Levi's: famous even under cover

The World Cup is here again, arguably the biggest sports event that brings even non-football fans to watch matches and hope their countries will score a goal.

From a marketing standpoint, it is a great opportunity to advertise brands and capitalise on the success and massive reach of the event (millions of people throughout the world are expected to tune in from over 200 countries!).

Each brand you see in the stadium or on the footballers' jerseys is there as a result of an intellectual property agreement. Different companies sponsor different games, national teams, or even specific players, and these agreements typically specify which brands can be displayed, where, and for how long. In short, the brand recognition that is driven by sponsorship deals is the product of a lot of work done by IP lawyers (you're welcome!).

FIFA prohibits the presence of brands that are not officially affiliated with the organisation or the World Cup during the tournament. This policy is standard across all FIFA competitions, and so some of the stadiums hosting World Cup matches this year have been temporarily renamed to remove brands that are not official sponsors of FIFA or the World Cup.

Levi's was one of the brands asked to be removed from a major stadium in California, but it has found a (rather funny) loophole in the rules established by FIFA.

The Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, has been renamed as San Francisco Bay Area Stadium for the World Cup. The big Levi's name and logo that are placed on top of the building have been covered up. 

However, in what has been called a brilliant marketing move, Levi's has covered the iconic batwing logo with a tailored white sheet. The logo has remained entirely recognizable, as a result. Genius, but also a result of years of investment in the trade mark protection of said logo.

Levi's brand still reaches World Cup spectators worldwide even though it is not a sponsor this year. They have also played the social media card really well, having updated their Instagram profile picture to the covered batwing. In a recent post of the Levi's (now San Francisco Bay Area) Stadium, the company cheekily wrote “welcoming the world to the beautiful [redacted] stadium!”.

Now, winning the World Cup is no small task, and only a few countries have managed to achieve this, and of course, only Brazil has done so five times (an entirely impartial observation from the Brazilian author). The internet has responded with viral posts about the covered Levi's logo, showing that the famous fashion brand has scored a marketing goal of their own, without stepping onto the pitch. Footballers will have to work a lot harder.

You can read more about Ambush Marketing from Cat Lovrics (Marks & Clerk Canada) here and Christophe Van Zyl (Marks & Clerk Luxembourg) here.