World Cup 2014: The marketing hits and misses from the most hyped tournament ever

Facebook has reported that there has never been another event that has generated over a billion interactions before such as posts, likes, and comments (and just think – at time of publishing this isn’t even the end of the tournament!). My simple mind doesn’t even know how to compute that but I’ll take from it that people haven’t stopped the chatter since the tournament has begun.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we as digital marketers have levers that we can pull in real-time to adapt to what’s going in the market. It means we have to be always 'on' to take advantage of events such as the World Cup but I think we nailed it.

Uruguay’s Suarez served up some fun on a silver platter for our industry to take advantage of. Now to be clear – I am in no way shape or form condoning his actions and do not feel he should be celebrated but the brands who jumped all over it definitely should. Some of my favourites included Nandos: ‘Hey @luis16suarez, if you're that hungry, why not get your teeth stuck into something really tasty?’; Listerine: ‘We recommend a good swish after grabbing a bite of Italian. #WorldCup #PowerToYourMouth’; and – from one of my favourite snacks – Snickers: ‘Hey @luis16suarez. Next time you're hungry just grab a Snickers. #worldcup #luissuarez #EatASNICKERS’.

What I find interesting most interesting about Snickers was that its World Cup tweet was in fact the one about Suarez which at time of publishing was retweeted 48,000 times.

Not all brands had the success of the former, highlighted by the social activity of SkyTeam members Delta and KLM. Delta was accused of having “poor taste” in choosing to design its photo image to congratulate the USA on their win over Ghana. The post included two images: one of the Statue of Liberty to represent the US and the other of a giraffe to represent Ghana. What went horribly wrong was the fact that Ghana is not a home to any giraffes. Delta realised its mistake quickly and deleted the offending image from the platform before it could get too big. However, given the real-time nature of social media, many followers did see the image and there was a backlash. One user tweeted out to Delta saying: ‘I’m guessing that when you book a flight to any of Nigeria or Kenya or the Ivory Coast or Ghana, @Delta tickets just say ‘Africa, whatever.’ Oops.

KLM also tweeted a picture after the Netherlands beat Mexico that was deemed offensive to many. The picture was of a sombrero and a moustache on an airline departure sign with a headline ‘Adios Amigos! #NEDMEX.’ Many saw the picture as racist, sparking comments like ‘I’m never flying your s****y airline again’ from Mexican actor and director Gael Garcia Bernal.

Now I see the tweet as funny and which I’m sure is how it was intended but on a global stage brands must be careful with content that is put out into cyberspace. I won’t even comment on Samsung’s use of Landon Donovan as a representation of the USA team in its Galaxy S5 advertisement on Twitter. News flash – he didn’t even make the squad!

Second screen activity is another key element that has been remarkable this World Cup. Now I struggled to take advantage of this while travelling as Wi-Fi in South America was hit or miss and safety was a concern. Everywhere I went, it was advised that tourists shouldn’t have their phone out or in plain sight. Maybe it was just overly cautious cariocas but I heard it enough that the interactions on the ground in Brazil with my mobile were a bit limited.

That has all changed since I have been back. While it’s been a bit depressing watching the games from home without the amazing Brazilian vibe, I am enjoying entering the 'global stadium'. Being raised in America, it’s been a lot of fun to see my American friends getting involved in the game and post-banter as they fought their way through the rounds (although it wasn’t to be).

FIFA’s World Cup application is the top in the Apps Store allowing users to access up-to-the-second news, standings, statistics and a whole section on how to access the World Cup via social media. During matches you can see the total number of mentions and tweets per second – that sort of stuff gets digital media nerds like me excited.

A lot of people are still talking about the Brazil vs Chile match, and it’s apparently been the most tweeted about event in history at an average of 199,731 tweets-per-minute (TPM) by the end of normal time, 239,219 TPM when Neymar put Brazil in the lead during the shoot-out and 388,985 TPM when the game ended. This moment allowed for the World Cup to pass the record that had once been set by the most recent Super Bowl at 382,000 TPM. I imagine we will continue to see these records smashed as we enter the final weekend of the 2014 tournament.

And because I have roots in Search Marketing and I don’t want mobile and social to have all the fun – it’s fun to note Google has reported that the number of searches on the World Cup was greater in amount than the most recent Superbowl, Tour de France and Olympics.

During the 2010 World Cup most of the searches occurred towards the end of the event when the finale was in place. Those searches also came from desktop computers, whereas now, they are coming mostly from mobile devices and the activity has lasted from the very beginning of the 2014 World Cup and is continuing as it nears towards the final round.

It’s been really fun following what’s going on and I feel really lucky to have been able to be on the ground for the third world cup in a row. Our industry has evolved heavily in the last four years and who knows what we will be doing when the teams meet again in Russia in 2018. One thing I do know – is that it will be my fourth World Cup and I’ll be on the ground again to see and experience the shenanigans.

Dominic Gramatte is UK business director at IgnitionOne