What World Cup Teaches us in Marketing

The month long show of the much followed FIFA word cup ended in South Africa after much hullabaloo and glitter a few days back. The competition as a whole was a grand success thanks to the hosts who embraced the event in such a huge way that the festive aura that prevailed truly showed the rainbow nation in its true colors. Though there was much to shout about the successful occasion, the first in the African mainland, a lot of things could've been managed far better. Let's look at a few of the lessons that we can draw from this event from a marketing perspective.

Ignore Technology at your own peril: I know that my English pals would still be sulking about Lampard's disallowed goal. Whether that incident would have made a huge impact on the result of the game is indeed arguable.

I have my doubts as I feel that Germany was a much better outfit on the day and they thoroughly deserved to be the winners.

But what is unarguable is that the simple use of video referral could've averted the mess completely and all would have been content with the final outcome had it been the case. And Germans would've been gladdened that their victory did not get sullied in the bickering.

* Don't get overawed by technology as it's a great enabler.

Don't alter critical factors late in the day: The exploits of the ball in significantly affecting the matches as a spectacle as well as for the players could have been avoided had they not left the selection of the ball to be used till the very last moment.

* Keep faith in the tried and tested tools when the stakes are high. Don't go overboard with the scarcity thing: Well before the first whistle blew or the sound of Vuvuzela was heard, FIFA had announced that very few tickets are left. But in hindsight, the claim that 97% of tickets were sold before the tournament began seemed hardly credible as evidenced by the vast empty spaces in the stadiums. Did that put off the fence sitters by overdoing the scarcity pitch? Well, the evidences seem to suggest so. Surely, the empty seats told a story.

* Make your claims believable as it may put off prospective customers otherwise.

Know thy audience: One of the basic things in marketing is that you know your target audience. But the organizers made a basic mistake in this factor. Internet ticket sales were very poor, since majority of the football fans in Africa don't have access to internet or the payment options online. Africa isn't Europe and the two markets work differently from each other.

*Choose to go online or offline based on the audience.

Greed isn't a virtue: The excessive pricing of the trip – travel, accommodation and ticketing aimed to squeeze out the maximum from the ardent faithfuls was met with strong negative response from all around. And instead of making it an affordable proposition for the multitude of fans, the sheer greed on the part of the stage managers fended them off big time.

I'm sure that the cricket fans would nod their heads in agreement on how the West Indies bungled on the same in the world cup that they hosted in 2007 but did well to quickly learn from that mistake in time for World T20 two years later. Hope that Brazil can take a leaf out of their books in time for 2014.

Bigger the market, the more competitive your prices ought to be

For all the bungles of the marketing bosses, what cannot be missed was the joi de vivre that was on display in ample measure. Come let's embrace that vivacity and zing in our marketing life as well.

Waka Waka folks..!!

Cheers

Tanzz Mohd is the owner of tanzzmohd.com an online resource for internet marketers and network marketers. Tanzz Mohd has got extensive experience and expertise in the field of internet marketing specialising in SEO, PPC, Social Media, Blogging and Video Marketing.

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