Tony Hallett's After These Messages: Euro 2004 special

The relationship between major sporting events and technology advertising has always been a strange one. On screen scores from companies such as Honeywell (back in the 1970s) or more recently Cisco, Motorola or Unisys do add an air of the scientific - even when they aren't, particularly - but that is more of an association with TV coverage than an event itself.

If the ongoing Euro 2004 football championship has taught us one thing, it is that such events are tough places to break relatively new tech brands - but such events will gladly take the money nonetheless.

A company such as Canon is experienced when working with a sport such as football. Remember the Canon First Division in England? Similarly JVC is another major sponsor. There are obvious knock-on benefits when addressing a largely consumer market.

Of course, I don't find it hard to argue that no one does the 'big sporting event' thing better than brands such as Carlsberg, Coca-Cola and McDonalds, all of which are present at Euro 2004. A major stage like the European Championships is food and drink indeed to marketers who have been honing their skills for decades.

Just don't start mentioning the inconsistencies of junk food and alcohol being so closely aligned with sport. Of course there have been plenty of players over the years who have been partial to both but by comparison a Canon, with a literal focus on capturing dramatic moments and fun, does better.

But what of the hardcore tech brands? For a T-Mobile, a pan-European fiesta is a sound placement (even if questions might be asked about a German company sponsoring the England team). And come on - where did they find that guy who can play keepie-uppies while lying on his back in the park, having a chat on his - naturally - mobile phone.

But let me turn the spotlight on East Asia. Not only is European football extremely popular there but major companies see sporting events as a way to capture mindshare here.

OK, so the Hyundai I refer to at these championships - cue those awful generic football player ads - is more about cars than IT but I challenge anyone to tell me the BenQ hoardings that have graced the stadia (look to the far left-hand side corner flag as you are watching) and appeared behind players during post-match interviews haven't been the result of a long 'How do we break into Europe?' odyssey.

Now BenQ, as TV interstitials have told us, is the "official IT partner of Euro 2004". Just as IBM had a long association with the Olympics (though not as of this year) and HP has put its names to World Cups, so Taiwan's finest wants some big event kudos.

But when the average TV viewer sees those pitch-side hoardings - and they are very much meant for the viewing millions, as the much more local and small scale messages on the other side of the pitch make clear - what do they see?

Do they wonder about a company, one many of whom won't have heard of? How many would even know how to say the name? (Which is, by the way, pronounced 'Ben-Cue' as opposed to 'Benk', as one friend referred to them.)

Some people may know BenQ as a maker of monitors, printers and laptops. Some readers of this publication may even recall the company is a licensee of the Symbian operating system for mobile devices, some know it is also a maker of cellphones and other handhelds.

None of this will become apparent through the letters 'BENQ' in the middle of a standard hoarding. Even if David Beckham is in front of it whipping in a cross for Wayne Rooney.