World Cup tightly contested, high-scoring game for marketers.(Viewpoint)

Advertising Age, July, 2006

Byline: Jonah Bloom

By now you know the results. The Italians have another gold star, les Bleus have, well, les bleus and the rest of us are starting to forget a largely forgettable World Cup. There were too few upsets. There was too much diving, poor refereeing and a general absence-Ghana excepted-of adventurous football. But what of the other World Cup, the $2.2 billion marketing extravaganza? Results there are in and are unfeasibly high-scoring (because I made them up):

Emirates 0, Other Airlines 2

Like the other 15 official sponsors (at least half of which have evidently never heard the terms ROI or activation), Emirates stumped up around $70 million to be a FIFA World Cup partner. Trouble was people flew in from all over the world-and...

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