Abstract

Ghana is home to many sporting activities and made strides in boxing, athletics and football among others. Between 1963 and 1984, Ghana won the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) four times and among the highest in Africa. Having made four appearances in the World Cup, Ghana emerged as the first African nation to progress beyond the group stages to reach the quarter-finals in the 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted by South Africa. This got Ghana ranked seventh out of the 32 participating nations across the globe. However, Ghana seems to be retrogressing on the reputational gains made and leaning exclusively on its ‘past glories’. To boost and redeem her image, and intercontinental presence, Ghana launched the ‘Brand Ghana Programme’ in 2009 to sell the fortunes of the country abroad. With this, corporate Ghana identified sponsorship of the country’s local and more significantly, participation in global sports as a marketing communication avenue to brand Ghana positively on one hand, and largely, to promote their own business brands on the other. However, it appears that the corporate entities in Ghana and the country at large are not accruing the promotional benefits envisaged. To unravel these states-of-affairs, we propose an exploratory study that sources data from purposively selected corporate sponsors and sports lovers who will be subjected to appropriate inclusion and exclusion variables. The work focuses on football as a global sport due to its acceptance as a ‘beautiful game’ and huge audience (spectator) base.
Keywords: Sports, FIFA world cup, corporate sponsors, branding, AFCON, Ghana.

CV

Dr. Daniel Edem Adzovie is a lecturer at the Department of Communication Studies, University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana. He earned his Ph.D. in Visual Arts (Multimedia & Design) from Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Czech Republic. With extensive training and experience in visual communication, advertising, and public relations, Edem worked in various creative studios and advertising agencies before transitioning into academia. At UCC, he teaches a diverse range of courses, including Corporate Identity and Image, Communication & Society, and Introduction to New Media, amongst others. He also holds key positions in the department, serving as the Coordinator for Graduate Programmes, Communication & Media Seminars, and Collaborations & Partnerships. His research interests span visual communication, corporate image, advertising, migration communication, science communication, multimodality, and media studies.