Roberto Siewczynski, VP sénior y director de grupo de Epsilon
For Roberto Siewczynski, SVP, Group Director at Epsilon tomorrow is yesterday for marketers, if they want to do a promotion targeting Latinos around next year’s big soccer tournament. “Clients have started thinking about 2018, even though 2017 only just started. I know it seems crazy, but keep in mind, national retail and promotional partnerships require significant lead time” he wrote in Media Post. Siewczynski said that there’s no need to be a mega-sponsor brand with deep pockets to leverage the World Cup and reach Latino audiences who love the event. He gave several ideas to approach it, get the “ball” rolling. In first place, own it and begin with a marquee tournament sponsorship that happen this year -CONCACAF’s Gold Cup and Confederations Cup in Russia- which offer prime viewing occasions for Latino fans to watch their favorite national squads training for the World Cup. Secondly, be a team player, and think about being a team sponsor “from experience, this is perhaps the most value for your sponsorship dollar because you will be able to leverage your partnership before, during and after the World Cup and throughout all of the qualifying games.” Third, come out of retirement, if there is not enough budget for sponsorship, consider activating retired international players for partnership deals and consider doing promotional in-store and event appearances with them as well. And finally, play from the sidelines “brands have done a fantastic job just activating around the occasion and passion point, without partnering with the actual event or athletes” he recommends engagement at point-of-purchase and TV, that if it’s done properly, it can deliver the soccer experience in more engaging ways than a sponsorship. “You don’t need to have the biggest budget to get involved in an effective and engaging way. With a little ingenuity, you can leverage events like World Cup 2018 through some very creative and valuable ways. My underlying advice is: “kick things off now” he concluded.”
