England’s failure to qualify for the 2008 European championship has resulted in a potentially catastrophic outlook for British business. According BrandForensics.co.uk, the fallout began first thing the morning after the big game. For example, Sports Direct shares were tackled to the ground, tumbling by as much as seventeen per cent. As of 8:16 a.m. their shares were heading for the lowest close since their initial public offering. Similar brand stories were circulating such as Umbro Plc, the soccer uniform maker acquired by Nike Inc and JJB Sports reported low shares on the markets. The British Retail consortium later estimated that sales could be down by £600m next year.
They think it’s over
Commercially the loss could be immensely wide-ranging; affecting everyone from market stall traders selling flags, to pub landlords and ladies. The defeat could touch sectors such as high street retailers of goods like flat-screen TVs (which traditionally enjoy a marked increase in sales during tournaments involving the national team). Then there is productivity at work – again this tends to improve when the national team is fairing well. That is probably why Prime Minister Brown has called for one-off return of 2008 home football internationals.
Playing away
The only ones who might actually gain something are travel agents who will see more people spending their cash to escape abroad rather than stay at home watching the matches with a can of what otherwise may have been a team- England endorsed beer. Whilst it all sounds gloomy, not all is lost: brands don’t automatically pull sponsorship when sports professionals lose races or games. Nationwide, who currently sponsor the national team, are tied-in to their commitments until 2010. According to Chris Hull, Sponsorship Controller at Nationwide, the financial institution has seen awareness levels rise to over 100% in football. That said, undoubtedly leading up to Thursday’s match, strategic endorsement plans were being hatched for major brands to feature celebrity England players. Those too will have to be shelved, again affecting commercial sales and national pride. What with so many recent losses in sports, brands looking for a Brit to represent their cause may soon have to search for names from more obscure sports – but I can’t really see a major high street retailer getting too excited by bowls or croquet.
Thursday, November 22nd, 2007 at 4:10 pmand is filed under Sports, sports brands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
