Coke and Adidas score in AMI's World Cup poll

First-time sponsor Avaya and global brands like Budweiser and Yahoo achieved a zero awareness score. At the other end of the scale were brands like Coca-Cola (36 per cent), Adidas (30 per cent) and Fuji/Fuji Film/Fuji Xerox (17 per cent).

AMI polled close to 800 respondents in Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan earlier in the year.

Equally surprising, the research firm found that 60 per cent of respondents were unable to name the host nations for this year's tournament - Japan and Korea - although the World Cup is literally on their doorstep. "I have to say I was surprised that with Japan and Korea sharing the event, and it being so close physically to most of these markets that the awareness level is so low,

AMI director, Robert Philpott.

He believed low awareness scores for sponsors may be a "knock-down effect

from the inability of respondents to pinpoint the host destinations this close to kick-off.

Another reason for the low scores, according to Philpott, is that a number of sponsors may be waiting for the tournament to draw nearer before they roll out their marketing campaigns to capitalise on the media hype surrounding the competition.

In the meantime, he said it was obvious that the three leading and long-time sponsors, chiefly Coca-Cola, had benefited from the quiet time before media hype gets into overdrive.

"It's not a first among equals situation here,

Philpott said. "What we have with Coca-Cola, and to a lesser extent Adidas, is that they have invested heavily for a number of years and they are reaping the recognition, the value to their brand, even in the quiet period leading up to the real media coverage starting for the World Cup."

For the other sponsors - especially those scraping to get past the two to three percentage points, he said they would have to work tremendously hard during the event if they are to achieve a return on their investment.

In a related development, Avaya - a voice and data networks provider to businesses - has kicked off its 'BusinessPartners' campaign to leverage on its sponsorship.

"As an increasing proportion of our sales is made through our business partners, we have developed ways in which we can work with them to exploit our World Cup campaigns,

said Avaya's vice-president for integrated communications, Paul Myer. "The power of the World Cup mark will enliven advertising campaigns and speak volumes about the pedigree of Avaya and our partners. There is no better endorsement."

As the first convergence communications provider for the World Cup, the 18-month-old brand will handle the system for scheduling games, notifying teams, reporting game results and maintaining security systems.