Tag Archives: 2010 FIFA World Cup

World Cup match attendance: staying on the FIFA ball!

All purchasers of tickets to the 2010 FIFA World Cup are presented with a “2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Official Ticket Guide”, which contains 42 pages of information about the ten stadiums as well as all the rules and regulations, in heavy legal terms, pertaining to entering the stadiums and watching the matches.

The rules are the following:

1.   Lost tickets will not be replaced

2.   Stadiums are open three hours prior to matches (4 hours for the Opening and Final matches).  Ticketholders are urged to arrive as early as possible

3.   Tickets are not sold at the stadiums nor can be collected from there.

4.  “…Ticket Applicants may not sell, offer for sale, resell, donate or otherwise transfer their Ticket in any way, without the specific prior written approval of FIFA”.  

5.   Items that one may not bring into the stadium include fireworks, helmets, weapons, hammers, flammable spray cans, laser pointers, umbrellas (interesting, given the winter weather likely for Cape Town particularly!), all for security reasons, nor “alcohol or drugs”, “bottles, cups, jugs or cans”, or anything in Tetra packaging.

6.   One may not stand on the seats or “climb on any structures”; throw any items on the pitch; block or obstruct walkways, entrances or emergency exits; access any prohibited areas; or “act in a confrontational manner to other spectators or stadium officials”.

7.  Importantly, one may not leave the stadium during the match at all, nor in the interval, to buy some food at McDonalds in Cape Town, for example, as one will not be let back into the stadium – there is no pass or system to record that one arrived with a ticket.

8.   One should expect security checks, including “submitting to inspections, body checks, and removal of items that are prohibited to use , possess, hold or bring into the Stadium on match days”

9.   Flagpoles and banner poles are prohibited.  Flags bigger than 2 x 1,5 meters are prohibited.

10.   Clothing or promotional items with visible branding supporting ” racist, xenophobic cause, charity, or ideological concern” is prohibited.

11.  No animals are allowed!

12.  No “ladders,  stools, (folding) chairs, boxes, cardboard containers, large bags, rucksacks, suitcases or sportsbags” are allowed.

13.   Large quantities or rolls of paper are prohibited!

14.  Branded vuvuzelas are prohibited.

15.  Only cameras with rechargeable batteries are allowed.  Video cameras are prohibited.

16.  “Computers or other devices used for the purposes of transmitting or disseminating sound, pictures, description of results of the results via the internet or other forms of media” (would this include i-Phones and Blackberries?)

17.  One is requested to not litter

18.  Smoking is not allowed inside the seating area or on the pitch.  There are designated smoking zones.

19.  One may not enter the pitch.

20.   Payment inside the stadiums for any food, drinks etc. can only be made via VISA credit card or cash (this implies that one cannot pay with any other credit card brand!).

21.  One may not arrive at the stadium under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

22.  Material of any recordings of any kind of any matches can be used by FIFA free of charge, yet one is prohibited from recording any matches other than for “private use”.

23.  No promotional items or clothing worn on a match day in a stadium may promote a brand

What is interesting is that there is no reference to food being brought into the stadium, being prohibited, according to media reports.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

World Cup Service Excellence drive can only be Mickey Mouse!

The Department of Tourism has announced a last minute service excellence campaign “Tourism Service Excellence Initiative” (TSEI) for all front-line staff dealing with soccer fans during the World Cup, less than one month prior to the start of this world sport event.   While its intentions are extremely noble, and it will be offered for free, a two-hour session will hardly make any difference to generally poor service attitudes in Cape Town and South Africa.

The Department of Tourism has contracted The Disney Institute from Orlando to conduct a number of free two-hour seminars around the country, the Cape Town ones taking place next Thursday (at His People Center in Goodwood) and Friday (at the Cape Town International Convention Centre), at 10h00 and 14h00 on each of these days.  The same presentations will be held in Stellenbosch on 15 May, in George on 17 May, and in Knysna on 18 May.

The Disney Institute is a highly regarded “university of service excellence”, and a company like Pick ‘n Pay has regularly sent its managers to Orlando to improve its stores’ customer care and service excellence.   But it is impossible to change a service mentality in 2 hours!

The Western Cape province sent the invitation to attend the seminars in Cape Town as a Press Release, and it states that one can call to make a booking (a friendly and reasonably efficient process requiring ID numbers of staff, and more) or go the TSEI website www.tsei.co.za.    Dr Laurine Platzky, the “2010 FIFA World Cup Coordinator from Provincial Government Western Cape”, describes the seminars as “energetic” and “inspiring”, their aim being to “give all football guests an unforgettable experience in the Mother City and the Province”.

The TSEI document has the logos of the Department of Tourism, TSEI and the Disney Institute, as well as of FEDHASA, at the bottom of the document. FEDHASA’s has a web address linked to it (no other web addresses are supplied), but it is not FEDHASA’s web address – it is the web address of FEDHASA CEO Brett Dungan’s private Rooms4U booking portal, which has been criticised on this blog previously!

The TSEI document states that customer service should be improved “in anticipation of the millions of guests to the games” (our underlining).   One wonders where this statistic comes from – 3 million tickets are meant to have been sold, but this does not mean 3 million ticket holders, given that tourism consultancy Grant Thornton has estimated that each visitor will watch 5 matches on average, reducing the number of ticketholders to 600 000 on average!   Also, one talks about “games” for the Olympics, but for the World Cup they are called “matches”!   In a “mastery” of copywriting, it claims that The Department of Tourism had in 2008 already “crafted” (did they mean drafted?) the Tourism Service Excellence Strategy, to “take Service Excellence in the Tourism Service Value Chain to greater heights”. 

