The impact that social and cultural events effect on society’s daily flow is abundantly clear. Premieres, ceremonies, galas, and major sporting events are some of the most influential happenings when it comes to commercial use. And, although they are not considered to be typical business opportunities per se, they are, indirectly, key factors in the commercial and promotional activities developed by international brands. 

As Trehan and Trehan (2009) state in “Government and business”, the key socio-cultural factors that have a major impact in the economic development of brands in individual countries are:

1. Culture (including artistic and sporting events)

2. Language

3. Religion

4. Level of education

5. Customer preferences

6. The attitude of society towards foreign goods and services.

According to this analysis, culture is placed in number one position as the most influential aspect used by marketers in order to engage the attention of the population and connect directly with human emotions. Culture has broadened its reach to include sport, and sport has spread its influence and importance in today’s society. As a matter of fact, the influence of sports has never been greater, it has always been one of the main sources of human entertainment.  This was the case in years gone by and it is still the case today.  Sport has been used throughout the ages to unite people of different backgrounds, as well as to ease the emotional tension in times of national difficulty. In the Roman Empire, for example, “extravagant games were held in conjunction with giveaways of food subsidies in order to pacify the citizenry and reduce urban unrest” (Matheson, 2006). 

As football is one of one of Spain’s main cultural sporting pillars, the Euro 2020 (held in 2021) has been significantly influential in this respect. Grupo A  assisted a good number of brands in promotional activities regarding the European tournament. Some of the partnered brands  which made use of this opportunity were: Groupe BEL, Coca-Cola, Heineken, Buitoni and  Mondelez.

Grupo A’s decision to use a premier sporting event as a cultural, sports - related marketing tool was in line with the following premise stated by Azemina Mazovic, in her paper, Socio-Cultural Factors and their Impact on the Performance of Multinational Companies: “Multinational companies should be aware of predominant attitudes, values, and beliefs in each host country”. 

 This is a major factor that all brands  big or small, should consider for them to succeed at the point of sale. It follows that for this strategy to be successful, it comes with the careful selection of appropriate distributors and partners who know and understand the public well, and who will be able to connect culturally with customers by preparing relevant promotional and advertising materials for each host country separately (Cavusgil, Knight et al, 2008).

In general, these campaigns involve significant resources, short turn around and quick response times. During this period specifically, Grupo A did promotional stands and temporary display stands for Groupe Bel; gondola ends for Coca-Cola; island decoration and product implementation for Heineken; temporary installations with free stand displays and promotional communication for Buitoni; and island decoration, gondola ends, and promotional stands for Mondelez.

The campaigns were implemented across Spain with more than a hundred POS and set up within 1-2 days. As always, Grupo A teams  successfully and efficiently fulfilled their tasks. All the requests were met and all of the campaigns completed within the agreed  time frame. 

As social events continue to shape the world, EFMP Spanish partner, Grupo A  are determined that they will continue to evolve and  keep pace with all new marketing developments.  It is their stated intention to adapt themselves to each situation in order to connect  their clients with their customers in the most efficient way possible.