The Internet is dominated by the loud World Cup buzz for the past 30 days, and almost half of the conversations that took place are triggered by Adidas and Nike.
Nike has smartly employed an ambush-marketing tactic for this World Cup. However, its dominance is short-lived as Adidas bounces back to snatch the top spot just after 2 weeks into the tournament.
Currently at number two, Nike can pat itself on the back given that it isn’t the official sponsor.
Pepsi has also adopted the same ambush strategy but unfortunately, its effort is nowhere near Coca-Cola’s when measured in terms of buzz share. Coca-cola, a FIFA partner, owns 11% of the buzz, which is 5 times more than what Pepsi has.
Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of digital strategy at Nielsen commented:
“Sponsorship still matters, but it’s far from a ‘conversational’ guarantee. For big events like the World Cup and Olympics, you can always expect a modest ‘echo effect’ from any level of paid or sponsorship investment, but that’s just the foot in the door. The rest really depends on variables like timing, creativity, controversy, and a combination of brand readiness and agility.”
So, for the soccer fans out there, which brand has impressed you the most and why? Let us know your thoughts via comments!
