Herbalife Promotes Their Products Through Football
27th July, 2011
Herbalife, a global nutrition company, became the main title sponsor of a second time running international football tournament ‘Herbalife World Football Challenge’, the goal of which is to promote football (soccer) in Northern America.
Football’s popularity is steadily growing in the US, especially after the FIFA World Cup and Champions League final last year. The Champions League final was viewed by 4.2 million people on Fox and Fox Deportes, nearly twice the 2.2 million who watched last year’s tournament final (Market Watch, 2011).
As Rob Levy senior vice president of sales and marketing at Herbalife explained “The biggest teams in the world are coming to play across the U.S., and the games will be on ESPN and Univision”.
The football tournament kicked off on 13th July 2011 at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, US. A total of 12 teams are taking part, including European football giants Manchester United (England), Manchester City (England), Real Madrid (Spain), FC Barcelona (Spain) and FC Juventus (Italy); Los Angeles Galaxy, New England Revolution, Philadelphia Union and Chicago Fire from Major League Soccer (MLS); Canadian Vancouver Whitecaps and Mexican clubs Chivas de Guadalajara and Club America. The football games are scheduled to take place in various locations across the United States and Canada in order to maximise exposure.
Michael O. Johnson, chairman and chief executive of Herbalife, added: “The Herbalife World Football Challenge is a great opportunity to expand our commitment to a healthy active life through sports and is an ideal backdrop to launch our new line of sports products” (MLS Press Box, 2011). As a title sponsor and “Official Nutrition Company” of the event, Herbalife will provide all participating teams with their new line of new nutrition sports products, Herbalife24. The deal also includes access into teams’ locker rooms and demonstration with the teams’ doctors and nutritionists. The Herbalife 24 is a customizable seven-product line that everybody can determine day-to-day needs based on activity levels and training demands (Herbalife 24, 2011).
Herbalife did a great job in introducing and promoting their new products at the right time and in the right place through a successful tournament that attracted significant spectators and media broadcast.The tournament and sponsorship illustrates how a successful partnership can benefit all parties involved.
1. The tournament will increase awareness of European football on the American continent where American football, baseball, basketball, and ice hockey still dominate.
2. The title sponsor Herbalife will achieve activation, publicity and promotion of their products in the future due to mutual cooperation and partnership with each of the teams. Furthermore, the fact that this tournament is international will help Herbalife’s expansion globally.
3. And finally the European teams will benefit from expanding their brands overseas and increasing their fan base in the new potential market of 358 million American and Canadian sports fans. Herbalife Football Challenge is a great example where everybody benefits from the event including organizers, sponsors, teams, players, spectators and media.
