The post should really be called “things to consider about the marketing impact of Cameroon losing AFCON 2019” but honestly that is too long a title. This is more of a think piece than an actual analysis so please bear that in mind when reading.

So the first thing that occurred to me when CAF announced that Cameroon had been stripped of hosting next year’s African Cup of Nations was, what will happened to all those sponsorship agreements? This then got me thinking about local businesses who had made renovations knowing they would recoup their money next year, and even further to companies that had planned their 2019 marketing strategy around AFCON. Cameroon has invested over 10 billion fcfa in preparation for AFCON; this was mainly spent on infrastructure, hotels and stadiums. While there will surely be economic ramifications on a national level from the loss of AFCON 2019 that aspect is not as intriguing as what will happen to people who for example bought apartments along the stadium road or vacated their homes to rent to supporters and much more. This post will consider, from a marketing standpoint, the effect losing such a large event will have on local businesses. The best way to analyse this is to refer to an old favourite: the Marketing Matrix aka the four Ps (product, price, promotion, and place) however in this case “target market” will be substituted for “price” as I believe it is more relevant. I’m choosing to use the marketing matrix because I feel it allows for a quick but holistic look at the situation.  I’m placing a strong emphasis on the word quick because I will probably only examine one topic for each category.

PRODUCT

When it comes to product there are a few things to consider: firstly, what is the product on offer? This varies depending on the industry of the company and secondly how and where the consumer will interact with the product. Considering that infrastructure is where a large part of the investment was spent, let’s look at property. Many of the homes along or near a stadium have been bought or rented specifically for use during the tournament. Take for example the neighbourhood of Omnisport in Yaoundé, it has always been a fairly up and coming area favoured by the middle class but has recently undergone a lot of renovations; not only have the roads been redone but also there are now a lot of new builds in the area. 4 out of 10 people surveyed knew someone who either recently bought a building in the area or was planning to rent out their existing property. In terms of product the real estate market has seen a surge for the reasons I just mentioned, however it goes even further than people buying apartments for rent. Many people have opened boutiques or bars in their newly bought buildings in anticipation of the crowd that the proximity to the stadium will provide.

So how will the loss of AFCON impact them? At first glance those who were planning to rent out their apartments have completely lost revenue as most people will no longer be looking for property near the stadium. However all might not be lost, the roll on effect of all the renovations means that Omnisport (which was already on the rise) has now become extremely desirable to the middle class. Most of the roads have been redone and a lot of the property available is now in mint condition. The loss of AFCON means landlords will no longer be able to charge “Bastos prices” (Bastos is an expensive neighbourhood similar to living in Central London) and renters will be getting a deal. While it may take them longer to recoup their investment, there is still money to be made. Even those who have opened boutiques and bars will benefit from the slow but steady migration to the neighbourhood.

TARGET MARKET

At this late stage changing your target market will not be an easy feat, as it is one of the most important aspects of marketing. While many of AFCON attendees were local, most companies were attracted to the possibility of international clientele with disposable income. Losing AFCON means that the target market for half of 2019 has changed and companies have to account for that in their strategy for the year. An example of this is the tourism industry, because for many people Cameroon is no longer a holiday destination. Most hotels and restaurants were to see an increase in activity especially in towns where a match was to be played. In order to capitalise on this many “hoteliers” posted their accommodation on websites such as: booking.com, Airbnb, and TripAdvisor. While this a smart decision that will not be impacted by the loss of AFCON (we are in a digital age), it is important to note that for a lot of Cameroonian “hoteliers” the shift was only made because of the promise of international visitors.  Some hotels had even received bookings, and made renovations to their property in anticipation and will have to work hard to avoid cancellations.

