Watch any big game on TV and I guarantee you will see the same names advertising their brands around the side of the pitch.  Technology now means that these adverts are all 21st century with moving displays, “in play odds” and basically everything that distracts you from watching the actual game.  Some years ago UEFA created a separate division called TEAM who were responsible for selling the “inventory” in and around the stadium used for the Champions League, Europa League and ultimately the European Championships.

Their modus operandi is that they take over a stadium two days before a game, cover up all of the existing adverts and replace them with the “official” adverts for the likes of Sony, Ford and Heineken (unless if it is a game played in France when no alcohol advertising is allowed and it simply appears as “Great Together”).  But for absolute decades one company has cropped up in and around stadiums that has caused mystery and wonderment from fans, administrators and clubs alike.  Two words – Rainham Steel.

Other companies may use brands (Ford Focus), or slogans (Mastercard’s “Priceless”) but Rainham Steel use a trusted formula.  Their adverts simply say “Rainham Steel”.  Speaking as someone with a bit of a background in marketing, and more specifically the commercial workings of football I know the four P’s of marketing – product, place, promotion and price.  Most perimeter board adverts fall somewhere into these categories.  Fly to Asia from £99 with airasia.com is one example recently seen at Old Trafford – tempting people with a call to action.  “I’m Lovin’ it” shouts McDonalds, a repetition of their global strapline and more recently we have seen the up to date interactive ads that display the likes of Ray Winstone with his “‘old up a minute, the latest odds are just coming through” approach.

But Rainham Steel simply go their own way. No price, no promotion, and no product.  But the genius is all in the place.  Their adverts are known the world over.  Go back twenty years and they were advertising in the same place with exactly the same advert – Rainham Steel.  I bet every football fan has at some point asked the same questions – “Who?” and “Why?” Rainham Steel?  Is that Rainham Essex, or Kent?  And what part of steel are they involved in?  Fabrication, stockholder or distribution?  Can I ring them up and ask for steel products such as spoons, or is it only for people planning on building huge buildings.

Hunter Davies summed it up perfectly in The New Statesman:-

“Rainham Steel”. I didn’t know they made steel in Rainham, but if so, do they expect people at football matches suddenly to think: “Hmm, at half-time, I won’t have a pie, I’ll order a couple of tonnes of steel instead”?

I have to say that finding any information on them is incredibly difficult.  The company was formed in 1973 by current chairman Bill Ives, and are based in Rainham Essex. Two years ago they entered into a deal to sponsor Scunthorpe United in recognition of the presence they have in the town. Ives’s only public comment on the company’s involvement in the game came two years ago on announcing the deal with The Iron:-

“Rainham Steel are proud and pleased to be involved with Scunthorpe United especially with their terrific performance in getting into the Coca-Cola Championship.”

Advertising at high profile football is not cheap – for some of the high profile games you are looking at a five figure investment so is there any return on their investment?  Well, I am not up with the latest steel girder costs, but potentially one order from Belarus after seeing their ad behind the goal in Minsk gets them immediate payback.

Rainham Steel aren’t the only company who keep popping up at football matches for bizarre reasons.  Obviously the lower down the football ladder you go, the more local the adverts appear.  However on the highest stage two others have caught my attention over the past few years.

A few seasons ago in the Football League Play Off Finals in Cardiff a new company appeared advertising behind the goals in prime TV locations.  Car Lube.  Nothing else in the way of an explanation.  Just two words. One slip on your computer keyboard when you are typing that phrase into Google could get you in a whole world of trouble.

Separately the two words mean something so different.  So was the product an aid for someone who was “so in love with his car, and wanted to take their relationship to the next level?”  Actually the product does what it says on the tin, providing engine lubrication for cars – aka oil.  The company make the most of their name, advertising extensively at motor sports events, but the combination of the use of attractive “pit girls” and the word “lube” blazoned across their chest does make the male mind race.

And what about Dadcheck.com?  At least they had the sense to add the “com” at the end of the advert to give people a reference point to find out more details.  The perimeter boards starting appearing at St James’ Park and the Stadium of Light in 2002 in prominent positions.  Surely they couldn’t be a company who allow people to find out who their Dad was?  Erm, yes that is exactly what they do.  They even carry an accreditation on their website from the Ministry of Justice as “a body that may carry out parentage tests”. I never saw them advertise anywhere else so I can only assume that this was a local demand product? Is there also an assumption that a Newcastle/Sunderland football fan is more likely to want to know the parentage of their child than any other fan, or is it simply they are a local company?

I am sure there are more examples but these are the three that spring to mind.  I did approach all three to ask for comment, but as of yet I haven’t had an answer…the mystery will just have to stay that for a bit longer.