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Monday 1 August 2002. While Brazilians around the world were waking up with sore heads following a night of celebrations at winning the World Cup for a record fifth time, the marketing directors of FIFA's 15 official sponsors were already planning how best to build on their association next time around.

So pivotal has the event become to their marketing strategies that preparations for the tournament have reached unparalleled heights. For many of these brands, working on World Cup strategy is a job that never stops.

Given the size of the investment made by the official sponsors, it is not surprising that their strategies are often worked out over a four-year period. On average, FIFA sponsors pay £15m-£20m a year simply to buy the associations. Add the marketing money allocated to leverage the tie-up - normally at least one and a half times the original sponsorship fee - and the resultant expenditure is vast. Such high costs understandably demand careful planning and proof of return on investment.

For Coca-Cola, which is signed up as a FIFA partner until 2020, working on the World Cup is a virtually continuous cycle, according to Steve Cumming, the company's UK head of sponsorship and brand experience.

'We don't really take time off from the World Cup,' he says. 'After the activation for one tournament finishes, you make a start on the learning process of how to make it better next time. Once you have reapplied this knowledge to the strategic plan, it is time to start activating it again. The fact that we have a long-term agreement in place with FIFA allows us to work like this and certainly helps us raise the bar creatively.'

Experienced FIFA sponsors now employ dedicated World Cup teams as sub-divisions of their marketing department, working on the strategy on a rolling basis. This enables the brand to seamlessly integrate its knowledge and feedback from previous campaigns into the next, making each World Cup a stronger marketing proposition.

Integrated concept

For many FIFA sponsors, it is not just the strategic thinking that requires a lengthy lead time. The logistics of arranging World Cup corporate hospitality and maximising the use of sponsorship rights across all parts of the business, as well as putting in place consumer-facing promotions and affinity marketing deals with other official partners, cannot be done overnight. It is even more complex for those sponsors, such as Anheuser-Busch and Gillette, that have the capacity to use the association across a number of their brands.

'We would start at least three years ahead of the event,' says Jeremy Nicholds, general manager for sales and marketing, Europe, at MasterCard, a long-time FIFA partner. 'There are a lot more opportunities now than at previous tournaments in terms of how you can make the sponsorship work, so you need the extra planning time to fully exploit all these avenues.'

Integration is the watchword of successful World Cup strategies. Marketers experienced in sponsorship activation say the best way to make the association deliver is to ensure not only that it is prevalent in every piece of communication with the consumer, but also that it adds value to the relationship - not an easy task for a company the size of McDonald's or Adidas. 'Most of the activity we engage in around the World Cup requires an immense amount of communications and planning,' says McDonald's sponsorship director Stephen Hall. 'It used to be just about slapping a FIFA logo on everything, but now the challenge is bringing the association to life in a unique way. If you want true integration, you need to plan ahead to create a central theme to work from.'

Uli Becker, head of global communications at Adidas, agrees that to achieve a truly integrated approach, it is necessary to have an overriding concept for the whole strategy. 'Our "+10" teamwork campaign for this World Cup is by far the most integrated work we have done for the tournament,' he says. 'There is a huge benefit in having a central idea to the strategy.

It creates a global proposition, but one that can be regionally directed to fit the various different national cultures. It is our biggest single spend on any strategy, but it shows how we have evolved into a marketing-driven company - something we couldn't have claimed to be 15 years ago.'

Early start

It is not only the strategic thinking for the tournament that is beginning earlier. Visible consumer-facing activity from FIFA sponsors is also creeping up the calendar. The few months prior to the World Cup are when the bulk of the activity occurs, but Becker admits that the official launch date of its '+10' activity of 10 October last year - eight months before the tournament - was unprecedented.

'We did launch the campaign earlier than normal, although the main TV work didn't come into play until the start of April,' says Becker. 'It is vital from a timing point of view that you don't miss the boat; the World Cup is prevalent in people's minds long before the tournament kicks off, due to the climax of the qualifying campaign and the official draw. We're a leader in sport so a lot is expected of us when the World Cup comes around. Also, as a German company, it is important that we make the most of our home advantage.'

