brand." The Wear The Rose campaign for O2 "was just that, a campaign." A campaign to "get as many people behind the England team as possible." Supporting teams in sport "is hazardous, because they can lose." The criticism of O2 for backing the England team "so overtly, completely misses the point." We should be "praising a sponsor for putting their necks on the line and putting themselves out there." It is "what normal supporters do every time their team run out," and it is a characteristic they will "relate to" (MARKETING MAGAZINE, 11/3).
