As hard as it is to believe, the 2010 Fifa World Cup is now a distant memory. The sponsors’ names, some of which we’d never heard or seen were everywhere. And if we could have had the blog up and running much (much) earlier, we would have done a whole branding-related preview and review. However, if’s and but’s are pointless, so we’ve decided that time will be our friend and so now, when everything’s calmed down, we take a look at the branding side of the World Cup here in South Africa.

This is all just my opinion so, yes, it is subjective. So how did SA compare to previous hosts?

The Logo

First up we have the logo. My initial reaction was….skeptical. You immediately recognize the attempt to create something African and I felt they’d gone over the top. BUT, it grew on me. When I compare it to the previous World Cup logos, I like that shows some culture. The whole “Africanness” can be forgiven, considering that it was the first World Cup to be staged on the continent. For me, some of the other logos try too hard to bring across a “deep” message – often unsuccessfully – because they don’t have a real sense of identity they want to bring across. I like the simplicity of the 2010 concept. It’s a guy, in Koi San Rock painting style, completing a bicycle kick with Africa in the background and South African colours.

The Mascot

I know of a lot of people who looked at Zakumi and went “huh”. Yes yes, who knows whether it’s a lion with freckles or a metrosexual leopard. Having been to some of the World Cup games, I have to say the mascot works. A mascot is there to create hype and, like the logo, be a memorable visual representation of the event. Zakumi certainly did that. Kids and adults all waved frantically and tried to get a quick snapshot when the pretty hip-looking cat did the rounds during half time. Again, compared to some of the previous mascots, this one is a success. The German mascot looks friendly, but that’s about it. The lion that is. No one even noticed the talking ball in his hand. And who knows what the 2002 characters were supposed to be. To me a mascot needs to represent the local culture, without excluding the foreign visitors and viewers, which I think Zakumi does. And whoever the guys in the suits were, they sure could dance…

The Poster

Hmmm, slightly trickier. The poster was chosen as the winner in a national contest and some of the other entries were very cool. I won’t discuss them, so just trust me, they were great both in concept and style. I guess whoever made the decision, felt that the winning poster would work better with the logo and chosen brand colours (we’ll get to those later), which would be fair. At first I thought the head morphed into the African continent and looking at the soccer ball might be a bit too simple conceptually. But, again, it grew on me… a lot. I love the poster and the simplicity. The message is simple, which I think needs to be said a few times. Too many people (myself included) try too hard to be too smart. I’m a fan of vector shapes in poster design and the negative space works nicely. It’s a kind of contemporary, yet unmistakably African illustration. I know I mentioned it before, but I’ve just seen so many “African” designs that try so hard to be African or “cultural”. To me that’s become code word for ugly. So this poster is rather refreshing.

The Host Cities

This is difficult because unfortunately I didn’t manage to visit every host city. But I did follow the cities’ progress over the last 2 years or so very closely and there are some very noticeable differences. Some cities did an awesome job to really make visitors and locals feel part of the party. Others failed.

Each city came up with its own campaign poster. I think here you can see what I mean when I talk about over-the-top-Africanness. The Johannesburg and Tshwane/Pretoria posters are just too shallow in concept. Actually the only poster I really like looking at repeatedly is Nelspruit’s. Port Elizabeth and Durban also did a decent job, but in general I have to say I was a bit dissapointed.

Street-side Branding

This follows on from the Host Cities section. My home town of Pretoria only started with its public branding and marketing 2 months before the World Cup. No, bus stops don’t count. Cape Town had the ginormous vuvuzela, temporary big wheel and fan walk. Durban had the brand new beach front, with fan park, and massive billboard hanging from a new bridge over an incoming highway. The stadium itself has become a major landmark in its own right. Even Polokwane had a massive billboard of a guy blowing a vuvuzela. Pretoria didn’t seem to make any such efforts. Instead they did the average just-enough-to-get-accepted branding. And considering that they had two host stadiums, Johannesburg could have done a lot more. There just seemed to be a stronger sense of identity and pride in the other cities compared to the Gauteng province.

The Stadiums and Fan Parks

I thought the stadiums were great. Before they were taken over by Fifa, I was worried that some of the stadiums’ character would get lost under all the Fifa, Sony, McDonalds and Budweiser signage. My worries were unfounded.  The branding was simple yet visible. The World Cup colour theme of red and orange complimented the stadiums brilliantly. Sponsor logos also were visible but not intrusive.

What goes for the stadiums goes for the fan parks. The branding wasn’t in the way and it was still a South African festival.

The People

I have a smirk on my face as I think back and remember the diverse fans. I know it’s got nothing to do with graphic design or branding as such, but, for me, it was the highlight of the World Cup.  Everyone made an effort to wear and share their culture and our culture fuels our designs and so, for one month, I suffered from severe over-stimulation. We saw a lot of freaky hats and bare chested foreigners (it was the middle of winter)…and a lot of singing :)

Overall I have to say that we as South Africans tend to shoot down anything local. Maybe I just socialise with too many pessimists, but it seems to me that when we compare our local designs to those from more developed countries, we automatically praise the latter. It’s this misconception that we can’t possibly match the achievements of other countries. We heard it time and time again in the build up to the World Cup. But, if this tournament showed anything, it’s that we can surprise even ourselves and grab positive  international attention with what we do. Just because our style and culture are different (which we should be proud of) doesn’t make them anything less. So if you’re a fellow South African, don’t try to be American, or British or French. We’ve got our own thing, so let’s flaunt it.

Yes, I am a patriot :)