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Does England’s demise write off the summer?

Posted in Advertising, Media, Marketing, Oliver Milman, Latest reporters' blogs November 22nd, 2007 by Oliver Milman

England’s defeat last night may have been bad news for fans and sponsors (and terminal in the case of Steve McClaren’s top level career) but a nagging question has arisen – exactly what are we all going to do next summer?

Traditionally a time of long sessions in the pub watching England start promisingly and then crash out on penalties, we’ll have to watch with bored detachment as other nations show us how it should be done at Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.

The £1 billion cost of failure seems like an inflated figure at first glance, but when you take into account the rituals of a summer tournament (pints, pies, flags, replica shorts, looking like a injured mime artist due to having a face daubed with white and red paint ) it’s clearly not good news for, well, anyone.

Brands that have clamped themselves limpet-like onto football in recent years in an attempt to appear ‘cool’ will also be crying into their pints (or bruschetta).

Not only will they lose out in terms of commercial tie-ups, corporate hospitality next summer will also be a fraught and desperate time.

No longer able to jet so many clients to matches that crowds resemble the Treasury Select Committee, companies may have to resort to things such as raft building or actually impressing their paymasters with their work.

Should the weather be decent, it will be all the more depressing. What should we do with our lost summer? Support another team or maybe spend time with friends and family away from sport-related drinking?

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