Its called the Currie Cup, Maria...not the Currie Mug!

I am the first to acknowledge times are tough, and the Roald Dahl-esque "GFC" has hurt a lot of companies - but over the weekend i was left thinking that there surely comes a time when its better to not do anything, than do it badly...

Alright, so let me pin my colours to the mast here...

Yup, I work in Sports Marketing.
Yup, I may occasionally be involved in large scale sporting events.
and ... YUP ... i'm a cynical bastard at the best of times.

But for crying in a bucket, has it really come to this?

Like the rest of the country, I settled down with my favorite bucket of cool-aid to watch the battle between Western Province and the Sharks in the "insert new sponsor here great deals now available" ...Stadium in Durbs.

Great match, although im not sure exactly when Western Province were going to start playing Rugby - apparently they had sent their under 13 girls hockey team to represent ZilleVille.

So - forgone conclusion wins hands down, and the Sharks walk it!
Great!

Back slaps and a few homoerotic manly hugs (including a rather disturbing roll on the floor by two players who shall not be named - you KNOW who you are), and as with all good global events, that Hugh kept reminding us at length was being broadcast to every rugby playing nation except Outer Mongolia, the stage is trundled out for the prize giving, logo backdrop and mandatory confetti shower.

All pretty formulaic and good...

As Twitter exploded with the usual 140 character rants about Shark Attacks and Mountain Goats, I watched with interest as Joel Stransky - wearing those naff Princess Leia headphones - started the Prize Giving ceremony.

All goes swimmingly (yup, i just did that) until my ears prick up as the Currie Cup runners' up step up to the hastily assembled stage to receive the fruits of their long hard, manly battle against a bunch of steroid fuelled man-mountains.

A mug!

.....?

Yup, i can see that taking pride of place in the trophy cabinet!
A fucking mug?

Really?

I hope it was at least a nice mug. I was thinking one of the porcelain Bavairan landscaped Beerfest ones, or possibly a nice little Mr Price Home coffee one with the pretty coloured striped around the neck?

If as runners up, they qualified for such a treasured prize, i can only imagine what the Sharks received during the handover ...a set of Braai tongs in a nice carry case maybe?
 
Come now Maria!!

 You were standing on stage, clutching a congratulatory "hat in perspex" handed to you by Oregon Hoskins.... shaking hands with 140kg of muscle and blood, clutching a MUG with your banks name on? Great brand values, and an even better example of why, occasionally its OK to say No.

Given the shake up of sport sponsorships at present, i guess we need to accept that as sponsorship budgets get tighter, greater innovation is called for.



I get it .. but not like this.
Its called the "Currie Cup", Maria - not the "Currie Mug"!

The moral of the story, Maria is quite simple.
If your name is on it, and your brand is integrally associated to it, the finer details are often AS important as the Logo on the Field or the Branded padding on the GoalPosts.

The devil's in the detail, Maria.
If you don't pay attention, you look like...well, a real Mug!