Rivalry red-cards local teams out of lucrative sponsorship
JOBURG - The fierce rivalry that exists between Premier Soccer League teams, and their supporters, has cost them a potentially lucrative sponsorship deal from Beiersdorf South Africa's Nivea brand.
Instead of funding local teams, Nivea Men, which is a cosmetic range of the Nivea brand, they have chosen to sponsor Spanish side, Real Madrid.
But consolation to South African clubs could lie in the fact that they are not alone in the game of fierce rivalry, which makes the beautiful game what it is – beautiful – as teams in the English premiership were also ruled out on the same grounds.
“A sponsorship for Liverpool, for instance, will not go down well with their arch-rivals, Manchester United and their fans alike,” said Inez Valjeez, brand manager at Beiersdorf.
“The same goes for local South African football. If you sponsor Orlando Pirates or Kaizer Chiefs or Mamelodi Sundowns, the rivalry may cost your brand.”
Valjeez said, as much as the fierce rivalry makes the game what it is, research informed them of a negative knock-on effect because rivals of a club associated with a certain product tended to shun that item.
“It was for this reason that we decided to go neutral and chose to locate our sponsorship with a team in the Spanish La Liga, where the rivalry is not as fierce as we see it every day here at home and in the English league as well,” said Valjeez.
