Tag Archives: Zakumi

African FIFA Final Draw show disappoints

Given the amount of effort that was put into the production of the FIFA Final Draw show, which was broadcast to 700 million viewers in 200 countries, the one hour show was disappointing, and an opportunity lost for the marketing of Cape Town and South Africa, reflecting an ueber-African theme.   Local producer George Mazarakis’ claim that this would be the best Final Draw production did not live up to his promise.

While the footage on Sky News showed that the entrance to the Cape Town International Convention Centre was beautifully decorated with murals depicting various aspects of Cape Town, including a huge Table Mountain and other iconic visuals, and real proteas, there was no visual representation of Cape Town or the country inside the show venue, the stage being largely bare, with only the screen, the podium, and the very valuable World Cup in front of it.

Video after video was shown, largely telling the story of the FIFA World Cup.   Another showed the readiness and preparation by the hospitality industry for the big event, with not one white person featured in it at all!   Johnny Clegg was the only white performer of the show.   The visuals in the video showed some wildlife, but none of the other beautiful highlights of Cape Town or the rest of the country was shown.  The sound for Angelique Kidjo’s performance was atrocious, but improved by the time the Grammy-award winning Soweto Gospel Choir performed.

Zakumi, the 2010 World Cup mascot, looked silly, and is not an asset to the event. 

The Draw itself was presented by ‘Lady in Red” Charlize Theron, whose sole role was to look pretty next to serious Jerome Valcke, Secretary-General of FIFA.  Theron, whose dress was designed by local designer Gavin Rajah, gushed about her pride in “our country”.  Valcke said “We are ready,  South Africa is ready”, to great applause.  Speaking far too quickly, Valcke tried to explain how the complicated Draw works, and how the “geographic separation” had to be created.   This was achieved by having 8 “pots”, from which the teams playing against the 8 seeded teams (Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England and South Africa) were randomly selected by David Beckham, South African Springbok rugby captain John Smit and cricketer Makhaya Ntini (what were they doing at a soccer event?), Bafana Bafana’s Matthew Booth, and Olympic medallist Haile Gebrselassie.

The eight groups for the 2010 World Cup are the following:

Group A:  South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, and France

Group B:   Argentina, Korea Republic, Nigeria and Greece

Group C:  England, USA, Algeria and Slovenia

Group D: Germany, Australia, Ghana, Serbia

Group E: The Netherlands, Japan, Cameroon, and Denmark

Group F: Italy, Paraguay, Slovakia, and New Zealand

Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR, Ivory Coast and Portugal

Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras and Chile

Eight matches will be played in the new Cape Town Stadium, on the following dates and times:

11 June  France versus Uruguay at 8.30 pm

14 June: Italy versus Paraguay  at 8.30 pm

18 June: England versus Algeria at 8.30 pm 

21 June: Portugal versus Korea DPR at 1.30 pm

24 June : Cameroon versus The Netherlands at 8.30 pm

29 June:  winner of first group H and second group G, at 8.30 pm

3 July : quarter-final at 4 pm

6 July:  semi-final at 8.30 pm

Capetonians who joined the Fan Fest at the top of Long Street probably had the most fun, in partying the night away to music greats such as Coda, Freshlyground and more.   It is estimated that a crowd of 50 000 enjoyed itself, and entrance to more party-goers had to be barred.    Sky News broadcast from Long Street prior to the start of the Final Draw. 

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

Indian summer in Cape Town

Seven of the 58 Indian Premier League (IPL) twenty 20 cricket matches, including the opening match, will take place in Cape Town.

Cape Town Tourism will be using the IPL matches as a marketing platform for Cape Town, targeting cricket fans from Durban and India.  

The Cape Minstrels will welcome the players and their fans at Cape Town International airport.   The 2010 World Cup mascot Zakumi will be present at the Newlands matches, and photographs taken with Zakumi can be posted on the Cape Town Tourism website, to win tickets to the 27 April Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians game.

The dates for the Cape Town matches are as follows:

  1. April 18: Opening ceremony followed by Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings.
  2. April 19: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers; Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab.
  3. April 22: Royal Challengers vs Deccan Chargers.
  4. April 25: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings.
  5. April 26: Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab.
  6. April 27: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians.

South Africa scores at ITB

S A Tourism and Cape Town Tourism worked hard in marketing the country at the ITB travel and tourism expo in Berlin, which was held earlier this month.

According to TravelHub,  S A Tourism launched the new ‘Voices’ advertising campaign, which sees Germans being asked to relate their positive experiences of South Africa.    It is planned to have over a million Germans talking positively about South Africa by June 2010.

FIFA and the Local Organising Committee for the 2010 World Cup used ITB as a platform to encourage and inform the German market about the event, reassuring them about the country’s readiness, infrastructure and sustainability, the report says.

S A Tourism won third prize for its ‘Numbers’ ad in the Golden Gate international film advertising awards competition at ITB.

Cape Town Tourism too was active at ITB, and its CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold reported back on the successes her association achieved:    Cape Town Tourism was invited to present its visitor services and marketing innovation to the World Tourism Organisation International Destination Council;   the 2010 World Cup mascot Zakumi was used in a competition, in which ITB attendees could be photographed with Zakumi, post it on the Cape Town Tourism website with a creative comment about Cape Town, to win two tickets for the 2010 World Cup, resulting in 200 images being received;   via a German PR company, Cape Town Tourism’s PR and Communications Manager met 15  journalists individually, presented its marketing toolkit to Dr Michael Kaiser from News Corporation Germany, who will do a presentation on Cape Town to the German Press Club,  Suedafrika magazine will do a free two-page spread on Cape Town, and a free feature on Cape Town will appear in the bi-annual German 1 Golf publication.  

In addition, Cape Town Tourism will be running a winter promotion on Expedia; an educational campaign with FTI, Germany’s third largest tour operator, was concluded;  joint marketing agreements were concluded with Tripadvisor, Google, and BBC News on-line; an agreement was reached with Petit Fute to develop a French guide book for Cape Town;  and assistance will be provided in the production of the official 2010 FIFA World Cup documentary.

However, Cape Town Routes Unlimited Marketing executive David Frandsen, on his return from ITB, has predicted that leisure tourism from Germany will decline by 20 % in the coming season.   He based his forecast on the 30 % drop in bookings received by the top five German tour operators making bookings in South Africa, in January and February this year.    He said however that 200 smaller special tour operators are making up for the decline in bookings received from the big tour operators.   Namibia is attracting bookings from the German market, and has become a trendy destination for Germans.

Zakumi goes to Portugal

Zakumi, The World Cup 2010 mascot, was launched to Portuguese soccer fans in Lisbon yesterday, reports bizcommunity.com.

Dr Danny Jordaan, CEO of the 2010 South African Local Organising Committee and Calvyn Gilfellan, CEO of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, addressed a 2010 tourism promotional event.  The event was hosted by the South African embassy in Lisbon, and focused on South Africa’s readiness to host the World Cup, and its tourism potential in the Western Cape.