The Cameroonian tourism industry could be said to be one of AFCON 2019 greatest losers. Hosting international tournaments is supposedly greatly beneficial to this sector as it provides free advertising for its host country. People who are buying tickets to come for a tournament will often have a lot of free time (because they cannot attend every match) which is where tourism “makes bank”. A country like Cameroon which had 2 beaches and a variety of cultural excursions to offer the public can be expected to see a large amount of growth in this industry. However South Africa would like to disagree, while the 2010 World Cup did bring in a larger amount of tourists it was nowhere near what was expected and it is estimated that they spent $13,000 per visitor (Egan, 2014). While AFCON is on a smaller scale it is a similar tournament in another developing country, and it could be argued that Cameroon had more improvements to make than South Africa thus making this loss rather impactful. It is also important to remember that there is more to hosting a major sporting event that “driving tourism” the improvements in infrastructure will still remain and will benefit Cameroon (Egan, 2014) when non AFCON tourists are looking for holiday destinations. Furthermore the free publicity gained from Cameroon being the host nation of AFCON 2019 has propelled the country into the international limelight and driven others to learn more about what is on offer which can only benefit Cameroon in the long run.

PROMOTION  

COCAN are the organisers of AFCON 2019 and put the company Colombe in charge of finding sponsors, and as early as March 2018 they had begun distributing sponsorship requests. The various packages on offer ranged from appearing on the official AFCON television program (Ambiance de CAN) for 1 million fcfa to having access to their digital communication (official website and Facebook page) for 30 million fcfa. Companies who chose to sponsor the CAN would be expecting a high ROI and many would have used the majority of their budget to make it happen. While it is logical that companies who have already made full or partial payment will be refunded, the question is what now? AFCON 2019 presented an opportunity for companies to promote themselves internationally with a local investment (by this I mean spend less money than they would normally have to vis-a-vis an international audience) and many companies took advantage of this. In some cases half of their marketing plan for 2019 revolved around AFCON and they may now be scrambling.

In terms of advertisingthe loss of AFCON 2019 means a loss of campaigns because a lot of the magazines and channels created for this event will no longer be available. There will no longer be the aforementioned television program “Ambiance de CAN” or even something as simple as half-time advertising. While broadcasting rights during the game is not something I can comment on, the ads normally shown on the jumbo Tron during half time will no longer be needed. Furthermore if we consider things from the angle of the suppliers and by this I mean graphic designers, printer’s etc. they are losing a lot of business. Unlike other suppliers who had won contracts concerning infrastructure, those mentioned above are not likely to still receive payment. Most companies only promote when they have a new product or service and AFCON created another such opportunity, no AFCON means no reason to promote and no need for promotional material. This potentially creates a problem for suppliers who had based their 2019 budget on expected income. It is not just a case of no longer getting orders, many suppliers would have begun buying paper and ink (and in some cases equipment) in anticipation and could now be operating at a loss. It can be argued that they are the ones who lose out the most from the lack of AFCON.

PLACE

In this instance we are going to take “place” to mean venue and not location. This is possibly the quickest and simplest aspect to consider. A lot of business have undergone renovations in anticipation of the increased business AFCON would bring. An example of this is SELECT Etoi-Meki which underwent a complete makeover in preparation. Not only did they reorganise the floor plan but they also invested in new countertops, a wide screen TV and a new sound system. They are not the only business to carry out improvements, and similar to the other businesses while it may take them longer they will see a return on their investment. The danger comes from if a business over extended themselves in order to make improvements based on a stream of revenue no longer available to them. In most cases the venues would have already completed their improvements and will now try to find a way to increase business and replaced the lost revenue.

So these have been my thoughts on Cameroon being stripped of the title of host and how it may affect marketing. As mentioned before it is not a complete analysis, however everything mentioned above was true to the best of my knowledge. I would just like to end this post by saying it has since been announced that Cameroon will host AFCON in 2021, this will seemingly allow for all the preparations to be completed well in advance. It could also possibly mean that the points made above (such as the sponsorship packages which will now most likely be pushed to AFCON 2021) are no longer valid …