Soccer always attracts the attention of most consumers, that’s why the World Cup generates conversation and attention, so you will surely want to take advantage of this season to attract attention to your business and today we will explain how to do this advertising without violating FIFA’s intellectual property. 

World Cup-related advertising can have very good reach, especially during this season. However, just as it can attract more attention and visits, it can also bring you many problems if you use logos, trademarks, colors, slogans or images that are intellectual property of FIFA or any national team, so today we will show you some tricks so you can take advantage of the attention generated by the World Cup, without affecting the intellectual property.  

Who can use this advertising 

If you think that only brands related to the world of soccer or sports niches are the only ones that can take advantage of all the attention that comes with the World Cup, you are wrong because all niches can adapt their advertising to take advantage of all the conversation and interest that soccer attracts. 

So, no matter your business niche, now is a good time to start an advertising campaign that can generate a lot of visits and leads. However, although it is a great opportunity you have to be careful because the FIFA brand, colors and logos, are protected by copyright, and are also protected related to the Qatar World Cup as the mascot, colors and logos, but let’s take a closer look at what things you could not use in a campaign. 

What are the trademarks you can’t include in your advertising? 

The Intellectual Property Guidelines state that FIFA has listed a range of brand assets called “official intellectual property” such as: logos, words, titles, symbols and other elements that are directly related to the tournament. These assets may only be used for commercial purposes by rights holders and those with whom they establish lawful business relationships. 

Specifically in your advertising and marketing campaign you may not use the following elements: 

 

• FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ 
• FIFA World Cup™ 
• FIFA 
• World Cup 2022 

• World Cup  
• Qatar 2022™ 

In terms of images and colors your marketing cannot contain:  

• Official emblem, slogan or banner. 
• Official mascot image or name 

• Official trophy image 
• FIFA marks and logos 
• Official font of the event 

As you can see the list is very concise, however some expressions or combination of expressions may raise some doubts, such as the use of “2022” or the word “World Cup”, so it is best to avoid using them, so as not to incur penalties of any kind or be notified by FIFA for misuse of brand.  

At the end of the day the soccer federation has the ability to identify this misuse and can penalize or notify you, it is best to exploit your creativity to take advantage of this season. 

 

Use of the national team’s trademark 

Another brand that you should also avoid in your marketing strategy is that of the national team, or any national team, so avoid using the shield and uniforms, because to do so you will need prior authorization. 

Also, you should avoid using the image of the players of the national team or any other, because you would be incurring unauthorized use of the image of these athletes. 

It seems that intellectual property diminishes the advertising you can do at this time, but with a little imagination you can take advantage of all the attention that this sporting event brings with it. 

Use generic sports motifs 

While it’s true that you won’t be able to use logos, slogans, characters or official colors in your marketing strategy, this doesn’t mean you can’t design a campaign with soccer motifs. So you can use icons, photos, illustrations and even generic but soccer-related emojis as a visual strategy throughout your campaign. In other words, say yes to balls, goals and green grass to decorate your social media posts and in general your entire brand image. 

It is important that if you decide to do so you do it in a balanced way, because it is very easy to abuse these visual elements and thus the viewer feels saturated and begins to ignore campaigns of this type. 

 

Use the colors of your national team 

A great way to get noticed this season without using trademarked logos or slogans is to use your national team colors. It’s a great way to change the look of your website, stationery and other elements using something very eye-catching; each country’s national team. So, you can use the colors on banners, marquees, blogs and landing pages. You can even revamp your logo to include them and use them temporarily. 

Using only the national team colors helps you enter the World Cup conversation in a more organic way without affecting the intellectual property, but the most important thing about this tip is that it will help you connect faster with your customers, because using the national team colors always awakens a sense of identity and belonging. 

The most important thing is that you can only use the colors, avoid using logos and shields. 

Incorporate the participating teams 

Another good strategy to take advantage of the conversation and attention generated by the World Cup is to use the names of the participating teams. You can redesign the names of some products or create promotions with the names of the participating teams, since the names of countries do not have intellectual property. This type of advertising works very well in businesses such as restaurants, bars or any business related to food, because they can offer products, in this case dishes, with the names of the different teams. 

Using these names can generate a feeling of belonging and can give you excellent results as any other advertising aimed at emotions. 

Use of soccer expressions 

Another tip for advertising this sport is to use generic expressions related to soccer. So, you can use terms like: Goal! Out of place! Red card or any other expression that reminds you of the matches, to incorporate them in your advertising copy strategy.  

If you use these expressions in landing pages, for example, you will find that they attract a lot of attention and serve very well as a call to action. 

Create interactive experiences 

If you are looking to establish a more dynamic advertising, in which your audience actively participates, the World Cup is an excellent pretext to do so. During this time everyone is looking for facts and curiosities about their favorite national team, their favorite player or about soccer in general, so you can implement on your website or social networks quizzes or curious facts about soccer that will catch the viewer’s attention and offer valuable content. 

Offer promotional items 

While it is true that you can’t offer official FIFA merchandise, because doing so will affect copyrights. What you can do is offer promotional items related to soccer, such as footballs, jerseys or merchandise with soccer logos. This way you can give a small thank you to your repeat customers or you can use them to attract new customers.  

 

As you can imagine the World Cup is an event that will generate a lot of conversation and you can’t afford to miss out on the traffic it can bring to your business. Although FIFA restricts logos, slogans and brands directly related to the World Cup, with creativity you can have a marketing strategy that is part of the conversation. Tell us, what other strategy would you use to advertise without affecting FIFA’s property rights?