The World Cup Branding Story

Since sulking about not being able to watch the FIFA World cup in the comfort of my room wasn’t helping me much, I decided to divert my attention to what went behind the branding and mascot design for the big event.

‘Goleo’, the trouserless furry lion is drawing flak from all quarters, especially in Germany where one of the most respected designer and typographer Erik Spiekermann points out that ‘Goleo’ in its name and form does not represent Germany in any respect. He goes on to say, “We have eagles, gnomes and garden dwarves and what have you, but we don't have lions. That's English or French.”.
So where did the Lion come from? From a British branding agency, ofcourse. In 1998, when a man called Chris Lightfoot was heading the London based brand agency, Interbrand, they were selected to design the logo for FIFA. Since then, he has worked as the primary creative director for FIFA Marketing and has started Whitestone International, which was responsible for branding the Japan-South Korea 2002 World Cup as well.

It seems the German Football Association was so impressed with the 2002 logo that they hired Whitestone to design the 2006 version. Whitestone came up with 'Celebrating Faces Of Football', which I think is quite successful in being ‘friendly’ and ‘contemporary’. However, the negative is that it is trying to tell too many things, especially with the German tricolour swish looking like a last-minute add-on. It is highly unlikely that this cheerful logo from Whitestone will be remembered in the years to come.

As for the ludicrous German lion, I just wish Goleo pay a visit to Dubai to gobble up that ugly yellow caterpillar with a fake smile that makes 47 degree Celsius seem like 60 during the Dubai Summer Shockers. Too bad, the company behind Goleo has gone bankrupt.