Ad placement fail: Apollo and Man United both lose

Last night, Manchester United lost 1-2 to Swansea in the FA Cup. “It marked a second consecutive defeat for David Moyes’s side, who also lost against Tottenham on New Year’s Day. They have lost five times at home this season, including four of their last six at Old Trafford,” says BBC .

On New Year’s Day, Manchester United lost 1-2 to Tottenham Hotspurs at home. In December, they lost to both Newcastle United and Everton at home, too.

In short, Manchester United, now placed 7th in the English Premier League table, aren’t in the best of form.

So what does a brand do if they’ve paid big money (presumably) to become a partner of the club, as Apollo Tyres has?

Well, they release a new campaign showing off their association. You can see the new TVC here .

When United lost to Spurs on New Year’s Day, we saw this ad in the newspapers the next day.

What does this ad do to the die-hard Manchester United fan, still smarting under the loss to what United would have, not so long ago, dismissed as an also-ran?

It gets worse when you open the newspaper this morning, careful to avoid the sports pages lest you stumble upon a report of the disastrous loss to Swansea, and see this on the back page of The Economic Times?

There are two issues here. One is what a brand should do once they’ve invested heavily in a sporting asset in the long term.

In the long-term, Apollo should certainly create campaigns and spots and leverage the association that they have paid for. But the second issue is what Apollo should do when the team is doing terribly. As far as I’m concerned, in the case of embarrassing losses, pull the scheduled ad off. Immediately.