The colorful and intriguing Coca-Cola pitch boards that have drawn notice from fans in each of the 20 FIFA World Cup stadia, will continue their existence at the venues till the 30 June championship match of the 2002 tournament.
Earlier, the pitch boards, with artwork created by consumers in nations competing in the FIFA World Cup were scheduled to be displayed only through the end of first-round matches.
Through the new Coca-Cola GO! Stadium Art Program, consumers for the first time ever helped create some of the sponsor billboards that traditionally border the pitch at each FIFA World Cup match. For the first time, stadium billboards at FIFA World Cup matches depicted more than a sponsor's name and its logo or other trademarks. This is also the first time that consumers got involved in creating images for those boards.
Thousands of original, fan-conceived artworks were collected by Coca-Cola earlier this year from countries competing for the World Cup trophy. Only one creation was selected from each nation participating in the programme. Each country's artwork is individually featured as part of the Coca-Cola billboard displays at FIFA World Cup stadia. The artworks correspond with the national teams playing in a particular match, so the two Coca-Cola boards are changed for each match.
In each special billboard design, the Coca-Cola trademark script sits alongside a horizontal outline of the company's famous contour bottle, which served as the "canvas" for the publicly created images. Consumers and in some cases art students or professionals were asked to create works that conveyed a sense of national pride and enthusiasm for their country's entry in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, says an official release.
Coca-Cola, one of FIFA's longest-standing corporate partners signed an unprecedented, eight-year agreement as FIFA's exclusive nonalcoholic beverages partner in 1998. The agreement includes sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup, the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, the FIFA Confederations Cup and the FIFA World Youth Championship.