Another reason for the early start is the brand clutter through which FIFA sponsors have to wade. The two months immediately prior to the World Cup are filled with football-related messages not only from tournament sponsors, but also those with no official association looking to take advantage of the event's consumer appeal.

'Clutter has made creativity more of an issue,' says Coca-Cola's Cumming.

'You could argue that this works out better for the consumer, as brands have to work much harder to be relevant and credible in getting their message across.'

Not all FIFA sponsors have the benefit of a long-term association from which they can learn best practice. The 2006 tournament is the first time that FIFA has had an official airline partner - Emirates. The carrier's primary goal is to establish its tie-up in the minds of the consumer.

'As a new sponsor it requires a heavier investment to make an impact,' says Mike Simon, Emirates' senior vice-president of communications. 'We are not a global brand yet, so the World Cup is the perfect platform to raise awareness in places where we are not known. We are competing against sponsors that have been integral to the World Cup for many years, so we have had to raise our adspend substantially just to get in among them. We have supported this with ticket giveaways and put the World Cup logo on the side of all our aircraft from the moment we struck the deal.'

With 15 official partners, not to mention the vast number of brands employing ambush marketing activity, FIFA has been forced into a radical change in its commercial structure to attempt to control the clutter.

After the 2006 tournament, the 15 top-tier partners will be reduced to six across broader category definitions, each paying upward of £75m for a four-year period. These slots have been filled by Adidas, Hyundai, Coca-Cola, Sony, Visa and Emirates.

However, the change has left a bitter taste in the mouths of those existing partners that could not afford to bid for the upgraded contracts and whose long-term associations with the tournament will consequently end.

FIFA has introduced a second-tier sponsorship level, which it says is aimed at the brands that missed out on the top-tier slots. But while these packages cost slightly less than the amount these companies are paying for 2006, the exact nature of what the brands are buying is unclear. To the cynic, it looks as if FIFA is merely trying to squeeze even more commercial revenue from its array of partners.

Clutter is not the only sponsorship issue for which FIFA has come under fire. After the 2002 World Cup, it moved the day-to-day operational responsibility for its marketing in-house, which the organisation claimed would enable it to take more of a hands-on role in helping its commercial partners.

However, with 15 sponsors to support and a minimal marketing staff, the governing body laid itself open to accusations of under-managing its partners.

One confirmed to Marketing that at one point there were just three FIFA account handlers covering all 15 partners and six suppliers.

FIFA has gone some way toward rectifying the situation by hiring more staff and cutting the number of top-tier partners, but some brands remain disgruntled by what they perceive as arrogance in the organisation's approach. Despite this, the enormous appeal of the World Cup will continue to dictate brands' interest and whatever approach FIFA adopts, it seems likely that sponsors will continue to queue up to meet the asking price while taking the blows.

ESSENTIALS - CORPORATE HOSPITALITY

The deep pockets required for official sponsorship are beyond the means of most brands, but this is not the only way to use the World Cup as a marketing tool. For the majority, corporate hospitality packages are the most economical and viable option.

Corporate hospitality packages have traditionally suffered at the hands of the black market, but this year's tournament will be the first time that FIFA has properly regulated the proceedings, employing official partners to sell across the various regions.

John Hockey, managing director of Circa, FIFA's official corporate hospitality partner in the UK, believes this is a vital evolution. 'Having official partners ensures you maintain a standard of quality that wasn't there previously,' he says. 'You will never stamp out the black market totally, but this makes it more difficult for the cowboys. Late-comers will always go the non-official route, as most FIFA packages will have been sold by then, but it is much more ring-fenced now.'

Official packages sell for about £1300 per person per game, which provides the buyer with a matchday ticket and hospitality. These are initially sold in three-game blocks to cover the group ties, with most waiting to see the results before buying up hospitality packages for later rounds, for which the cost rises.

'We saw a surge in interest in group-game packages after the World Cup draw in December,' says Hockey. 'People realised that if they waited until June, their seats would be scattered across the stadia and organising transport and hotels would become a nightmare. People are now more inclined toward official packages as many have been badly burned before.'

- 1930: France beat Mexico 4-1 in the first World Cup match on 13 July.