Exact study: Romanian football, an overcrowded communication territory

International brands are associating with renown football brands, that have a positive perception in football fans minds, while Romanian brands can associate with either glorious past of Romanian football or with its future, aiming to discover and support young talents, or with the supporters and their enthusiasm, is the conclusion of a Exact Research and Consultancy study.

The study aimed to evaluate, from consumers perspective, football as a communication territory for brands. The study used a qualitative methodology, with the target being football passioned men, with education beyond average and ages between 16 – 54 y.o., that are watching TV at least 2 hours a day.

Exact analyzed, within the study, respondents’ perception over brands that developed platforms dedicated to football communication, such as Gillette, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Heineken, Timisoreana, Ursus, Bergenbier, Puma, Adidas, Nike, or Lotto. Consumers mentioned also spontaneously brands that are communicating occasionally in this segment, such as Umbro, MasterCard, Nutline, Carlsberg, Amstel, Diadora, Vodafone, Audi, Orange, Fly Emirates and Germanos.

For Gillette, football includes passion for exercise and performance, is an useful one, built with balance and wise for the future generations. Gilette’s campaigns are centered around football, with focus on developing young athletes and offering positive examples to follow in different sports, such as Thierry Henry in football or Roger Federer in tennis.

Brands that support performance through professional equipment and new tech (Puma, Adidas, Nike, Lotto) are the main brands when it comes to football. The emotional relation is supported through a powerful rational accreditation, with everybody knowing those brands and appreciating their quality.

At its turn, beer is the official drink for football, always among the fans, representing the perfect emotional link between football and consumers. When it comes about football, beer is little associated to it rationally, but mainly emotionally, with it being the one that can make victories even more beautiful and being able to wash away the disappointment of a failure. Beer (such as Romanian brands Timisoreana, Ursus or Bergenbier) is close to supporters and football, no matter how good or how bad the game is.

Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Heineken, 3 brands for which football is more than a sport, are managing to create an attitude that speaks about passion, fair-play, equality of chances, the joy of a game that brings people closer beyond racial or social differences.

As there are a lot of brands fighting for the football communication playground, as the game brings visibility and opens the way to large communities, not all the brands are managing to have a coherent, continuous and relevant communication on this territory. Most of them have an opportunistic strategy, aiming to exploit this segment only during season competitions, by organizing promotions, sponsorships, themed events.

The success of a brand in associating with football isn’t given just by bringing together the brand and football, but there is a need of content created around football, like contests, campaigns, games, limited edition products and so on. The best association with football must generate content and be relevant for the target, using the proper language, presenting the game in the most relevant form and in a continuous manner.

Exact study is available in full version, online, here .

Research agency’s team working on this study included Andrei Constantin (Qualitative Research Senior), Denisa Iacoboaea (Qualitative Research Junior) and Irina Nistor (Qualitative Research Manager).