I mentioned in an earlier post, how Birra Moretti uses marketing through sports to reach its target audience. Another very interesting marketing through sports activity comes from Suva, a public sector insurer in Switzerland.

A Facebook advertisement stating, Minimize your risk of getting injured. Take part in our football test! caught my attention. Since I’m interested in football, I clicked on the ad, which took me to the Facebook app of Suvaliv, an insurance product for amateur footballers (apparently). There I found a rather scary TV commercial (watch it here or below) and a link to what they call ‘the football test’. Here the translated text from Suvaliv:

The amateur football game is still regarded as the most risky sport. Around 400,000 amateurs play football in Switzerland regularly. Every year around 45,000 accidents happen – more than in any other sport. But it does not only include the injuries that happen on the football pitch: Footballers are particularly prone to injuries in general. For this reason, Suva, in collaboration with Lamprecht & Stamm (Social Research and Consulting Ltd.) and other experts, developed a sophisticated football test, which makes it possible to determine the player’s individual risk profile.

How it works
The test consists of 50 questions on the topics of injury, fair play, fitness, exercise, lifestyle, level of play and equipment. Among the various risk dimensions you will receive tips and a detailed analysis. The overall evaluation will be created only after answering all the questions. The test takes about 15 to 20 minutes. The survey is anonymous and can be repeated any time. We would be delighted if you would recommend the test.

I have to admit that I didn’t do the test, because I didn’t have 20 minutes to spare. (Even though I might do it one of these days.) Also, I soon realized that the test wasn’t really about football playing, but about people’s lifestyle in general; how fit they are, how serious they are about being or becoming fit, how fair they play, etc. Of course, using football as the anchor to catch potential customers’ attention is the most obvious thing to do. In any case, this is another great example of how to use football for a marketing campaign. Especially now that the World Cup is just weeks away and consumers are sensitive to football-related products, news, and activities in general. Some might call it ambush marketing, because these companies are trying to ride the World Cup wave, which is legitimate on both fronts. I surely suggest using a football-themed ad right now, but make sure not to infringe any copyrights.

Here the TV commercial for Suvaliv: