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As with most major sports events, this summer’s World Cup in South Africa had its fair share of Ambush Marketing incidents. One case in particular highlights the difficulties in dealing with ambush marketing particularly well.

Dutch beer company Bavaria outfitted a group of 30+ female Dutch supports with orange dresses bearing the logo of their brand. When they took off their outer garments during the game to reveal the dresses they were promptly ejected from the stadium, questioned by police with 2 being arrested and charged.

Now sports events and rights holders have a duty to their sponsors (in the case Budweiser, the official beer of the World Cup) who pay millions of dollars to be associated with the event, to ensure that this sort of ambush marketing does not happen. But the trick is how to deal with it without bringing more attention to the case.

In this instance it seems like the heavy handed approach of not only ejecting them from the stadium, but also charging and arresting them back fired completely with more column inches being devoted to the incident, bringing further attention to the Bavaria brand (no doubt just as they had intended).

I tend to agree with this post which suggests FIFA should have let them stay in the stadium and pursued legal action once the tournament is over. The trouble is its a brave rights holder, who would knowingly allow ambush marketing to take place in their stadium, when their multi-million dollar sponsor who is probably sitting in hospitality at the same stadium can see this happening in front of their own eyes.

With this years World Cup rapidly approaching brands are queuing up to associate themselves with the tournament through viral videos. Expect to see alot more in the coming weeks.. here’s a few to get started.

Nike: Write the Future.
I might aswell start with the most impressive one thus far… W&K’s epic “Write the Future” for Nike set a new record for a viral video with 7.8 Million views in its first week! Worth noting that Nike is not an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup, yet have achieved a huge impact with World Cup ad’s, this one is the latest in a long line of historic pieces (Good vs Evil, Airport etc).

Adidas : Star Wars Cantina.
Maybe its just me, but despite the star studded cast that includes Snoop Dogg and David Beckham I just don’t get it this one from Adidas. Yes its a nice re-make of a cult film scene but I think someone along the line Adidas has lost any connection between its brand, the World Cup and this ad. For their main spot at World Cup time I would have expected much better.

Carlsberg: Team Talk.
Another nice take on the “if Carlsberg did…” adverts. This one features plenty of patriotic fever from the likes of Sir Ian Botham, Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Clive Woodward, Dame Ellen MaCarthur, Sir Trevor Brooking, Jack Charlton and Phil “the power” Taylor… its just a shame the England football team could match anywhere near the performance of any of these English sporting greats.

Tesco: Shilton & Lampard.
Maybe not the most creative ad from Tesco, but nice to see an old fella like Shilton still has some skills to teach Lampard.

Nandos South Africa
Finally.. a somewhat different local take on the World Cup from South African restaurant chain Nandos.

Just a quick test of the Garmin Connect embed code using data from a ride I did earlier today.

Spotted this the other day on Chestnut St in San Francisco. At first I thought the flowers on the roof were some sort of public display! On closer inspection they are part of the poster advertisement on the Bus Shelter for Degree Deodorant (that’s Sure for you Brits). Very smart.

First of all I have to admit that I am a huge skeptic when it comes to Olympic Sports that require judges to decide the winner.. if Ice Dance is in the winter Olympics then why not Ballroom Dancing in the summer Olympics? Well, to be honest I don’t think either should be there! And my cynicism of this extended to Snowboard Half-pipe until this Olympics. Again, another sport where judges decide who gets the gold medal… except this year in Vancouver one athlete was so far ahead of his competition there was little controversy about the judges decision. As far as staying true to Olympic ideals, Shaun White was quite literally higher, faster and stronger than anyone else. By a long way. In case you missed his gold medal winning performance you can watch again here on NBC’s excellent video streaming site.

What’s more remarkable about Shaun White’s victory is the role that his sponsor Red Bull played in ensuring their man won gold. Instead of just paying White to appear in one of their ad’s, or putting their logo on his kit.. Red Bull went to quite unique lengths to do everything they could to guarantee White was on top on his game in Vancouver. And no.. they didn’t do this by just plying him with Red Bull so he was wired for the final…

Red Bull Project X was a unique exercise in athlete sponsorship, in a sport that requires ever more advanced tricks they went to the extreme length of building White his own private, top secret half pipe in a mountain wilderness. Equipped with a gymnastic style foam pit at the end of the pipe, this let White push the limits of his sport to create new tricks that let him win gold in Vancouver. All in top secret, away from his competitors… none of whom will have enjoyed the same access to such a world class training facility. Its as if Sir Clive Woodward, Englands World Cup winning Rugby Coach famous for meticulous, top secret preparation had planned Whites approach to training! In addition the project sits perfectly with Red Bull’s history of creating unique branded events which generate both great exposure and highly compelling content.

