Friday, June 06, 2014

World Cup 2014: Digital marketing explosion

Given how close the World Cup is I wanted to post about how digital media and social networks have shaped the way companies use this amazing sporting event to shape their brand and reach consumers.

Coming from Argentina, where football is serious business, I live the World Cup in a special way and witness heavy marketing spending every time this major event is around. In the past, only big brands with targets audiences similar to those of the World Cup (males, basically) used to create this really emotional big TV advertisement that aired through out the whole month of June. Adidas, Quilmes (local beer) and Gillette have always been the big players in this category.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZZiIEyxnG0

However, this last couple of World Cups, the low cost of social media advertising and the self-generated content have open up the fields for smaller players to capitalize on this huge sporting event. In addition, it has allowed the big official sponsors to globalize their campaigns, passing through a unique brand positioning and a consistent global message.

This VISA campaign is a good example. It has invited 32 film-markers from the 32 competing countries in the World Cup to make a short movie of how the event is lived in their country. http://worldcup.visa.com/#

In addition, some other companies have leveraged their social media platforms and encourage football fans to share through their Facebook page how they live the World Cup, not only generating traffic but also helping these companies understand more their consumers and how to reach them.





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