Euro 2024 has begun, and brands are using the tournament in a variety of ways – and to a variety of ends: from Paddy Power’s TV spots featuring Danny Dyer to British Heart Foundation’s mural paying tribute to young footballers who lost their lives to heart disease.
But are the competition’s official partners benefiting from their association with the tournament? To find out, we asked those who plan to watch the eventfrom four key European markets which brands they associate with the competition.
Our findings show that Adidas and Coca-Cola are the most likely brands from the range we asked about to be linked with Euro 2024.
Let’s look at Adidas first. In mainland Europe, 57% of French, 53% of German, and 49% of Italian Euros-watchers associate the sportswear brand with the continental championships – but in Great Britain (where the company has released a well-received advert about England’s Jude Bellingham) this falls to 27%.
It’s a similar story with Coca-Cola, which has launched a range of promotional tie-ins to coincide with Euro 2024: a majority of French consumers who are following this summer’s football (54%) and nearly half of Germans (46%) and Italians (48%) connect the soft drink giant to Euro 2024, while Britons are less likely to have made the link (28%).
In fact, this is true for the other brands we polled: while awareness of companies like Booking.com and Hisense’s association with the Euros may vary, it is true across the board that British awareness is lower.
The competition and select partner brands have already made an impact in mainland Europe – and the British picture may well change, particularly if England or Scotland go deep into the tournament (our poll ran before the Euros kicked off). Nevertheless, the data indicates that, for whatever reason, Euro 2024 partners may not yet be getting their full money’s worth in the UK.