So, what was Australia’s point of difference to make us unquestionably the only choice for the 2022 FIFA World Cup? Hmmm… Beaches, Kangaroos, and locally known sports celebrities. No, they’re not strong enough to make our pitch unlosable. That’s a selfish and cheesy chest beat.

The question we needed to ask ourselves was, how would Australasia, the game of soccer, and the world, benefit from Australia winning?”

So how would it? That’s where the brain storming starts. That’s where we find our point of difference, that’s where we find THE ANSWER!

After we have the answer, we then work out the best way to sell our solution (the pitch process). That’s when we look at who we are presenting to, which in this case was to older, wiser and well travelled FIFA officials. That’s where we make our sell interesting for them, because they make the decision.

Bells and whistles usually means the polishing of a turd. And didn’t we polish it well. A 45 million dollar polish on a thieving cartoon Kangaroo, that reminded me of a Caramello Koala commercial.

I hope we learn from Qatar. They did it beautifully, using changing the world’s perception of The Middle East, and recycling stadiums in developing countries after the World Cup ends with the over arching idea of PEACE. Qatar’s bid sold the idea that if Qatar wins then lives will be saved. That’s powerful, that’s pitch winning. You’re not choosing Qatar, you’re choosing peace. That’s unquestionably the only choice!

What I don’t know is after the announcement was made that Qatar won, why did our bid stop. Why didn’t we have something ready to steal the lime light away from Qatar to make us favourite for the next bid and already show that we are committed to bringing the World Cup to Australia?

Scott Hall
Art/Design Director
McCann Erickson Melbourne