South Africa united behind single brand

The FIFA World Cup offers fans the opportunity to watch football non-stop for a solid month over the summer. But for South Africa, the biggest sports tournament on the planet in 2010 offers a much larger opportunity. The country is hoping that football will not only boost its economy in the short term but also have a long-lasting positive effect on the country’s business, tourism and overall brand.

Anitha Soni, chairwoman of the International Marketing Council (IMO), which is responsible for Brand South Africa, says there is a real opportunity to leverage the exposure the country will get from being put in the spotlight.

This year is being billed as South Africa’s “milestone year” by the IMO. The organisation has created a unified country brand in time for the World Cup that aims to help it realise what the IMO calls its “international relations objectives”. Soni explains: “We want people to think of South Africa whether they’re doing business or tourism.”

Using sport to “push a certain image” is nothing new, claims Melanie McShane, a strategist at Wolff Olins (see Viewpoint), the branding agency responsible for the London 2012 logo. Historically, countries have used events like the Olympics to push certain political beliefs, she says, but sporting events are increasingly being using to promote a social agenda.

“London 2012 is about leaving a legacy and driving participation. South Africa is doing something similar with the World Cup,” she says.

A large part of South Africa’s branding efforts begin with the country’s people themselves. A television advert bearing the slogan “It Starts With You” has been running since February last year. It promotes the idea that small changes made by individuals can improve the overall standing of the nation.

Language branding
“It is talking to its people about changing the face of the country. It’s really about language branding from the inside out,” says McShane.

Other countries are also using sport to promote what a destination has to offer. Turespaña, the Spanish tourism board in Spain, is Liverpool Football Club’s “Official Destination Partner”. It signed a three-year deal in 2009 with the Premier League club with the aim of promoting Spain to a UK and Asian audience. Like many private label brands, it is using football to start a conversation with potential tourists because the organisation believes “the best branding tool for a country is sport”.

While the World Cup is a branding opportunity for South Africa, it could also expose the country to criticism. Just like corporate identities, any publicity can highlight weaknesses as well as strengths in a brand’s behaviour.

“For South Africans, it represents tenacity in terms of making things happen because the flag was established in a period of suffering and prejudice.”

Anitha Soni, International Marketing Council

Soni says the World Cup will set the tone for the country. “It’s absolutely vital to ‘super deliver’ because the reputational risk attached to things going wrong is too high a price to pay.”

McShane says that hosting such a large event is a bit like inviting someone into your home. “People get to see your best rooms, but they also see the untidy corners.”

The country has already had a taste of this pressure, with stories in the global media about slow ticket sales for World Cup fixtures and general concerns that South Africa won’t be able to cope with an event of such great scale. “We had countries bidding to take our place until late last year,” says Soni. “But we’re ready.”

“The sceptics”, as Soni calls them, have been asking questions about crime levels in the country’s largest city Johannesburg. After all, the nation’s official apartheid policy ended less than 20 years ago and there are still inequalities evident at every level of society.

These safety concerns have had an impact on the build-up to the event, and Soni believes the country is going to have to be more than perfect if it is to avoid criticism. She says that publicising a strong, united brand for South Africa will help create positive exposure over the coming months. This should help offset some of the concerns of outsiders.

It has taken several years of consultation to create a united South Africa brand identity that fits with the nation’s image of itself and it will be seen on a global stage during the World Cup.

During the initial consultation, IMO did not look to replicate other country branding exercises. Instead, it turned to private companies like Unilever to consult with its board about creating a unified identity.

“Its professional team sat with our professional team. Unilever was among other private sector businesses that really understood how to implement a brand,” says Soni.

“Like other companies, as it matures it looks at reinventing itself. And we decided it was time to reinvent ourselves in terms of how we present to the market.”

Soni says it approached the branding exercise like a company. “We thought if we were a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, how would we take ourselves to market? We wouldn’t have various brand messages.” The IMO has been working on uniting the nine provinces, as well as trade, tourism and international relations, in order to develop the new identity.

McShane says consulting private companies to develop a brand identity is an interesting way of creating a country brand. “On the face of it, people might feel they’re consulting these companies because they’re treating a country like a product brand.”

But talking to private companies can give a very different perspective on country branding, she argues. “The likes of Unilever do global engagement with their people particularly well, yet still retain local identities and loyalties.”

Soni says there will still be freedom for the nation’s marketers in varying sectors to promote tourism in a different way to business, but both will have a strong brand identity to front communications and marketing.

The flag that is shown on the South African logo has been chosen for the identity because it has a deep meaning to the country, claims Soni. “For South Africans, it represents tenacity in terms of making things happen because the flag was established in a period of suffering and prejudice. It represents the transition into democracy, freedom, hope, ambition and national pride.”

The country will have to demonstrate all of these expressions and more to the world in order to secure a solid reputation. While the World Cup will see the country’s landscape and infrastructure beamed around the world, it is after the fans and media have packed up and gone home that South Africa really hopes to benefit.

The country obviously has economic, tourism and business ambitions that range well beyond this summer. But Soni hopes that football can kick-start a brighter future for the country and its people, adding: “More importantly, we want South Africans to enjoy what we have.”

McShane agrees that the World Cup must not be the end of the rebranding process. The tournament has helped a country to reposition itself, but she warns: “South Africa is on a journey. The World Cup is a punctuation mark, not the final destination.”