Organisers on guard for ambush marketing

The organisers of the 2007 World Cup are pulling out all the stops to ensure profitability in the region, and to protect the rights of sponsors when the event touches down in the Caribbean in March 2007.

Stephen Price, special events officer of ICC CWC 2007, went into some detail in outlining the measures the World Cup management committee would be implementing to ensure smooth running of the event as they hosted the Stakeholders Road Show at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Wrightson Road, Port of Spain, yesterday.

Price highlighted the importance for West Indian people to benefit from hosting the Cricket World Cup, which he said was the reasoning behind the Caribbean Economic Enterprise Initiative. The initiative seeks to ensure long-term benefits for the region, not only financially, but in the sharing of knowledge, as well as the experience of staging an event of such magnitude.

Thus, any tasks being contracted to foreign companies must be sub-contracted to smaller units within the region to ensure their involvement and, consequently, monetary benefit and increased knowledge base.

Price also pointed out the committee had paid great attention to the running of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, and expressed several undertakings that are necessary for safeguarding sponsors' interests.

Some of the main areas with which he expressed concern included "ambush marketing", as well as counterfeit merchandise. One of the examples he gave was an incident where a company in Antigua was advertising a "Cricket World Cup mortgage" without being given the rights to do so.

Price also warned against congratulatory advertisements, which are quite common in the Caribbean, and announced that some of the measures being taken to counteract such advertising included monitoring the internet, as well as having "spotters" on the lookout for counterfeit merchandise, and they have also hired lawyers to be their "eyes and ears". He also gave some insight into the Sunset Bill, which must be passed by the Parliaments of all nine host countries, which will make it illegal to carry out such activities.

The bill, he said, was drafted with the guidance of regional attorneys general as part of an Anti-Infringement programme. He noted the CWC committee did not want to be in the position of South Africa, who are being levied for more than US$47 million worth of breaches at the 2003 World Cup.

Price also invited local individuals and businesses to take advantage of opportunities for licensing for CWC paraphernalia, saying those interested can contact the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of their territory, or indicate their interst by e-mail to licensing @cricketworldcup.com. The official global partners of CWC 2007 are LG, Hutch, Pepsi and Hero Honda, and the official sponsors are Indian Oil and Cable & Wireless.