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For marketers that have invested heavily in a campaign that hinges on the tournament, what happens if the England team repeats its Euro 2000 disappointment and ends up flying back from Portugal after the first round?

For most, the solution is simple: bank on an early exit and reap extra rewards if the team reaches the later stages of the competition. The result is a marketing campaign that has scored before a ball has been kicked.

'Most of a brand's work ought to be done before the tournament even starts, because you are in control and can have a clear strategy in place,' explains Steve Martin, managing director of M&C Saatchi Sponsorship Sport. 'Once the tournament starts and the results start coming in, it's out of your hands, and the media attention switches to the results.'

That means advertisers whose campaigns are only just beginning may be too late. 'Most FMCG brands will look to secure the bankable volume in the anticipation phase, which is usually eight weeks before the tournament's start date,' says Chris Masterson, managing director of sports marketing consultancy Midfield, a specialist division of Tarantula.'They will look to secure fixed slots in stores - and a percentage of the discretionary space given to brands by retailers - with creative below-the-line activity that can dovetail into, and add to, retailer programmes.'

Local decisions

When Euro 2004 starts, retailer support will depend on the success of the home team and a product's relevance to watching the matches. 'For key brands, the emphasis during this time will be on maximising stock availability and being flexible enough to allow localised tactical decisions,' adds Masterson.

While expectations for the national team vary from the wildly optimistic to the downright pessimistic, the pre-tournament push is something all agree on.

Sainsbury's, an official partner of the England team, has developed a strategy to capitalise on the build-up. It also has a contingency plan should the team do badly. 'For Sainsbury's, it is all about England and exploiting the nation's fever, so if the team exits early, in-store communication will have to come down,' says Adrian Thomas, board director at Dynamo, the agency behind Sainsbury's tournament promotion. 'The focus will quickly be turned to key trading areas such as beers and snacks, which will still benefit from the staging of a major football event.'

The supermarket's regular 'medal collection' promotion - which it believes is its main point of difference over rivals - has been organised to fulfil demand only up to the opening group stage. Should England progress, more will be drafted in.

Staged strategy

Sainsbury's has recorded strong sales of England-branded goods in the build-up to Sunday's big game against France, but the supermarket is aware of how quickly these can tail off. 'We build on the level of expectation,' says Thomas. 'About four weeks before the event is when things really start to kick off. That is when it is about selling the merchandise. When the tournament gets under way, it is all about food to eat while watching the match.'

However England perform, Sainsbury's has a plan to deal with it. 'If England win, the senior board will be asking what we are doing about it.

We saw it with the Rugby World Cup - even though we had no direct involvement, senior figures wanted to capitalise on the feeling that was generated,' continues Thomas. 'So we have plans in place for each stage of the tournament.'

When it comes to advertisers booking TV space, the focus has been on the group stage. Thirty-second slots for ITV's coverage of the France game sold out for up to £250,000 each, and prices are not much lower for the following Switzerland match.

These figures are unlikely to be surpassed later in the tournament, even if England reach the final. That is because the later knock-out games will be televised by both the BBC and ITV, and on big sporting occasions viewers tend to turn to the BBC.Without exclusive coverage, ITV's ad prices during games drop dramatically. Estimates suggest an ad slot during an England quarter-final would cost about 30% of one during the France game.

However, a successful tournament for England could have a knock-on effect on ad prices during games between other countries. 'If England do well, advertisers will flock to other games, because interest in the tournament is sustained and viewing figures stay up,' says Ivan Ali-Khan, broadcast director at Media Planning Group. 'The market at the moment shows some advertisers being gazumped, so if England perform well you can expect a lot of companies to buy in and drive the price up.'

Tournament focus

For companies such as T-Mobile, the focus is on the event itself, rather than a single nation. The German phone giant, one of UEFA's tournament sponsors, is rolling out a campaign across Europe to capitalise on the competition. In the UK it has bought space in every commercial break during ITV's coverage - with an ad conspicuously devoid of the St George's flag - and has signed a seven-figure deal with BSkyB for its coverage.

