African Unity

Football

Calder Thami
HCDE 512
 What
The Football:

The African Unity Football is a high quality football (soccer ball) that is intended to be released when the 2010 FIFA World
Cup begins on June 11th, 2010.

The football features elements from the flag of the African Union. It includes the symbolic
icon of Africa from the center of the flag. It also includes gold stars on each of the pentagon
shaped panels and green stitching. Gold and green are the official colors of the African
Union.

The outer part of the football is made from a durable and smooth material called Polyurethane.

Marketing:

The football will primarily be marketed through a television advertisement that will be shown throughout Africa during
half-time of World Cup games. This advertisement will feature six African football stars; one from each African Nation
that qualified for the 2010 World Cup. Each player will be wearing their national team’s jersey. These players will be
shown practicing together in a stadium and having a competition as to who can do the best tricks (with the African Unity
football). Fans will gradually enter the stadium to watch these players. Eventually the entire stadium will be filled with
hundreds of thousands of crazy fans. To end the commercial, the scene will fade out and an image of the African football
will appear and a narrator will say, “Introducing the African Unity Football. Go Africa!” A message will appear on the
screen that says, “ 20% of all proceeds will be donated to Develop Africa, a non-government organization committed to
helping improve the lives of Africans through Education and Resource Development”

Along with the television advertisement, we will also give out 50 free footballs to lucky fans at each World Cup match.

20% of proceeds will be donated to Develop Africa, a non-profit organization based in the United States that focuses on
resource and human development through education.
 Why
Hoefstede's Cultural Dimensions

Some aspects of this product came about because of Geert Hoefstede’s research on cultures. Hoefstade came up with
five categories or dimensions that can be used to better understand a culture.

These dimensions are as follows:

Power Distance Index (PDI) - which examines how concerned a culture is with differences in power and also
how those without power expect and accept unequal distributions of power. A high ranking in this category would
indicate a culture that is highly concerned with things like class differences and workplace hierarchy.

Individualism (IDV) - which examines how heavily a culture values the importance of the individual. A low
rating in this category would mean that a culture greatly values the importance of families and groups rather
than individual achievement.

Masculinity (MAS) - which analyzes gender roles in society and explores whether a culture values
masculine (assertive) or feminine (caring) traits and beliefs. A low rating in this category would mean that
a culture greatly values feminine ideals.

Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) - which measures how comfortable a culture is with ambiguous or
uncertain things in their lives. A high rating in this category would mean that a culture is likely to avoid things
that are really unclear and require a lot of exploration.

Long Term Orientation (LTO) - which measures how likely a culture is value things that have long-term
impacts. A high rating in this category would means that the culture being examined values things that quickly
generate short-term changes.

I examined Hoefstede’s cultural analyses of African regions and applied ideas from his research into the design of the
 Why (Continued)
Hoefstede's Cultural Dimensions and Africa
In his research, Hoefstede examined the cultural dimensions of three regions in Africa:
East Africa (which includes Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia), West Africa (which
includes Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone), and South Africa.
I chose to incorporate data from these dimensions in order to inform my design. One
dimension I focused on was Uncertainty Avoidance. All three of the regions were
ranked very similarly in this category. Their ratings were all very moderate. This
dimension comes into play at the end of the TV add when the messages appears about
the donations to charity, If the Uncertainty Avoidance rating of these countries had been
really high, it is likely that this message would not have a positive impact if viewers
were unfamiliar with the charity. They would be unlikely to trust Develop Africa, and
might become completely uninterested in the product, especially since the NGO is not
based in Africa. However, since these regions all have moderate rankings in this
category, it is likely that many people would trust the message at first glance. Even if
this is not the case, this message is not likely to be the sole reason that causes them to
not buy the football.
Another dimension I focused on was Individualism. The countries in East Africa and
West Africa both have very low Individualism rankings. This means that their culture
likely values actions that benefit a group, family, country, or nation. They are likely to be
less concerned with individual achievement. This idea helped lead me to the idea of
African unity, which I displayed through the use of elements of from the African Union
Flag, and the main concept for the commercial.
South Africa, on the other hand, has a relatively high Individualism rating. They are
likely to value individual achievement. This is why I included the trick competition aspect
of the television commercial. South Africans are likely to emphasize greatly with this
individual display of skill.
Because two of the regions have low rankings in Long Term Orientation, I chose not to
focus the marketing on the durability of the football.
I chose to ignore the Power Distance and Masculinity ratings because I felt that
including things that catered strongly to these dimensions would detract from the idea
of African Unity.
Besides Hoefstede’s findings, there are also sociopolitical factors that contribute to the
football and marketing campaign’s design.
Graphs of Hoefstede’s Cultural Dimensions
Political/Social Context
Why (Continued)
The 2010 FIFA World Cup is the first World Cup ever to be hosted by an African Nation. Hosting the World Cup involves
investing in infrastructure such as transit, stadiums, security, and accommodations for tourists. This could lead to
economical benefits for Africa. However, hosting the World Cup is not just about money. It provides an opportunity for
Africa to show the world their potential to develop. Former UN secretary Kofi Annan recently said, “here is tremendous
pride across Africa that we are hosting this true global sporting event. Africans know that the eyes of the entire world
will be on the continent… It is an opportunity to show how, out of the headlines, the continent has changed for the better.”
Sentiments such as this greatly contributed to my decision to focus on African unity and the African Union. It also
contributed to my decision to add the donation to charity. I felt that if Africans support positive change and infrastructure
development of Africa then why not provide them with a way to help reach this goal.

The African Union is a intergovernmental organization that includes 53 African states as

members. Eritrea, Guinea, Madagascar, and Niger are all countries that are not currently
members of the African Union. I decided to not market the ball to these countries because they
might not embrace the images included on the football, especially if their country was suspended
from the African Union.
Map of the African Union
(Non-Member States are displayed in light green)
Another important thing I had to consider was what medium I should use to market the
football. I did some research about television penetration in Africa and found that in 2009
about 42% of African households had TV’s. Although this percentage is relatively low, the World Cup is a global
phenomenon that breaks expectations. Regardless of whether or not people have TVs in the house, they will find
somewhere to watch the World Cup. During the World Cup it is not uncommon to find large groups of people clumped
together watching games on one TV. Because almost all of Africa will be watching the World Cup, I decided to air the TV
add during half-time of World Cup games. I chose to give away free footballs at the World Cup matches because the
people that will be receiving them are from all over the world, and generally free things are well received worldwide.

One final aspect that contributed to my focus on African Unity was the fact that no African Nation has ever won the World
Cup. So, if an African’s home country is eliminated from the tournament it is likely that they will still rally behind the other
African teams because they have the chance to change history by having an African country win it all.
 References
The African Union
http://www.africa-union.org/

Develop Africa: Changing Lives, Nations, and Destinies

http://www.developafrica.org/

Eurosport: Sporting Goods

http://www.soccer.com/

Hoefstede's Cultural Dimensions: Africa, South Africa, West Africa

http://www.geert-hofstede.com/

Television Penetration in African Households

http://www.dataxisnews.com/?p=12282-African Union

The 2010 Word Cup in Africa: Scoring Beyond the Soccer Field
http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2010/0602_south_africa_world_cup_kimenyi.aspx