Football themed adverts

In Greece, as I assume in the UK, virtually every single TV advert at the moment is somehow football related, even if they are selling shoe polish, cars or tampons.

And in Greece we get an awful lot more of them than you do.

There is no "and now back to Gary in the studio". We get: Half-time whistle. Advert break for 6 minutes and 45 seconds. 30 seconds of replays from the game. Advert break for 6 minutes and 45 seconds. Start of the second-half.

I never quite understand how the themed advertising thing comes about though. I can only assume that sometime earlier in 2006 there are a series of almost identical meetings all around the world:

"Yeah, well, y'know, marketing you in June and July is gonna be pretty tough, y'know. Everyone will be watching the World Cup, and, y'know, advertising space will be at a premium on television, it could be difficult to achieve the kind of level of market penetration you are looking for with your current budget. But, y'know, what we could do, whilst the football is on, is to distinguish your product in a crowded marketplace, at a time when people aren't paying much attention to adverts...by making an advert with an oblique reference to football. Nobody else will have thought of that."