Injury may have forced David Beckham out of the World Cup as a player, but the former England captain still has his hands full prior to the football carnival starting in South Africa. In addition to being on the team plane to South Africa as a mascot for the English team, Beckham has been signed as the global brand ambassador for Yahoo!. With this move, Yahoo! hopes to draw more online users.
Under the deal, Beckham will be a part of Yahoo!'s marketing and will be featured on websites and products before and after the World Cup. Yahoo! will be launching some ads featuring the footballer specifically for the British market. Beckham will be interacting on a one-on-one basis with football fans around the world on topics related to football. But due to prior commitments with the England team, Beckham will not be allowed to talk during the month long tournament. With his deal running till the end of September, Yahoo! hopes to get Beckham's insights on the start of the league season's around Europe as well.
Fans will have access to content from Beckham in addition to Yahoo!'s existing microsites, mobile experiences, fantasy games and search tools for close to 20 countries.
Three main components of the deal include a David Beckham page within Yahoo! Sport's coverage of the World Cup, where Beckham will share his thoughts on playing in the last three World Cups, the opportunity for fans to ask Beckham questions and Beckham's participation in the marketing campaign.
The deal with Beckham is one of many initiatives started by Yahoo! to improve its sports offerings. They acquired exclusive rights for online video highlights for the Barclays Premier League till 2013 earlier this year. They had similar deals with the NBA, NHL and MLB in the US too.