The company refuses to be drawn on how its strategy will shift if England are knocked out early. 'T-Mobile is sponsor of the tournament, not of a particular team,' says a spokesman for the mobile operator. 'The performance of any particular country is not a consideration.' Given that BSkyB is not covering any games live, meaning football fans will have to watch matches elsewhere, it is likely that T-Mobile is conducting a long-term strategy and does not have buybacks in place should the nation's interest start to wane.

Brands such as Coca-Cola and Carlsberg, meanwhile, are relying on a mix of targeted local marketing and official sponsorship of the event. This means that if the England team has to fly home early, the focus of their campaigns can simply switch to the tournament itself.

Jonathan Harper, account director at marketing communications agency Billington Carmell, which is co-ordinating Carlsberg's Euro 2004 campaign in the UK, says a strategy is in place to reinforce brand association and fit - and, perhaps most importantly, loyalty - regardless of England's performance. 'We've got a range of bumper ads that will be enhanced if England do well,' he says. 'If England crash out, then we have the long-term association. And if England go on to win, everyone who has the official association benefits.'

Carlsberg and Sainsbury's are both banking heavily on fans appreciating their long-term ties with the team. 'Fans of football are not stupid,' concludes Martin. 'There are companies I consider flash-in-the-pan brands who come in and out of the game, but fans will see through them.'

These 'ambushers' will make their move as the tournament gets under way.

But Martin is confident that, unless the newcomers prove 'extremely funny or extremely clever', it is the brands with a long-standing link to the game that will reap the rewards of football fever.

ENGLAND - EURO LOWS

1964, 1976, 1984: England do not even make the European Championships, failing in the qualifiers.

1988: The team returns on the first flight home after Bobby Robson's men lose three straight games to the Republic of Ireland, Holland and the USSR.

1992: Captain Gary Lineker fails to score and is substituted in his final game for England. The team can't progress past the first round.

2000: Amid all the hype - and marketing money - England fail those banking on its success. Defeat by Portugal and Romania sees the team knocked out after the first stage.

ESSENTIALS - THE HOOLIGAN EFFECT

Your carefully executed strategy has rolled out perfectly. The cross-media co-ordination is delivering a powerful brand message. Then you turn on the news only to see hooligans running riot in Portugal - and right in the middle is a yob wearing one of your promotional T-shirts.

While football's image has become strong enough to shrug off the occasional violent outburst, brands involved in a tournament such as Euro 2004 must brace themselves for the possibility of trouble.

'From a brand's point of view, it is really hard to manage, but I think it comes with the territory,' says Steve Martin, managing director of M&C Saatchi Sponsorship Sport. 'Those pictures will appear. It may be an isolated incident, quickly dealt with, but it only takes a photographer or cameraman to be on the scene and suddenly it's a big story.'

The reality is that in the last two major soccer events to be staged in Europe - the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France and Euro 2000, jointly held in Belgium and Holland - England fans have captured the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Yet the sport has become adept at putting space between it and the few supporters who look for trouble. With so much of the violence taking place outside the stadia and away from the corporate hospitality and in-stadia signage, the big brands neatly sidestep any association with the hooligans.

On the eve of Euro 2004, the demand for, and investment in, football sponsorship and advertising suggest that the game has yet to score an own-goal big enough to damage its unique position in sports marketing.

ENGLAND - EURO HIGHS

1968: World Cup winners England fail to take home another trophy - but at least the team could reach the semi-finals in those days.

1972: The team reaches the quarter-finals before being beaten 3-1 by favourites and eventual winners Germany.

1996: As host, an inspired England reach the semi-finals only to be beaten on penalties by Germany. Breakdown brand Green Flag, the first sponsor of the England team, cashes in on the national euphoria - the tournament takes place midway through its four-year, £4m deal.