How a free charm bracelet conquered the World Cup

NEW YORK – Karina Guerra did not mind waiting an hour to get her sought-after World Cup souvenir this week in East Rutherford, New Jersey – after all, she did not pay a dime for it.

While the 2010 World Cup had vuvuzelas and the 2018 edition the foam Kokoshnik (traditional Russian headdress), the must-have accessory for the 2026 tournament appears to be “fan bands”, free charm wristlets that have turned traditional marketing on its head.

More than 700,000 have been snapped up so far at the tournament, with fans reserving appointments to make the customisable bracelets at fan festivals and scooping up pre-made versions distributed by sponsor Bank of America outside stadiums on match days.

“Last time, we waited for two hours,” said Guerra, a fan from El Salvador who said she had collected four of the bracelets so far. “It’s spectacular. It is something very original.”

Fans select charms specific to host cities – New York’s collection includes a slice of pizza and the Statue of Liberty – with a new collection of charms for the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final.

What fans will not see, however, is branding that has become ubiquitous in sports marketing. Bank of America may be the sponsor but its name is not on the bands, with its logo sneaking into the giveaway.

“The one thing fans sometimes don’t catch is there is a flagscape bead – there’s one that looks like a flag. And that is actually the Bank of America logo,” said Bank of America’s head of sports and entertainment marketing Cindy Nguyen Thomas.

“But people perceive it as it’s the 250th anniversary (of the United States), (or) it’s a celebration of the US men’s national team. To see it go viral the way it did as quick as it did surpassed our expectations.”

Bank of America plans to release two million bands, which have already shown up on resale platforms with asking prices ranging from US$50 (S$64.70) to US$500.

The campaign is a marketing counter-punch in a tournament hallmarked by sky-high ticket prices, expensive merchandise and relentless in-stadium advertising, with newly implemented “hydration breaks” allowing for even more advertising dollars to flow.

The stadiums themselves have been denuded of their own prior corporate branding in favour of geographic names – MetLife Stadium, for one, became “New York New Jersey Stadium” – as brands must shell out even to be associated with the world’s largest sporting event. Bank of America paid a reported US$100 million for its sponsorship deal with FIFA.

“There’s just an inundation of brands all over the place,” said Lauren Anderson, director of the Warsaw Sports Business Center at the University of Oregon.

“Society is kind of trying to turn a little bit away from all the like trinkets and trash and junk. And if it’s something you’re going to keep, you maybe don’t want a brand slapped all over it.”

In other news, fans have sued StubHub, accusing the resale platform of failing to deliver expensive tickets they bought on the secondary market.

StubHub said it would not comment on pending litigation but added in a statement: “Our singular goal is to get fans into events and if anything goes wrong, our FanProtect Guarantee provides replacement tickets or a full refund.”
REUTERS