They say, "No publicity is bad publicity." They also say, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice, get out of the World Cup."
Luis Suarez's third recorded biting incident, with Giorgio Chiellini being the victime this time, will sideline him from professional soccer for four months and bury his reputation. However, for marketers, the episode sprawled a new line of advertisements.
McDonald's and Netflix were two of the early non-sports related companies to get into the game.
Hola @luis16suarez, si te quedaste con hambre vení a darle un mordisco a una BigMac ;)
— McDonald's Uruguay (@McDonalds_Uy) June 24, 2014
Translation: “Hello @luis16suarez, if you are hungry come have a bite of a big Mac.”
Don't worry #Suarez, four months is plenty of time to devour House of Cards. One bite at a time.
— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) June 26, 2014
Meanwhile, at Puma, the sportwear company realized gold had fallen into its lap. As the suppliers of the Italy National Team jerseys, Puma had endless cards to play. It decided on this tweet:
Players look damn good in those PUMA shirts. Hard to resist taking a bite. #StartBelieving pic.twitter.com/FJhPdcv1zi
— PUMA (@PUMA) June 26, 2014
That is not going to put Italy through to the knockout stage, but it can at least turn some of Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon's tears of sadness into tears of joy. (Chiellini probably thinks the kits should have been a bit stiffer.)
Of course, Suarez's chomp served up a silver platter for Italian food providers. Barilla, the Italian pasta company, gave Chiellini his own piece of penne in this tweet:
Un mondiale mordi e fuggi! Vi ringraziamo per aver tifato Italia con noi! @Vivo_Azzurro #CalcioBarilla pic.twitter.com/B05P81dH7s
— Barilla (@Barilla) June 26, 2014
The translation reads, "A global hit and run! We would like to thank you for having supported Italy with us! @Vivo_Azzurro #CalcioBarilla, but more importantly, the text in the picture reads, "Welcome home!"
Eataly, the Italian food market, also chimed in, looking to improve its online sales.
Non ti offendere se crediamo che la carne de #LaGranda sia meglio della tua @chiellini, nulla di personale :) #Suarez
— Eataly Online Store (@EatalyOnline) June 27, 2014
"Do not be offended if we believe the carne de #LaGranda is better in your @chiellini, nothing personal :) #Suarez," the translation reads.
Eataly followed with a tweet of the New York Post's Wednesday cover:
Anche la prima pagina del @newyorkpost te lo suggerisce.
@luis16suarez, fatti un giro su http://t.co/zOntnGU7FN pic.twitter.com/nqT3INUWDB
— Eataly Online Store (@EatalyOnline) June 26, 2014
That translation says, "Even the first page of it @newyorkpost suggests. @luis16suarez, take a ride on http://bit.ly/Eataly_Shop."
On the contrary, companies such as Adidas, which sponsors Suarez, had to yank him out of their advertisements. One could say he really chewed off part of their marketing strategy.
[H/T Crain's Chicago Business]
