Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Coca-Cola: the Man and the Brands He Keeps

Fact or cap? In a recent press conference, an athlete’s reaction took the marketing world by storm as he left an iconic beverage company bruised and battered by an onslaught of equity selloffs in under an hour.

Fact. During UEFA EURO 2020’s press conference, the world-class soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo ‘snubs’ a couple of Coca-Cola bottles presented before him, pulls them away from the camera and gestures a water bottle while demanding “Agua!” Of course there is no direct evidence of a causal relationship between the gesture and Coca-Cola’s ensuing stock losses of $4 billion from the start of the day’s trading, but this is the perfect example of when an influencer’s values are not aligned with a brand’s and what marketers must do about it to preserve brand equity. You can view the video here if you have not already seen it.

First, who is Cristiano Ronaldo and what are his values? Mr. Ronaldo is a Portuguese man, a devoted husband, father of four, role model to millions, respected sportsman with European football pedigree, GOAT soccer player to American fans, and most importantly to our readers he is a powerful social media influencer. He has a social media following of over 545 million across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok. His career earnings exceeds $1 billion and his net worth inclusive of his CR7 brand is well over $120 million. Behind every world-class player, is a world-class branding team so all of his brand partnerships are hand selected to align with his values. Being an activist of healthy lifestyles, fitness, social responsibility, family values and being a role-model for youth athletes are part of his values system.

With great power comes great responsibility, so it comes as no surprise that when presented with two Coca-Cola bottles strategically placed in front of the camera for brand association reasons Mr. Ronaldo decided to ‘snuf’ the gambit to protect his own CR7 brand while promoting the healthiest alternative, water. Ronaldo was “setting a positive example for young fans and showing his disdain for a cynical marketing attempt to link him with a sugary drink,” Britain’s Obesity Health Alliance tweeted. Mr. Ronaldo once tweeted: “My body is my weapon. It’s the most important thing to me. In football, we are always told to eat well and train well to have a longer professional career.”

Of course, this led to backlash amongst disgruntled coke drinkers who were quick to call him a hypocrite for previously endorsing Coca-Cola in 2006 along with other unhealthy food and beverage options like KFC. Memes by TikTok bros also started poking fun at the whole scene in a ploy to pump up water stocks to the moon but that is besides the point. Cristiano Ronaldo is a middle aged man that has shed the excesses of his youth and is living a life of meaning and purpose. Let’s respect that; not demonize a man for being a responsible adult.

Marketers need to be better at planning for brand placements and realizing that their brand does not necessarily resonate with the athletes, despite being the biggest sponsors of sporting events. Not every athlete is endorsing their product. This is the case of Cristiano Ronaldo with Coca-Cola and footballer Paul Pogba who had to disassociate himself from a Heineken placement. Mr. Pogba is a Muslim and such placements constitute defamation of character in his community. If Coca-Cola planned accordingly by researching Cristiano Ronaldo and the brands he is endorsing they would have been more careful with their placement. Perhaps they would have offered a Dasani water or a Core Power protein shake. I don’t think Mr. Ronaldo would have felt compelled to move those in disgust.

Currently, Cristiano Ronaldo is endorsing Nike, Herbalife Nutrition, CR7 Fitness by Crunch, DAZN, Clear, Altice, and Free Fire. “I work with brands I believe in” is his mantra and if your brand is not on his radar then you should leave his orbit of influence since his brand partnerships are tailored for him and his audience.

“Nike has a long history of courting top individual sportspeople, most famously on the basketball court through its partnership with Michael Jordan…Nike has remained committed to its celebrity ambassadors to connect with consumers and boost its visibility,”- Bloomberg Opinion. Although Nike is a controversial business for many reasons, its marketing practices resonate with the athletes’ they sponsor and there is mutual benefit for Mr. Ronaldo to be associated with them as well. His performance on the field is impacted by the shoes he wears and his partnership with Nike to create a CR7 line solidifies their ongoing, trusted relationship.

The same cannot be said for Coca-Cola which touts over 500 soft drink beverage options throughout the world impacting the health of billions of people with sugary drinks. Mr. Ronaldo has every right to distance himself from this brand as his values no longer align with those of Coca-Cola’s vision. “Our vision is to craft the brands and choice of drinks that people love, to refresh them in body & spirit.” In his world, there may be room for soft drinks to entertain guests, to relax on a hot summer day or to mix with an occasional cocktail but it is not his lifestyle. This is why he chooses to distance himself from brands that do not resonate with him and that is respectable.

What is neglected here is that Coca-Cola did not expect a negative impact event on their brand equity to their own momentary demise. What is this concept known as brand equity that is so important in the age of social media? David Aaker popularized the term in his book Managing Brand Equity in 1991 and Kevin Lane Keller’s customer based brand equity model is one of the widely known frameworks as seen below. Brand equity is ‘simply’ the total value of a brand in the market, encompassing both tangible and intangible assets and liabilities, and is both abstract and concrete. In the age of social media, the resonance aspect of Keller’s model is magnified and all of a brand’s consumers, brand sponsorships and strategic brand placements have to be hyper-tailored to so that these types of negative equity events do not occur in the first place.

