World Cup advertising giants battle for Paris's prime sites. (Paris, France)

Agencies are playing their own grudge match off the field, Michele Martin says

Fortunately for advertisers, the star of this year's World Cup is very photogenic, which may explain why there has been an unseemly scrum over exploiting the city of Paris's charms for marketing purposes. Leading the way in the battle have been the sporting footwear giants, Nike and Adidas, which have been daggers drawn over the rights to lay their stalls out under the Eiffel Tower. The victor was Adidas, which was granted permission to build its own "Football Village" in the Trocadero and the Emile Antoine Stadium, leaving Nike to trudge 20 minutes across town to set up its village in La Defence, the French capital's own Canary Wharf.

Other scrambles …