The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Fifa World Cup

The view from Brazil: How the World Cup advertising battle is playing out on the ground

By Dominic Gramatte

|

Promoted article

June 16, 2014 | 4 min read

Sponsored by:

What's this?

Sponsored content is created for and in partnership with an advertiser and produced by the Drum Studios team.

Find out more

The World Cup may be a television advertiser's dream and a social media bonanza, but how is the marketing battle playing out on the ground in Brazil? Dominic Gramatte, UK business director at IgnitionOne, is in Brazil for the tournament and will be reporting back for The Drum about his experiences in and around the stadiums.

Hellllllllllo Rio Di Janeiro! I am a bit jet lagged but man, am I buzzing to be here. With both the Germany and South African World Cups under my belt, I am excited continue to my footy adventure in South America. There is something amazing about getting together with thousands of fans who rally behind their respective countries and truly get involved. With the growth of mobile and use of social media since the 2010 World Cup, this year’s event promises to be one of the most exciting yet. If taken advantage of correctly, advertisers have a truly amazing opportunity to connect and build relationships with millions of fans around the world.It’s safe to say that social media has changed dramatically since the World Cup in 2010. It was deemed as the first social World Cup, but we are in for a treat this time around. While we all used Facebook and Twitter four years ago, brands were admittedly still figuring out how to engage with us in these arenas. We used hash tags and external URLs, we were playing around with the like button, and our friends Instagram, Snapchat, and Vine didn’t even exist. Records were set in 2010 for number of tweets per second. I have a good feeling that we can expect this to be smashed during the World Cup. It’s already quite apparent, but we will see major sponsors of the tournament and other big brands focusing more of their marketing efforts on these Social Media platforms during the World Cup to get us to engage and connect. I may be sipping on a caipirinha on the beach, but I will no doubt be joining in on the fun online.
There has been a lot of buzz regarding this also being the first truly mobile World Cup. The 2010 World Cup was mainly watched by fans on televisions. As I am traveling around quite a bit over the next few weeks and will not be glued to a TV, I intend to watch a large number of games on my smartphone. The number of apps I have downloaded to get real-time updates and game highlights is also over the top. While I may be going overboard a bit, advertisers know there are people like me who will be using mobile devices to get my World Cup content. In fact, 80 per cent of smartphone and tablet owners using their device while watching television. Brands like Nike and Adidas have already ramped up their presence on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to connect with and share content with football fans. It will be interesting to see who can tackle this and come out on top. The one thing I am really looking forward to getting involved with is Fifa's Global Stadium. The website has been recently updated to include a digital arena that packages up all of the content and real-time chatter around the 64 matches for fans on their smartphones. Fifa has been using hashtags #joinin and #WorldCup to engage with fans. I am looking forward to seeing how brands will be jumping into the conversations happening via these hashtags and communicate with fans in real-time during the matches. The next time I come to you will be from the heart of the Amazon where I will share my thoughts on some of the biggest things we are seeing advertisers do as the matches and conversation get underway. In between trekking through the jungle, canoeing along the Amazon River and avoiding all things dangerous I will be getting my updates on the matches and rooting on my team(s) as they advance through the group rounds. #VeryThankfulForMyMobile Wait… will there be wi-fi?

Fifa World Cup

More from Fifa World Cup

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +