Soccer success a boon for SA exports and technology

by Chris Moerdyk

The success of the 2010 Fifa World Cup and the massive global publicity South Africa received has once and for all ended the widespread international ignorance of the huge contribution this country is already making on the world stage.

Critics overseas and abroad were well and truly silenced as South Africa's capacity to stage the world's biggest and most complex event exceeded expectation. Coverage of the World Cup and the sights and sounds of South Africa were watched by a record number of TV viewers, with Fifa claiming an audience of 700 million for the final.

But the most impressive volume of publicity the country received was on the internet, where at times football related websites were hosting up to 12 million visitors a minute. This is easily an online record, far exceeding the levels of internet activity observed when Barack Obama was elected president of the United States.

This country now has a solid "can-do" reputation which bodes well for its exporters. Already, as a result of some clever proactive marketing, SA wine sales to the United States almost doubled during July this year.

There is no doubt that South Africa's automotive industry is going to reap enormous rewards by building on an already solid export performance. No longer will anyone in the world harbour misconceptions of cars built in grass huts behind elephant proof fences.

The recent Global Platinum Award presented to the Mercedes plant in East London was mentioned a number of times during World Cup TV broadcasts, and this firmly established the country as not only a player in the global automotive industry, but a leader. And one of the biggest winners of this new appreciation for South Africa's automotive prowess will be the country's first electric vehicle, Joule.

Given that it is expected that World Cup impetus will boost South Africa for at least the next decade, Joule will benefit enormously from being developed and assembled in a country that consumers will remember for the ability to produce world class products and technology.

Marketing South African products will become easier in the years ahead, particularly given the power of social media and third party testimonials. During the world cup, celebrity footballers sent Twitter messages to millions of followers raving about the wonders of South Africa. And in marketing there is nothing more powerful than someone else giving your product the thumbs up. In fact, at 48 percent Twitter dominated the world cup online conversation. 

World Cup 2010 will prove extremely beneficial to South Africa in terms of tourism, investment and exports across all industries. When you think about it, it’s very likely that just five weeks of the tournament gave South Africa more positive publicity than all of the 358 years since Jan van Riebeeck stepped ashore at the Cape combined.