If World Cup Nations Were Brands

What would yours be?

The World Cup is a masterclass in branding and how people think of your brand foundations and values.

Any good brand, has a belief system that their customers align with or provide a feeling by wearing the brand. When it’s done well, it’s what the brand want and how they want to be perceived.
Nike make everybody think they are an athlete. If I get the new Alphafly maybe I’ll run a sub 3 marathon.
Jacquemus makes us appreciate luxury whilst having a personality.
Patagonia make us be proud to care about the environment.
Aime Leon Dore makes us nostalgic with their 90s references.

For football national teams, there is a lot of trauma that goes into these brands. This is often not what the team has decided but what decades of behaviours on field have taught us, which is a terrible place to be as a brand.

England. There is a lot of brand equity. A lot of love. Some still swear they are the best but they are stuck in the good old days. They could be ruling the football world again but ultimately don’t deliver when they are needed the most. England are Dell Computers.

For Argentina, the on-field perception is that they are dirty. “Masters of the dark arts”, was thrown around in multiple WhatsApp chats last night BUT, at the end of the day, they won’t stop fighting, will find a way and as a nation are now 6-0 in semi finals. It’s a brand that just feels inevitable and you don’t agree with them but can’t not use Amazon.

For the Socceroos, ‘we aren’t very good but we will give it a go’. Australia punches above its weight in most sports on the global scale given the size, we can accept a loss, we just can’t accept not trying. It’s almost a Bunnings sausage sizzle. Not great but you know what you are going to get.

USNMT, I don’t really want to comment on this, but there is just flat out delusion that they are any good. It’s ‘US Polo Assn’, that bootleg brand you always see in south east Asian countries pretending to be Polo. What Americans think they are though, is Ralph Lauren Purple Label.

Spain have tika taka. It’s a style of play where it’s constant movement. It’s a motion offence, for those basketball fans, think peak 2000s Spurs. Competitors come and go but you know the quality will be there. They do everything well, Bose.

France has all the fire power and a certain level of expectation. How high everybody regards them, it’s never as high as they regard themselves. It’s a brand that has a few stand out products but often ego brings it down. Tesla.

FIFA as a whole, everyone hates them. Everyone knows they’re gouging you, there’s constant public outrage, and yet you have zero choice but to go through them if you want the thing you want. Ticketmaster.

National football teams are brands that teach us actions speak louder than words. If you are community driven, are you really giving back to the community? Or only extracting money from it and framing it as community led? FIFA claim ‘for the good of the game’ but their actions, extracting every possible dollar from fans, prove otherwise.

Your foundations are why people feel how they feel about you. Sure they maybe giving you their money now, but make them feel good about it, so if a competitor comes along, they don’t jump ship straight away.

Your brand matters. and so do your behaviours.

As always, thanks for reading.

Hayden

If you have a suggestion or comment, feel free to let me know via Instagram.