Qualtrics.com

A company should tailor their product placements by first conducting market research with all of the social media influencers that they expect to be working with, regardless of official endorsements. This is true for Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Pogba, Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, Priyanka Chopra or any other influencer that is in a company’s orbit. This market research can collect significant information not only about the influencer but their likes, dislikes, followers’ likes and dislikes, lifestyle choices, values and whether there is any alignment between the corporation’s brands and theirs. It’s no longer a hierarchical system where corporations decide who they work with. Influencers are the new ‘brands’ and they too decide who they associate with.

“Brand presence on social media has turned brand equity into a constant exchange. Instead of a relationship spaced out with advertisements and product releases, maintaining brand equity is now a 24/7 responsibility.” - linkfluence.com. Social media has allowed what used to take days of information to travel the world, mere seconds to reach a global audience after a brand equity event like this occurs. Entire social media marketing and social media branding teams need to take immediate action in communicating their responses in a respectful and open-minded manner so the damage has little impact in the grand scheme of things. You may have negative memes, trolls, comments blast your news feed but this will pass and ignoring the problem will not solve the problem so calmly address the issue, provide a solution/apology, and move on. There is no need to argue with, belittle social media followers or provide alternative facts. This will only prolong the struggle causing irreparable harm to your brand.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s CR7 brand is on the rise after winning his fifth tournament in the Euro Championships and it would be to the advantage of brands to congratulate him through social media. Perhaps, this may open up dialogue for future collaboration if your brand resonates with CR7.

Influencer marketing with Cristiano is where your brand will truly shine. As mentioned, CR7 has has over 545 million followers, 300 million on Instagram alone. Some of the brands that he has endorsed recently on Instagram include LiveScore, Therabody, Universita eCampus, Clear, Nike, Insparaya, Free Fire and more. If companies like Coca-Cola wish to have his endorse they need resonance with the player and his audience. If water, sports drinks and supplemental nutrition drinks are his interested then brands have to tailor endorsements accordingly. Likewise, if a sports brand wants his endorsement their brand has to resonate with the player in a custom tailored way. Building long term relationships allows for long term influencer marketing growth.

“Influencers operate independently, creating their own content and integrating a company’s advertising specifications into it. The influencer is in control of the brand's message, choosing how they would like to portray it.”- Forbes.com. Think of influencers as true brand ambassadors that will actively promote your brand to their following. They are not just another celebrity endorsement one off commercial. They are using their social media platforms to be an extension of your brand and it does more than create awareness. One could say where celebrity endorsements shine in creating brand awareness, influencer marketing shines in converting customers at the lower end of the funnel from a social media influencer testimonial.

How does one partner with Cristiano Ronaldo and CR7 to get exclusive access if they are not a multibillion dollar corporation or a savvy, influential marketer? One of the best influencer marketing strategies is to work with an influencer marketing agency that has established these high profile partnerships themselves, and have them make an introduction for your brand. The benefit of hiring an influencer marketing agency is that they not only have the celebrity working with their team, they actively manage social media campaigns on your behalf of your brand. They could be part of strategic product placements via Instagram, Facebook or TikTok and they will decide which product to place that meets the influencer’s tastes. If Cristiano Ronaldo only drinks Herbalife and you have a new, healthier alternative you may have a chance to convert Mr. Ronaldo through an influencer marketing agency, which you may not have in any other circumstance.

Most traditional marketing and brand teams do not understand the nuances of influencer marketing strategy and execution. Agencies by their own experience in this arena have measurable outcomes, metrics and guarantee results for brands by focusing on this type of tailored engagement with influencers. Besides the actual engagement, there are numerous influencer marketing technologies that the best social media marketers can truly operate efficiently on. Some of these influencer marketing technologies are proprietary to specific agencies. While large companies like Coca-Cola can do marketing at scale like they did with their product placements at this press conference, they are using a blunt instrument to achieve their marketing agendas. Influencer marketing is precision marketing and requires scalpel accuracy, not blunt instruments.

Concluding Remarks

Think twice before you decide to place a couple of Coca-Cola bottles in front of Mr. Cristiano Ronaldo since not all product placements are welcome. Resonance is the key to having the best social media placements for brands and if you are not top of mind you are not on top of their agendas. Mr. Ronaldo is an athlete who does not have the time nor the patience for brands to assume that their sponsorship somehow equates to product endorsement. It does not. Better luck next time Coca-Cola.

For all the other brands out their that are itching to put a celebrity face on your products think about if you have the influencer marketing chops necessarily to attain an influencer, and partner with them to product the content needed to convert. Influencer marketing agencies do just that, and can guarantee time tested results.

Brand equity can be challenged from time to time by incorrect product placements, incorrect messaging and assumptions that are absolutely incorrect. Do you know what they say about assumptions? Don’t do it. Partner with the correct influencers based on resonance, not assumptions, and your brand will be able to grow using social media marketing without sacrificing brand equity. I’ll leave you with the following quote to let it all sink in.

A wise billionaire once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently”- Warren Buffett.