South African low fare airline, kulula.com had added an extra 50,000 seats in anticipation of additional travellers for the 2010 World Cup. But the local press started running inaccurate stories that airlines would increase prices and international tabloids started spreading scare stories about South Africa. Kulula had to fill these extra seats and communicate that reasonably priced flights were available, while not referring to the World Cup as this would break FIFA’s marketing restrictions.The campaign started with a challenge to all airlines to lower their fares. Then a media announcement on April 1 that Kulula was trademarking the sky, which mocked FIFA’s marketing guidelines and a 'visit' from a Zulu warrior to a British tabloid which had published sensationalist stories about South Africa. Kulula then offered to fly Sepp Blatter around the country for free. When he didn’t reply a Boston terrier conveniently changed his name to Sepp and became kulula’s 'official spokesperson' on the World Cup.Due to the campaign, 50,000 seats were filled and there was a 32% growth in sales during 2010. Kulula became one of the most talked about brands globally around the World Cup.

This was done without breaking FIFA’s ambush marketing laws.

Tactics included:kulula challenged all airlines to lower their prices publically via a series of media interviews; Following a legal letter from FIFA about an advert which highlighted the low prices, we used social media to provide a running commentary on developments;To highlight that FIFA had gone too far with its trademarks, kulula announced it had 'trademarked' the South African sky and issued a humorous guidelines document to journalists on April 1st;When a British tabloid ran stories about earthquakes in SA, a Zulu warrior was dispatched to London to warn the editorial staff and their readers of some other, unlikely, dangers such as alien prawns and the edge of the world (just off the coast of South Africa);Finally, kulula offered free flights to Sepp Blatter for the duration of the tournament. Sepp did not reply but a cute Boston terrier did, and became an unofficial spokesperson for the brand.

The campaign has been kulula’s most successful PR campaign ever. These are just some of the results:- All 50,000 extra seats were sold and a 32% growth in sales was achieved in 2010;- No negative coverage about pricing appeared after the campaign started;- The campaign achieved over R25.8 million rands worth of earned media space, a times 36 return on investment (more than many official sponsors gathered);- Coverage appeared across on all major news media in South Africa and internationally.- Over 200,000 more visits than expected, were made to kulula’s website;- 768 comments and messages of support were left on the Facebook page of the brand;- kulula was voted the favourite low fare airline brand by business travellers in a survey by a local leading newspaper shortly after the World Cup;- None of FIFA’s marketing rules were ever broken and no legal action was taken against the airline.