Football? Sales Fashion?

This is the first time that FIFA has made an affirmative bet on the management of football.

FIFA has authorized its image to be pformed into a clothing brand this year, including mascots and logo patterns, after being approved by Singapore based global brand group.

In turn, the company has the right to create and sell PGA golf tournament products and empower its brand to 19 countries and regions around the world, including the United States, which has the most challenging fans.

The theory is: if the clothing strategy works here, then the strategy will apply to all places.

Gannon Costly, chief executive of Total apparel group, who is responsible for strategic promotion in the US, believes that consumerism is the answer to the problem.

He said: "every FIFA will have a huge sales volume every time the world cup. They can sell 2 billion dollars a day in the world.

This figure will continue to decline in the next 3 years until almost zero.

Obviously FIFA needs a new form of publicity to consumers. "

Therefore, although Nike (9 sponsors, including the United States and Brazil) and Adidas (12 sponsors) are planning to generate huge sales during the world cup in South Africa, FIFA hopes that by entering the lifestyle market, it will not only keep its vitality in the tour, but also increase its audience in the United States.

"The potential market is huge," Mike Princi, general manager of Best, expressed his approval. He is also an equity investor of Total clothing group.

He said the United States now has 18 million registered football players, including the Football League Youth, the weekend team adults and the official team.

However, for some reason, these players have never conformed to a recognizable and specialized base camp.

Of course, it has also tried to mainstream football into the world's largest market.

The United States hosted the world cup in 1994 and 5 years later, the US women's football team defeated the Chinese team in the women's World Cup finals. Experts predict that this will provide a breakthrough for the mainstream soccer.

What is more famous is that David Beckham moved to Losangeles in 2007 to join the Losangeles galaxy and opened a football school. He said: "except for the United States, football is a popular sport all over the world, and that's what I want to do."

However, sponsor AEG closed Beckham football school in California early this year.

Why do the supporters of the FIFA clothing brand think they can succeed in others' failure?

Don Jones, President of Total fashion group, said that the problem in the past was that football did not consolidate the position of the mainstream culture of the United States.

"Sports, fashion and entertainment are interchangeable now. You must take this into account when formulating strategies.

Clothing makes people who do not look at football in other ways face up to football.

He said.

Mr. Coster Lee added: "if you buy a product, you are involved in the sport in some way, so clothing itself has become an educational platform."

Suppose this is the case: for example, a consumer looking for a cool T-shirt sees a T-shirt with a cartoon player in front, or a fading, looking "year old" sign, he buys and wears this T-shirt, then he becomes a live advertisement for the sport, maybe he will start playing football, and he may join another league.

At least, he will open the ESPN football channel, and football will become part of its identity like baseball or American football.

Although the market of Total clothing group is rising, not everyone thinks so.

According to Robert Burke, founder of the Robert Burke Association of strategic brand consultancy, a clothing brand can not achieve the goals of the world cup, celebrities and sports stars.

"For any authorized paction, only the number of viewers can measure success or failure."

He said.

"The FIFA brand with cool design may be fun, but it is negligible compared with American football, basketball and ice hockey.

Success in commodities affects Americans' chances of winning football.

The problem is that the United States does not accept soccer.

I don't think a fashion product can be successful. "

The head of a Sacks company, a luxury goods company, agreed with this view.

"Audiences in the US or other football loving countries will find it difficult to respond to the products of the league," he said. "People's emotions revolve around the team, not around the business and bureaucracy.

The only exception that I can think of is the NASCAR racing, which itself is an individual movement.

Team sports depend on team selling.

The president of Total clothing group and the CBG design team in Holland have carefully selected all the men's and women's clothing for the American market.

Simon Hawkins, general manager of FIFA's football department, said: "through the history and influence of FIFA brand, this series of clothing has gained emotional connections."

That is to say, the first mascot of the past World Cup has been used for the first time, many of which are designed to attract American consumers.

For example, the mascot "Juanito" of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico was designed to attract Mexico Americans.

Another "traditional" series focuses on the FIFA, which was founded in Rue Honor Avenue in Paris in 1904. This series is not much different from the handbag of the Spanish luxury brand Loewe and Yves Saint Laurent (Eve Szentloran).

Mr. Coster Lee said: "football was seen as a European sport and played in the form of European sports.

We are working to change this view. "

However, the history of football entering the fashion industry has not been a great success.

As Jeff Bliesti, a former marketing director of New Balance and a partner of "brand awareness" consulting firm, told the sports business magazine: "fans' enthusiastic followers, teams and players, are not excited by management."

However, Total apparel group is concerned about FIFA's ignorance of the relationship between consumers and governing bodies and its own design position.

"Football is not just a game," Mr. pryni said. "Football is a fashion statement.

In any case, this is our goal. "