South Africa can look to the World Cup final after successful PR operation - but what next?

Sunday will see a new name on the World Cup as Spain and Holland battle it out but for the host nation, the Public Relations team can breathe a sigh of relief.

A tournament marked by pre-event mutterings of discontent from the Western media didn't get off to the best of starts with steward strikes, as locals saw the opportunity to improve working conditions with a well timed strike: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=660956&cc=5739

Some swift action by the government put the strike down and out of the news agenda and since then most of the media coverage has been focused on the football taking place.

In this respect, South African officials must be relieved. Yet this campaign will be judged by the long term economic impact on the country and no matter how much officials look to control the flow of information the world will expect results.

It seems, however, that the world should not hold its breathe. Only recently a major pay strike amongst construction workers was avoided that could have jeopardised the World Cup final (http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=9&aid=3476&dir=2010/July/Thursday8) and this adds to the sense that once the TV cameras have stopped rolling, the money in the local economy will leave with them.

This is why it is so important to return to South Africa, to find out exactly how the country has developed. From their perspective, they must be open and proactive in giving the world's media the examples of development and increased local prosperity which can drive the legacy of the tournament.

Whether or not these examples exist, we shall see.

A New Year message

Happy New Year!

2010 has the potential to start the new decade off in truly game changing style. The highlights for me will be:

- Will we see a much-feared 'double dip' recession?

- Can Gordon Brown make the most unlikely political comeback of all time?

- Will Barack Obama emerge as the great leader the world hopes?

- Is it possible for the Western allies to succeed in the Middle East?

- Who will win the World Cup?!

So, have a great 2010 and let's see how it unfolds!

Best,

Jonathan

The Truth is Darren Bent is ahead of the game

Premiership footballers suffer from poor reputations - as revealed in the recent PR Week survey (http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/search/928100/Footballers-lose-respect-survey-exclusive-PRWeek-finds/)

Despite the importance of footballers to multi-million pound marketing campaigns and the great reputation of the game compared to other sports, the players themselves currently suffer from disconnect from fans. Many have attributed this to increasing wages and money in the game, whilst the price of following a club has led many 'ordinary' fans to watch from afar, unable to afford a ticket to see their team.

That's why it's so refreshing to see @DBtheTruth - the Twitter account of Darren Bent - amassing a real popularity amongst football fans, especially after the recent exposure on Soccer AM.

Now Darren is no stranger to Twitter and was widely lampooned for venting his frustration on the site whilst waiting for a move away from Tottenham.

Rather then let this episode put him off social networking, Darren Bent has redesigned his page and learnt from his mistakes. The launch of the new Umbro football boot, complete with his Twitter username and Twitter logo, shows his team have also realised that Twitter can be a valuble marketing tool for the Darren Bent/Umbro partnership too.

This is especially interesting given the fact Darren Bent is one of several strikers trying to get on the plane to the World Cup. Could the reputation and openess of Darren Bent's Tweeting actually help drive a groundswell of support for the striker over the next eight months?

It's an interesting question and something I'll be watching closely. But hats off to Darren Bent for opening the golden gates of Premiership life and engaging with the public. If he continues to be a success it could lead the way for more footballers to consider their own public reputation rather than just the bank notes gained from marketing campaigns.