CR7 v COCA COLA: WHO SHOOK THE TABLE
#Trademark #Sportssponsorship #CristianoRonaldo #CocaCola #EURO2020 #EUFA #IOC #McDoanld #Endorsement #Merchandise #IPSERIES
CR7 v COCA COLA: WHO SHOOK THE TABLE
Dear IPFriend
Welcome to the second edition of the #IPSERIES newsletter. My name is Rita Anwiri Chindah, a legal advisor on intellectual property, information technology & arbitration, and I’m glad to be back with the second edition. I’ll provide weekly updates on trending global issues with an African bias and with forward-looking opportunities.
Are there stories you’re keen to have me dig into? Share a lead with me: ipseriesinfo@gmail.com and follow me on Twitter at @esmeralo99
What is the back story?
As good as he is on the field, so is he off the field. Cristiano Ronaldo (CR7) scored a goal with the internet when he moved two bottled products of global beverage brand, Coca Cola, at a pre match press conference ahead of his country’s group match against Germany and raised a bottle of water in apparent defiance of existing commercial inventory in relation to the ongoing 2020 European Championship.
Ronaldo’s singular action sent the internet into a frenzy with claims that the value of Coca-Cola was impacted negatively causing a drop in the stocks of the company trading from $242 billion to $238 billion losing $4 billion. Absurd, right? One man’s off-field shenanigan did such damage to a leading international brand; Coca-Cola, the official non-alcoholic beverage partner to UEFA, and a sponsor of the EURO 2020.
What is the case not about?
Word on the street is that the very moment Cristiano Ronaldo moved the coke bottles at the pre-match press conference did more harm than good influencing the drop in the market value of the official sponsor of the #EURO2020. This is entirely difficult to suggest.
Ambushing and third-party marketing: takes the approach of passing off which attempts to benefit from the goodwill of another goods, services or brand of a rival competitor. In this situation what happens is that the business tries to bypass paying sponsorship fees by attaching itself to a major sports event for free. The side effect for this act is that it “damages investment made by genuine sponsors and risks the organizers the ability to fund the event. This act can also be called Guerrilla or Parasitic marketing”. In the digital era of social media this poses a lot of problems and difficulty in tracking activities of infringers and marketers who try to incorporate some aspects of theses sporting event by using their trademarks in any viral trend at that point in time through hashtags associated with these events.
For instance, in 2012 the Denmark striker Niklas Bendtner was fined $126,000 and banned from playing in Denmark's next competitive game for revealing a sponsor's name on his underpants during a Euro 2012 game as he celebrated a goal against Portugal.
What is the case really about?
Did you know? Ten years ago, Cristiano Ronaldo once endorsed Coca-Cola? So, what went wrong since that endorsement of the non- alcoholic beverage drink? There's a case to be made by Cristiano's action based on value-driven healthy lifestyle. Since players are not obligated to promote personal endorsements held with brands on their professional inventory terms, CR7 did not violate any contractual obligations representing his national team at the ongoing UEFA EURO tournament...
"In the case between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and fast-food giant McDonald's, the partnership generated some bad press from public health groups, accusing the IOC of being hypocritical on their emphasis on health and athleticism by taking money from companies that sell junk food. McDonald's had gotten the highest level of sponsorship which dates back to 1976 making them an IOC worldwide partner and access to exclusive global rights to use the Games and their associated trademarks in their advertisements. Huge, right? A similar situation for Coca-Cola who are the official non-alcoholic beverage sponsor for EURO2020"
"For your information - Cristiano does not have a single tattoo - and is only one among several athletes - on his body informed by his lifestyle decision and devotion to making blood donation, an act of service he renders as he sees fit! Furthermore, athletes rely on the lawyer who is versed in sports law & intellectual property and agent to protect their interest legally while helping them secure deals. So, get one today!
There is also a need for athletes to differentiate personal brand and club brands; for instance, according to Statista.com Cristiano has one of the most expensive influence on Instagram and the highest average earning on Instagram in 2021, this gives you an insight as to how athletes can maximize and commercialize elements of their personal brands.
