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Sports – February 2010
There is an intoxicating string of sporting events set to unfold before a few billion people turn to the football World Cup in June – such as rugby’s Six Nations, Vancouver’s Winter Olympics, golf’s US Masters, not to mention the conclusion to football’s own club season – but in the trade, the most significant gathering of the ‘beautiful game’ is looming large already.
In this issue we preview a pair of leading-edge football boots being launched in time for the World Cup: Lotto’s Zhero Gravity Ultra and Mizuno’s Wave Ignitus. There will be a veritable cascade of football products brought to market over the next few months and we will do our level best to keep you up-to-date.
With a lot of new products clamouring for consumers’ attention this summer, it will be intriguing to see which items capture the mood of the great sporting public. The chart-toppers won’t necessarily be the best in terms of craftsmanship, technology and quality materials of course, but an eye-catching marketing campaign will be vital.
While so much of football’s marketing budgets will be splashed out on extravagant broadcast advertising, I hope the art of point-of-sale promotion is not neglected by the major brands. As covered in this issue, the SGB Sports Retail Survey reveals that most independent sports retailers are unimpressed by the provision of point-of-sale material in general.
The fast-developing digital media and online retailing is diverting some marketing budget away from those life-size, cardboard cut-outs, but the multi-million pound TV campaigns still need to be followed-up at the sharp end of the trade, at bricks-and-mortar retail.
Robin Barwick, Editor
