The Secret behind the "best FIFA World Cup ever": the Internal Branding Genius of Franz Beckenbauer

The 2006 Fifa World Cup™ has transformed the German Nation and was hailed by FIFA President Sepp Blatter as the "best world cup ever" - thanks to The Kaiser, Germany's Lichtgestalt for the past three decades.
Having won the world cup in 1974 as a player and in 1990 as a coach, Franz Beckenbauer was the driving force behind turning the 2006 event into a massive success for Germany and the world. Without asking for one cent of remuneration, the Kaiser took it upon himself to organise the world's biggest sporting event and to undertake what has to be the toughest branding job of this decade - to turn a nation looked upon sceptically by the world into everybody's darling and unleashing a spirit of celebrating life and 'making friends' (the tournament's official slogan).

Comments Dr Nikolaus Eberl, the author of 'Internal Branding: The IziCwe Code': "What has happened here over the past four weeks, is in fact a shining example of internal branding: creating a sense of common destiny and a unified fraternity that extends into the wider community … Franz Beckenbauer is a true 'Lichtgestalt' (figure of light): he has very astutely managed to build a brand around the national promise of 'Making Friends' and turning scpetics into brand ambassadors. This heralds a new era of sports branding - and a perfect rolemodel for the 2010 world cup in South Africa."

Dr Nikolaus recently introduced a revolutionary new brand leadership model, called The IziCwe Code, at the Global Leaders Africa Summit in Johannesburg, sharing the stage with world renowned leadership gurus Tom Peters, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Porter. Based on twelve years of global research, The IziCwe Code is about internal branding strategies from Emperor Shaka, aimed at engaging the emotional drivers of employee commitment (coined EmotiVators™ by Dr Nikolaus) and building total commitment to delivering the brand promise.

Dr Nikolaus and co-author Herman Schoonbee published “The IziCwe Code: Internal Branding” in 2005 (Academy Press, foreword by Reuel Khoza), which was recently critically reviewed by President Thabo Mbeki in his Letter from the President; using “the analytical tools contained in The IziCwe Code”, the President issued the challenge to government leaders to “generate the kind of commitment that will ensure that …our government at all levels … can be trusted to honour the brand promise!”

Dr Nikolaus’ earlier book “Conquer Life: Personal Branding Strategies from the Emperor” was appraised by The Business Day as “A must for anyone who wants to overcome personal and career challenges”, and Herman Mashaba, Founder of Black Like Me as “A uniquely South African formula for mustering the will to succeed and conquer life.”