Brands and Negative Power of Eminence

Emeka Oparah

At the time of starting this piece, CNN reported that Coca-Cola lost market value of over $4 billion and 1.6 per cent of share price in a day, due, apparently, to Christiano Ronaldo’s snub of the brand at the presser after their Euro Cup 3-0 win against Hungary in Budapest at the ongoing UEFA Euro 2020 tournament.

The 36-year-old Portugal captain and a renowned healthy living and fitness freak openly removed two Coca-Cola bottles from the table during the press conference. The Juventus star not only made it clear what he thinks of the carbonated soft drink, he followed up by holding up a bottle of water declaring in Portuguese “Agua”, apparently urging people to choose water instead.

Ronaldo was not alone. Elsewhere in Germany, Manchester United and French star, Paul Pogba, took a cue from Ronaldo and removed a bottle of alcohol-free Heineken from his table at a press conference immediately after France defeated Germany 1-0. Pogba, a Muslim, made no comments after he took the bottle of Heineken and placed it on the floor.

Shortly after Ronaldo’s actions, Coca-Cola, which is one of the official sponsors of the tournament, reportedly experienced a dip in its share price from $56.10 to $55.22 and market value from $242 billion to $238 billion in one day! There is no evidence yet anything happened to Heineken’s standing after Pogba’s action unlike Ronaldo’s.

While the Marketing world awaits the juror on whether it was Ronaldo’s action that led to Coca-Cola’s losses, there is sufficient wisdom and historical antecedents to back up such a claim.

NBA player Kawhi Leonard removed a Gatorade bottle from the table during a press conference at last year’s All-Star Weekend. At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when the USA Dream Team won the basketball gold medal, Michael Jordan strategically covered the Reebok logo on his team uniform with the American flag so as not to be photographed wearing a Nike competitor.

But then, these are situations where sports stars are basically protecting their sponsors or rather trying not to jeopardize their sponsorship deals.

In the meantime, Coca-Cola has reacted to what has been widely described as a Ronaldo Snub by saying that, “everyone’s entitled to their drink preferences as people have different tastes and needs.”

The company didn’t comment on the reported losses. Initially, UEFA, the Euro 2000 organisers had only said “players are offered water alongside Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, on arrival at our press conferences”, generally playing down the incident and, more tellingly, the direct and unintended consequences. However, the European soccer body came out stronger, reminding participating teams, “that partnerships are integral to the delivery of the tournament and to ensuring the development of football across Europe, including for youth and women”. UEFA’s EURO 2020 Tournament Director, Martin Kallen, said “players were contractually obliged through their federation of the tournament regulations to follow”, hinting that disciplinary action was a “possibility” against the federations not the players.

Interestingly, Ronaldo’s antics have been described by some as hypocritical because he had featured previously in ads for Coca-Cola, KFC and McDonalds.

All manner of stories have emerged online around Ronaldo and Coca-Cola including one associated with another Manchester United teammate, Ryan Giggs, who once confronted the Portuguese star for coming to breakfast holding a bottle of Coke in his hands! There are even conspiracy theories too, one of which suggests Ronaldo’s stunt may have been orchestrated by Coca-Cola, but it bombed! Some allege it was a personal beef at Coca-Cola even if they couldn’t say whether the bottle of water he held up was by Coca-Cola or not.

Factually, though, his name was mentioned in an advertisement for McDonalds ahead of the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Four years later, he worked on a TV advertisement for Coca-Cola ahead of the 2010 World Cup. His Manchester United teammate, Wayne Rooney, also spoke about how Ronaldo consumed “junk food” when he first moved to the UK as he tried to gain weight. His recent epiphany about dieting and fitness may sound good to health and fitness freaks and advocates, but soft drinks, especially Coca-Cola, are not smiling-not to the banks, not anywhere.

Gerardo Riquelme, who writes for Marca.com, the Spanish online sports magazine, says of Ronaldo and Pogba’s actions, “these were two unwise and selfish gestures. These are two sports stars who, as they say in the United States, “know the game” and who know that without private money this cannot be sustained. Their attitude is reprehensible because they are at the forefront of promotional events when it is their money that is at stake.

“The effect of Cristiano Ronaldo’s childishness has translated into a four billion dollar loss for Coca-Cola. If that figure is true, the renewal of Cristiano Ronaldo’s contracts in the coming years will have to be multiplied by a factor of five given the magnitude of the consequences. Not even the COVID-19 pandemic has created such a big hole.

There’s even the other dimension to the saga regarding the investments in and commitments to sports by both Coca-Cola and Heineken. According to Riquelme, “the most disgusting thing is that it has been done to two sponsors who move on the edge.

“Coca-Cola”, he stated, “the first Olympic sponsor and therefore the first sponsor of sport in its global concept, is going through a critical moment in terms of image. It has gone from being the spark of life to heading the catalogue of unhealthy foods with hamburgers, when the Atlanta-based company has worked hard to bring low-sugar products onto the market and diversify the market with up to 50 other products. Heineken, for its part, has been supporting UEFA for more than 25 years and has also had to exploit alcohol-free options in order to continue to have visibility in sport.”

Whichever be the case, sponsorships and product placement in sports will never be the same. Brand Managers will have to spend more time studying celebrities, their habits and predilections particularly when they will have direct interaction with their brands and products. More importantly, there will be more attention paid to branding contracts going forward to ensure nobody does a Ronaldo on another generous brand in future.

Celebrities and stars are powerful brands in their own rights. Some of them are so big they can dim the lights of any brand or product they are endorsing or those they come across in passing, like Ronaldo and Pogba. The flip side of their eminence is when it negatively activates deleterious consequences on perception, reputation, market value and share price.

There’s also the little matter of the Woke Culture, which controversial British TV celebrity, Pierce Morgan, described in his book “Wake Up” as “illiberal liberalism”. According to him, “it is not what you believe that matters much so much as how you express your beliefs, the precise language you use and a total unquestioning compliance with what ‘they’ say is the way to behave.” Sports stars seem to have joined the bandwagon speaking and acting regardless of stated rules of engagement. Naomi Osaka’s eventful exit from Rolland Garros, though cleverly masked in mental health smacked of “Wokeness”. Sponsors really need to watch it!

So, Brand Managers might as well recognise the negative power of eminence of celebrities and forget product placement, if they can’t enforce it. They can make do with the backdrop logos, in-venue, perimeter and other forms of branding. Product placement is not a do or die affair-or may be it is, going by Coca-Cola experience! At the end of the day, it is hard to say that Coca-Cola’s consumer market share will react as timidly as the share price and market valuation. Only time (and Coca-Cola consumers) will tell.

Emeka Oparah is Vice President Corporate Communications & CSR, at Airtel Nigeria.