Brand Power

Big business and financial services firms have long sought association with sporting events, teams and individuals that symbolise excellence and peak performance.

The 2007 Rugby World Cup, which kicks off in Paris this week, is no exception with sponsors of tournament favourites, New Zealand, further embedding the All Blacks brand as a highly valuable commodity.

The New Zealand All Blacks is now a brand almost as much as it is a rugby team.

The latest Adidas ads for the All Blacks dwell on the provincial roots of the team and the origins of the Haka, rather than on star performers on the pitch.

Presumably the marketing theory is that Adidas benefits through association with an authentic team in touch with its roots but capable of beating the rest of the world – not to mention the iconic status of the All Blacks among rugby fans.

Elsewhere, the ticket prices for the tournament are a clear demonstration of manufactured scarcity with prices being pushed up to sky-high levels for big games.

As with other recent events, such as the Cricket World Cup last (northern) spring, the authorities believe the demand for tickets justifies extreme pricing – a £200 face value pricing for good seats at just a quarter-final game.

But high ticket prices are unlikely to deter the corporate sponsors and those entertaining clients or staff at rugby games though, although recent market jitters may cause some to regret their generosity.

A final parallel between rugby and business is the way rugby coaches now use business concepts in their preparations.

England’s previous coach, Sir Clive Woodward, took this to unprecedented heights, with his emphasis on organisation, planning and discipline.

But like a business with poor succession planning, England failed to move on.

New management is now concentrating on getting the basics right, in a bid to turn things around, but the results may take too long to arrive for this tournament to be a success.

However, while the tournament is guaranteed to be a financial success, its success in sporting terms will depend on flair and unpredictability triumphing over the corporate virtues of good management and organisation.

That is also the hope, one suspects, of most teams when they face the All Blacks over the next few weeks.