It then explains why service levels must be taken to greater heights, in that service excellence in the past has been hampered by (wait for it…….) “the negative impact of apartheid (!), a largely autocratic management style (!), the lack of an established culture of customer service, insufficient training, systemic educational concerns, the poor image of the service industry by most, and the harsh economic realities of many workers who remain focused on survival rather than service” (our exclamation marks).  Phew!  

Internationally, we rank in the middle, at 62nd of 124 countries, on competitiveness, in the 2007(!) World Tourism Council Competitiveness Report.   The Department says that the level of service delivery ranges from good to very poor in our country.   That is why it has appointed The Disney Institute to conduct Service Excellence Seminars, “which are designed and focused in creating a culture of service excellence”.  Come on – can a 2-hour seminar create a culture of Service Excellence, no matter if it is presented by The Disney Institute?! 

Boldly the document continues about the objectives of the Service Excellence Initiative, all defined as being for “2010 and beyond”:

1.  “Championing service transformation

2.   Creating a customer service orientated SA

3.   Crafting a ‘solution-minded’ customer service culture in SA

4.   Providing human behaviour solution to SA

5.   Ensuring SA delivers world-class customer service

6.   Touch the entire service economy so that 2010 leaves a legacy”.

While it is clear that not all points are meant to be addressed by the seminars, the last one is – once again, how can they think that they can achieve this in two hours?!

The document states who should attend, and it lists immigration and customs officials, the police, tourism officials, “local government”, as well as private sector front-line staff in tourism and travel, hospitality, petrol stations, transport and banking.  Each participant is to receive a certificate and a Service Guideline Card, for which an extra half an hour has been allowed.

The best is kept for last – the value that a company’s staff will gain from attendance at the seminars:

“*   Engage employees to be personally involved in creating and delivering quality customer service

 *   Explore the significance of performance accountability, ensuring an equal weight value between business results and employee behaviors (sic) that enhances a positive work culture (straight from the Disney Institute literature no doubt)

 *   Learn the significance of creating and sustaining a corporate culture by design rather than default (?)

 *   Introduce the concept of “Common Purpose” as the organization’s chief global service driver” (we are tiny local non-global tourism related businesses in the main!)

The final best is the “dynamic” pay-off line that the copywriter ends off with : “Be Brilliant – Tourism Service Excellence Initiative” !!!!!!!!!! 

If the Department of Tourism’s Tourism Service Excellence Initiative document is anything to go by, its Service Excellence Workshops will be Mickey Mouse!  I cannot wait to attend, to experience this magical 2-hour transformation in Service Excellence!

POSTSCRIPT:  After writing this post, I found an article written earlier this week by Natalia Thomson of S A Tourism Update about the same topic.  She writes that the Disney Institute contract is worth R 9,5 million, and that 250 000 persons will be put through the workshops around the country.   Read her cynical and critical article here.

Read our follow-up article about the presentation here.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio : www.whalecottage.com

Col’Cacchio Pizzeria goes gourmet again

Col’Cacchio Pizzeria is running the second Celebrity Chef series from this month onwards, for the next six months, once again linking a celebrity chef to a pizza once a month, but this time around, a country is linked to the chef as well, in honour of the World Cup.  

Interestingly, despite FIFA’s strict ambush marketing rules, the Col’Cacchio newsletter ‘grazie!’ is initially shy in referring to the “World Cup”, yet has a box in the newsletter that states boldly: “The perfect place to gather pre, post or during the 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP…   We take the hassle out of organising your soccer party”!

This month chef Michael Broughton of Terroir in Stellenbosch, a Top 10 restaurant, is representing Italy with his Michelangelo pizza, containing an interesting mix of figs, potato, garlic braised rocket, fontina cheese, parma ham, a drizzle of truffle oil, and fresh origanum.

In May another Top 10 chef, David Higgs of Rust en Vrede in Stellenbosch, will represent Mexico with his Nacho Libre pizza, containing ‘jerk spiced chicken breast strips, home-made guacamole, freshly chopped tomato chilli salsa, fresh coriander & sour cream’.

In June Jodi-Ann Pearton of The Food Design Agency, a catering company, food consultancy and cookery school in Johannesburg, represents South Africa with a Bunny Chow Calzone,  which is a folded pizza containing tandoori chicken and tomato chow, served with fresh coriander and Mrs Ball’s chutney.

The names of the gourmet pizzas that the chefs will present in July – September have not yet been released, but the names of the chefs and the countries they will represent are available.   Franck Dangereux, owner of The Foodbarn, and a previous Top 10 chef whilst at La Colombe, is the gourmet pizza chef in July and represents France.   Chef Nicky Gibbs, from The Westcliff hotel in Johannesburg, will represent Argentina in her gourmet pizza in August.   In September Top 10 chef Chantel Dartnall, who came second in the Eat Out Top 10 restaurant awards in November, of Restaurant Mosaic in Pretoria, will represent Denmark.

For every gourmet pizza sold at R 95, R 5 of the price goes to the Children’s Hospital Trust, the fundraising charity of the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, and to its Burns’ Unit in particular.  Last year Col’Cacchio ran a similar Celebrity Chef promotion, and the R 120 000 which was raised was donated to the Hospital for the purchase of specialised surgical equipment for the new operating theatre.

Col’Cacchio has eight franchise outlets in the Cape, including Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, Camps Bay, Canal Walk, Cavendish, Willowbridge and Blouberg, as well as eight outlets in Gauteng and one in KwaZulu-Natal. 

For more details about Col’Cacchio’s Celebrity Chef series, see www.colcacchio.co.za

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com