Context: Unit 4.2 - How organizations differentiate themselves

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)'s European Football Championship takes place in June 2024. It is the second-most watched football tournament in the world after the FIFA World Cup, which is also hosted every four years. Data from UEFA showed that the 2020 tournament (which was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) generated €1.88 billion ($2.01 billion) in revenue. Therefore, it is no surprise that brands pay huge sums of money to be associated with the competition (referred to by most fans as "Euro 2024"). Revenue from corporate sponsors at the 2020 event amounted to €520 million ($556.5 million) for UEFA.

Official global sponsors of the 2024 tournament includ brands from host country Germany (Adidas, Lidl, and Engelbert Strauss) as well as other big brands from across the world. However, does this differentiation strategy always work?

According to market research from TGM Research, which involved more than 10,000 people who were asked to name the brand that first comes to their mind when thinking about Euro 2024, Adidas, Nike, and Coca-Cola topped the list of replies. Both Adidas and Coca-Cola are official sponsors of the competition (they have already paid for the rights to sponsor the 2028 tournament). However, Nike is not associated with UEFA and does not sponsor Euro 2024. The ambush marketing strategies of Nike seem to work in terms of being associated with the sporting event without actually having to pay for the huge commercial priviledge.

Source: adapted from Statista