Coca-Cola gets soaked because of Ronaldo’s press conference—or is there more to it?
A man pushes a few cola bottles aside. Small act, big consequences. At least, if that man is world star Ronaldo and the bottles were demonstratively pushed aside in front of the world’s press. Coca-Cola’s stock price falls, other footballers no longer fancy soft drinks either, and the sponsor is worried.
The Netherlands Nutrition Centre is delighted with the footballer’s action. They couldn’t have come up with better advertising for drinking plain water themselves. During the press conference for Portugal-Hungary, Ronaldo pushed the two bottles of cola aside, held his water bottle in the air and said ‘water’ in Portuguese.
Was that the reason for his action—a simple call for people to drink more water and fewer soft drinks? Sponsor Coca-Cola is certainly not happy about it. A telling detail: Coca-Cola is not only a major sponsor of the European Championship, but also of Juventus, the football club of… Ronaldo.
Dip on the stock market
The result? The price of Coca-Cola fell sharply the next day. According to experts, the market value plummeted by four billion, to 196 billion euros, and a share fell 1.6 percent in value. It wasn’t because of Ronaldo, says stock market expert Arend Jan Kamp in De Volkskrant. Coca-Cola also paid out profits to shareholders that day, which always causes shares to decrease slightly in value. The soft-drink manufacturer is mainly worried about cola’s image. The next morning, Ronaldo immediately said that he always has a nice, refreshing cola for breakfast, but of course nobody believes that.
Call that man
UEFA is not at all pleased, because other footballers followed Ronaldo’s example. Paul Pogba pushed a bottle of Heineken 0.0 aside in front of the cameras, while Manuel Locatelli also moved the two bottles of cola out of shot to make room for his bottle of water. Andriy Yarmolenko, captain of the Ukrainian national team, spotted an opportunity. At his press conference, he placed the bottles of cola and beer prominently in view and said to everyone watching: ‘Guys, contact me!’ He clearly likes the idea of sponsor contracts like Ronaldo’s.
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Source: De Volkskrant, De Ondernemer
