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The World Cup? Brands, don't waste your money

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By Matthew Charlton, CEO

June 11, 2014 | 3 min read

Bad news for all the brands currently spending a fortune on sponsoring the World Cup: it's a waste of money. All the squillions spent on amazing football ads, animated football characters and chest thumping nationalistic bunk is money down the drain. Nobody sees them, hears them or cares about them.

England boss Roy Hodgson flanked by sponsors

Why? Because the World Cup is just too big and too genuinely powerful an experience to leave any space to share with a brand. It is the moment when the world truly comes together to celebrate not just sport, human values and competitive spirit but a sense of togetherness that doesn't exist anywhere else. It operates at a stratospheric emotional level; it creates real tears, real anger and real disappointment (probably) and real joy.

Russia is getting a good political blasting right now but for the next few weeks the world goes into a sense of suspended reality where all diversions outside of the beautiful game are ignored. That's what makes it so truly special and also why none of the marketing works. Because in the same way we all ignore Russia's problems with foreign policy, we ignore all the commercials.

Can anyone seriously imagine the moment when England, the fairly ordinary four door family car of a football team, for the first time since 1966 lift the trophy, and somewhere in the euphoria, somewhere in a dark recess of your mind, you hear a voice saying "and I 'd also like to thank Vauxhall".

The only brand that has invested its marketing money wisely in the World Cup, and as a result will get value, is Qatar. You are either in it for real or do something else. This is one of those rare occasions where the overwhelming beauty and power of an epic event makes marketing smaller than it is at any other moment.

Come on England. And Come on Vauxhall.

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