UEFA 2008 sponsors struggle to raise awareness
 

England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 has hit the tournament's official sponsors' ability to reach UK consumers, according to research firm Ipsos MORI. With all the UK home nations failing to qualify for this month's Championships in Austria and Switzerland, many sponsors are struggling to hit the levels of awareness they achieved in 2004.

In the first two weeks of May, less than 5% of 600 respondents associated official sponsor Coca-Cola with the tournament, down from 14.5% on the same period four years ago. The rating for Carlsberg, which calculates its UK sales will be down by £15m due to England's absence, has fallen from 5.5% in 2004 to 1.5% in 2008. McDonald's awareness levels have also slumped, from 4.3% to 0.8%. Of the official sponsors, only Adidas is improving on its 2004 performance - 3.3% associated the brand with the tournament, compared with 1.8% in 2004. The survey found that official sponsors Castrol, Kia, Hyundai, JVC, Canon and Continental had failed to achieve   awareness of their sponsorship links to Euro 2008, but several non-sponsor brands, including Nike, Heineken and O2 were nonetheless perceived to have ties to the event.