World Cup advertising campaigns normally aim to exploit the global appeal of the actual event and the leading actors, in this case international football stars.
As one of the chief partners of FIFA and the World Cup, Coca-Cola have regularly deployed popular football imagery and coined the motto 'We all speak football' to highlight their association with the Beautiful Game.
For this year's World Cup, in Germany between June 9 and July 9, General Soft Drinks Ltd (GSD), the authorised bottlers of Coca-Cola products in Malta, have expanded their marketing drive to incorporate the local football scene.
GSD's decision to tinge their World Cup campaign with a local theme resulted in an interesting initiative which ought to go down well with the Maltese football community.
Six Maltese international players, namely, skipper Gilbert Agius, Brian Said, Michael Mifsud, George Mallia, Justin Haber and Andrew Cohen, will appear on sleeved Coca-Cola bottles as from May 12.
The limited edition, featuring the six chosen Malta players, will form part of Coca-Cola's three-phase campaign, details of which were given at a news conference held yesterday at Pintonino Restaurant at the Valletta Waterfront.
Present for the launching were officials from GSD, including general manager Maria Micallef and Martin Agius, sales and marketing manager, Carmelo Bartolo, senior vice-president of the MFA and four of the six players involved in this innovative campaign.
"This campaign by Coca-Cola is a positive initiative, one that honours football, especially the Maltese game," Bartolo said.
"General Soft Drinks are to be commended for coming up with a new concept to promote the World Cup by giving it a local touch."
This is not the first time that Coca-Cola are forging a close relationship with local football. For a number of years, Coca-Cola were the title sponsors of the top league and more recently, they agreed to co-sponsor the International Tournament.
"I'm confident that this new project will create great interest in Malta," Bartolo remarked.
"The national team players are proud to be part of this campaign."
The readiness of leading international brands to support football reflects positively on the work of FIFA, UEFA and the national associations during this difficult time for the world of football.
"These are testing times for international football, particularly for FIFA and the national associations," the MFA senior vice-president added, referring to the legal action launched by Belgian club Charleroi and the G14 group representing 18 of the world's wealthiest clubs, over the release of players for international matches.
"FIFA and UEFA, with the support of the national federations, are paying great attention to this delicate issue.
"In our view, the value of football as a game that has captivated the whole world should not be undermined."
Micallef praised the initiative undertaken by the marketing team to devise a World Cup campaign with a difference.
"Coca-Cola's partnership with FIFA began in 1974 and has recently been renewed until 2022," she said.
"The local team, headed by Martin Agius, came up with the commendable idea of adding the Maltese aspect to our World Cup 2006 campaign.
"By putting the images of six Maltese players on Coca-Cola bottles, we hope to promote local football. We also feel that Maltese players deserve our encouragement and support."
Malta defender Brian Said said the players were delighted to be involved in this campaign.
"This initiative heightens exposure of our football and players, putting us on a par with international stars who regularly figure in such marketing campaigns," Said commented.
Martin Agius explained the criteria adopted by Coca-Cola to select six players for their campaign.
"When we first discussed this initiative with the Malta FA in November last year, we decided to feature the team captain, Gilbert Agius, plus the most-capped goalkeeper (Haber), defender (Said), midfielder (Mallia) and striker (Mifsud) in the Maltese squad at that particular time," he said.
"Andrew Cohen was added to the list on the strength of his status as MFA Player of the Year for season 2004-2005."
Kicking off last Monday, the Coca-Cola campaign is divided into three phases. For the first month, consumers will be able to collect World Cup glasses, the second phase will see the introduction of the limited edition bottles while the Coca-Cola soccer ball will be available for collection in June.
These gifts can be redeemed from all Franks and Astral outlets by submitting three Coca-Cola football caps (1 litre) or three crowns (30cl) plus a nominal value for every gift. Participants of this scheme will also have the chance to win one of five prizes to be drawn by lottery in July.