For me Red Bull’s activation hits the spot so perfectly as they were quite literally instrumental in helping White win Gold, the same can’t be said of the many other Olympic Sponsors trying so hard to associate themselves with Olympic athletes in order to activate their sponsorship (VISA, Coke, P&G, GE etc).

The Business of Sports website sums it up nicely. “They didn’t just slap their logo on one of White’s boards, they instead found a way to help him achieve his goals, thereby making the partnership valuable from both perspectives.”

For British cycling fans (myself included) the launch of Team SKY has been exciting…. after months of waiting to see how the team would take shape the News Corp media machine has swung into action to give fans an incredible amount of media coverage from the team in its first few weeks.

Sky are clearly breaking new ground with their approach to running a professional cycling team from their team bus to their heavy handed approach to rider recruitment. However, one of the most significant changes Sky brings to the peloton is in how they control their own sponsor activation.

In the old model of cycle team sponsorship, a team secures sponsors and then works hard to give those sponsors the best return through a variety of activation programs and coverage in the press. The key thing here is that race results equal press coverage, so the more a team wins, the more press coverage and ROI for the sponsors.

Sky, by the nature of their business has turned this model on its head. They are both title sponsor and major media conglomerate and as a result they can control the amount of coverage the team gets. Admittedly focused around News Corps channels, the amount of media coverage of the team in its first few months has been impressive. Moreover, I think the hype generated by Sky’s own coverage has rubbed off on other media outlets who are also devoting substantial column inches to the new team.

This does raise the question of how you measure the success of Team Sky’s sponsorship? Clearly the old model of media coverage equating to return for the sponsor goes out of the window. Looking a little deeper into Team Sky’s motivations shows their sights are set higher than just success in bike races aiming for their brand to be as recognisable as Man Utd.

Whilst I applaud their ambition here, in particular their efforts in promoting cycling to a wider audience in the UK, I’m still slightly skeptical as to whether cycling is really the right vehicle for them to promote their brand to such heights. The danger for Brailsford and co is if the team fails to deliver on these lofty brand ambitions. No doubt they will deliver on the road with results, but with the pressure on to really raise the brand amongst the UK public; will Murdoch stick with it in the long run? For the time being though it looks like the most important metric for success; BSkyB revenue and subscriber numbers in the UK are heading in the right direction.

This week Manchester United FC took the progressive step of banning all of their players from having any social media presence at all. This involved the club taking down Facebook and Twitter accounts for a number of their players.. according to a statement the club said: “The club wishes to make it clear that no Manchester United players maintain personal profiles on social networking websites. Fans encountering any web pages purporting to be written by United players should treat them with extreme skepticism.”. Nice. Man Utd 1 – Fans 0.

So, what brought about this sweeping restriction on player generated social media? From what I can see it certainly was not as a result of any Man Utd players saying anything controversial on Twitter or Facebook. The club seems to have been sparred any outburst along the lines of Ryan Babel or Darren Bent. No this is much more about a football club adopting an “old Media” attitude to new media.

Football clubs in England are notorious for controlling their public image extremely tightly and in particular when it comes to their players having access to the media. Players are schooled in what to say, when to say it, and more importantly not to say anything controversial that might get in the way of the carefully managed spin the clubs PR machine will put on any story. Granted a club needs to protect itself against players leaking important news on transfers and the like, but clearly Man Utd have gone too far here and are not considering the many positive effects of an open, yet managed policy of social media.

As ever, its sports teams and governing bodies in the US that are leading the way with this. Both the NFL and NBA have confronted the rise of player social media in a constructive and positive way. It’s by no means a free for all, with both leagues imposing strict guidelines on when and what players can Tweet about. Even this carefully managed approach has attracted criticism, with Brandon Jennings being fined $7500 for an ill-timed tweet.

However, the point with all this is that even with the restriction the NBA and NFL have put in place, player generated social media has an enormous positive impact on both the player / club brand in the eyes of its supporters. Allowing fans to get closer to their favorite player / club through social media is a no brainer as fan as deepening fan engagement goes.

The future as far as American sport goes is for more and more social media activity from high profile sports stars. While Chad Ochocinco is blazing the path of player social media activity with his own Ustream channel, others will no doubt follow suit. Players may look to leverage social media in contract negotiations while the leagues will no doubt seek ever greater control.

Meanwhile.. back in the North of England, Man Utd are missing out on a golden opportunity to engage with their fans through social media. Although with the amount of bad feeling between fans and the club over the Glazer take over that’s maybe not such a bad thing.

So before xmas i took the plunge and bought a Ritchey Breakaway Frameset. I had been thinking about getting one for a while, and with a 2 week trip back to Europe it was prefect timing for getting in some winter miles back home.