How many Nigerian or African athlete if valued can exploit their personal brands? In this age of digital marketing, it is important for athletes to have long term goal to keep generating revenue by exploring their name, likeness, signature pose like Usain, getting a trademark and creating merchandise like Lionel Messi who has over 76 registered trademarks for his name, logo and signature.
Next up is endorsement which most famous athlete explore by having their image and likeness appear on a with a product or on a product for adverts by signing a contract to that effect for more exposure and profit. Endorsement deals is also a combination of sponsorship and merchandising but in this case the athletes would use his personality by being a brand ambassador who promotes the brand he will go into contract with in order to generate funds for the company and earn a fee. This also builds trust for the brand with its consumers who are likely to take the word of the athletes that the brand is certified, tasted and can be trusted. For instance, Michael Jordan has the highest annual earning of $130 million from endorsement.
These arrangements may be exclusive or non-exclusive it all depends on what was negotiated. What would have been the fate of Cristiano Ronaldo had he taken a sip from one of the Coca-Cola bottles?
I guess the same fate which the Brazilian footballer Ronaldino during a press conference at his new club Atletico Mineiro, a team sponsored by Pepsi met his waterloo in 2012 were he took a sip from the Pepsi bottle (the firm’s rival) that was kept in front of him and he lost a £1,000,000 in unpaid earnings and his £500,000-a-year contract with Coca-Cola drink giant was to last till 2014. Which I am of the opinion that Coca-Cola should be more accommodating given their history with Ronaldino.
Endorsement is also a good strategy for athlete to remain relevant post the short life span of their sporting career. For instance, in a US case between Michael Jordan v Dominicks Finer Foods, LLC over the unauthorized use of Michael Jordan’s name and likeness in advert without his consent; Dominick’s had to pay $8.9 million. The following athletes have had endorsement deals:
· Alexander Chuka Iwobi – endorsement deals with Nike, LG Electronics, Multichoice;
· Jay Jay Okocha has an endorsement deal as a brand ambassador for BetKing second most popular Sports betting company in Nigeria
Sponsorship is how sports organizers generate revenue by getting brands to sponsor things like broadcasting, infrastructure, merchandise to be sold to fans and can be financial or in-kind payments. For the #EURO2020 Coca-Cola is the official non-alcoholic beverage sponsor which required that they showcase several of their product as part of the agreement. In response to Cristiano Ronaldo’s stunt the company that is C0ca-Cola had responded that “everyone is entitled to their drink preference with different taste and needs.” In this digital era of virality, sports sponsorship uses social media where ease or reproduction and how it is easy for your name, image and likeness as an athlete can be exploited with the athlete in question not having any control on how it is distributed and perceived/interpreted by the fans and introducing new target consumers.
Lessons for the African sports market
· Sports organizers should embark on campaigns and engagement initiatives with athletes particularly on the premise of value-driven choices and the importance of institutional obligations while participating in any sporting events. This will preempt any concerns about differences on values in relation to brand endorsements and lifestyle choices. It will interest you to know that UEFA had ,after the incident, warned players and managers about the possibility of being fined for not adhering to the rules pertaining to the tournament commercial partners.
• Sponsorship and endorsement deals are mostly exclusive arrangement of the relevant parties signatory to the contract and the terms which must be adhered to."
· Sponsorship and endorsement deal are mostly exclusive arrangement of which parties who signed the contract must adhere to the terms.
Future of sports and commercial intricacies
· There is a need to differentiate between individual brand against institutional brand endorsements so we don’t have scenes with athletes removing products belonging to sponsors.
· Sports organizers should carry out due diligence and risk analysis to determine
· Consider the fusion of technology and data to change the dynamics and structure of the industry while exploring the business side of the sports and intellectual property.
If you had a good read of today’s email, please share with your friends and contact groups!
To find out more about the issues raised in this case including sponsorship, endorsement, trademark, sports and intellectual property, ambushing and third party marketing, check out the podcast version on Anchor, Spotify, Google and Apple podcast, Breaker. You can contact me by sending an email to ipseriesinfo@gmail.com