HANOI (1 Jan 2011) – The Vietnam national team’s failure to defend the AFF Suzuki Cup crown they won two years ago has had an adverse effect on sponsors.
Vietnam failed to make past the semi-final stage of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2010 when they were denied a place in the final by eventual champions Malaysia.
And the loss has not only disappointed fans but it also denied sponsors the opportunity to further expose their brands with the national squad. A senior executive of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group said that while he felt for the loss of the Vietnam national squad, he also realised that HAGL had less opportunities to promote their brand.
“But this is something that all sponsors have to accept when they sponsor games,” he said to VnExpress.
He said that since HAGL also own a football squad, they are very well versed on the ups and downs of football fortunes.
But unlike HAGL, mobile service provider Mobifone is a new player in sponsoring football tournaments. Other than sponsoring the Vietnam national team, they had also opened a booth right in front of the My Dinh National Stadium where it attracted a lot of fans who dropped in before they entered the stadium to watch the game.
A marketing manager with MobiFone said that when deciding to become a sponsor, MobiFone understood the repercussions in cases of defeat and victory. But at the same time, they also realised the importance of being associated with the national squad.
“Of course, if the national squad had gone to the final and become champions for the second time, sponsors would have been elated. But everyone has to accept defeat. We will continue to march together with the Vietnam football team and football fans in upcoming sports events,” he said.
The most important factor in MobiFone’s decision to become a sponsor of the Vietnam national side was to associate the brand with football emotions – the excitement in victory and grief in failure. That no one should expect victories in all competitions.
Among the biggest sponsors of the Vietnam national side is VP Bank who give cash remuneration – they would have had to fork out VND2 billion (USD102,000) to the national squad if Vietnam had won this year’s tournament or VND1 billion (USD51,000) for coming in second.
But since the loss to Malaysia, VP bank would not have to spend a single cent.
Nguyen Hung, VP Bank’s General Director said that VP Bank really wanted to spend money. “No one wants to see the national squad suffer defeat,” he added.