Having done a fair amount of research on this frame beforehand, both from reading reviews and talking to a friend who also has one I thought i’d share my experience.

Assembly / Components:
Assembling the bike was pretty straightforward, I managed to get get it built up and do a couple of rides in SF to test it out before I left. Out of the box the finish on the frameset is superb, super clean TIG welds, great retro Ritchey paint and graphics, and a very durable powder coated finish.

I built the bike up with a mix of spare components, plus a few new items including a SRAM Force 2010 shifter / derailleur set up. I opted for an extra long Thomson Elite seatpost given the additional stress put on it by 2 fixing bolts, this seemed a wise option over a carbon post. Full spec is below.

Riding Impressions:
I should preface my comments here by saying that I am a huge fan of steel bikes, i dabbled in framebuilding in my teens and raced extensively on my own “Palmer” frames. A few years later I picked up a really nice Scapin steel frameset which was a joy to ride.

I’ve since moved onto carbon with a Cervelo Soloist and Ridley Orion in recent months… all I can say is that this frame impressed from the first ride. Classic steel lively handling, comfortable yet quick with absolutely no noticeable effect of the fact the frameset is made if 2 pieces. Getting back on my Carbon bike when I got home made me want to unpack the Ritchey straight away and ride that instead.

Travel Experience:
Packing the bike is a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle, but following the instructions for packing, plus adapting slightly I got the bike plus a fair amount of kit into the travel case. The only concerns here are that you need to be pretty adept with bike maintenance as the bike has to be extensively disassembled, and secondly I had a slight concern over the lateral rigidity of the case as it has soft sides. No damage on this trip but not sure of the long term durability of the case.

Getting to / from the airport is much easier than with a conventional bike case as this one is so much more maneuverable, check-in for a transatlantic flight was simple with no extra charges for the bike. I was charged on a short haul European flight but only for a second bag.

The bike remained intact after unpacking a couple of times with no damage to the frame or components.

Overall:
The most impressive things about this bike are that it rides just like a top notch steel frameset, but with the ingenious design that allows it to be packed into a suitcase.

I guess the most important points to consider, and one that I read several times on other reviews is that this bike is not for you if you are not a pretty competent mechanic given the amount the bike needs to be disassembled. Secondly you do need to expect a certain amount of wear and tear on the frame through packing and transit although on this trip I hardly noticed this, but then it was only the first outing for it.

Overall its first class, both the ride of the bike and the clever design that allows it to fit in a standard suitcase. If you travel alot and can’t bear to leave your bike at home I would highly recommend getting one of these.

Full Spec:
- Frame : 58cm Ritchey Breakaway Road
- Forks : Ritchey Carbon 1-1/8″
- Headset : Ritchey Cartridge Bearing
- Rear Mec : SRAM Force
- Front Mec : SRAM Force
- Shifters : SRAM Force
- Brakes : Shimano Dura Ace 7700
- Crank Set : Shimano Ultegra Compact 34/50
- Bottom Bracket : Shimano Dura Ace Cartridge
- Cassette : Shimano Ultegra
- Chain : SRAM
- Wheels : Fulcrum Racing 3
- Handlebar : Deda Shallow Curve
- Stem : Deda Newton 130mm
- Seat Post : Thomson Elite 440m/27.2m
- Tyres : Conti Gatorskin
- Saddle : Fizik Arione White
- Pedals : Shimano Ultegra
- Bar Tape : Fizik White

Brief:

To create a website to support the launch of the new Nike Tiempo Legend III football boot. The Tiempo is Nike’s most historic boot and the website had to convey the attributes of craftsmanship inherent in its construction together with the rich history of the boot as worn by iconic players over the years.

Solution:

We created a site that showcased the craftsmanship of the boot using close up high res photography and a unique 360 degree rotating camera video sequence of the boot to allow the user to explore the key components of the product in detail. Each component of the boot was accompanied by a video (an example of one is shown below) that used designer and athlete interviews interspersed with match footage and more high res imagery to tell the story of the innovation, history and craftsmanship contained within the product.

Video:

Brief:

When Manchester United toured Asia last summer, they had two goals in mind. First: to give their young players a chance to earn a spot in the first team, and second to connect more closely with their fans in Malaysia, South Korea and China.

Solution:

To promote the tour, we created the “Earning the Shirt” campaign. The campaign ran in two parts. First, we used documentary films to tell the story of the young players on the cusp regular first team play. Second we aggregated a variety of social media to give fans all across the region a sense of being on tour with the team, and displayed these content updates from Twitter, Flickr and YouTube on a live site within the Nike Football site.

Video: