Does the power of companies such as Nike, Adidas, and Puma extend beyond the consumer? Is there an influence on FIFA and the 2010 World Cup? Such a highly regarded international tournament would never rig its matches for the sake of promoting sponsors, would it? You be the judge:
Uruguay (Puma) vs. South Korea (Nike) = Uruguay (Puma)
Ghana (Puma) vs. USA (Nike) = Ghana (Puma)
MarketingVox reports some interesting findings of a recent Nielsen study examining the effectiveness of big consumer brands’ World Cup campaigns. According to Nielsen, Nike so far has trumped archrival Adidas in terms of exposure – although Adidas is an official FIFA World Cup sponsor and Nike isn't. Adidas’ ball, jersey, and in-stadium advertising simply couldn’t compete with the viral power of Nike’s “Write the Future” spot – arguably one of the best sports ads ever made – which has gotten Nike twice as many mentions on English-speaking blogs, forums, and social networks than Adidas has had (also read this great interview with Trevor Edwards, Nike's VP of global brand and category management). The full-length Nike video has enjoyed almost 14 million views on YouTube since the middle of May. Adidas produced its own Star Wars-themed World Cup video featuring David Beckham and attracted more than 2 million viewers since the release last week.
Nike isn't the only brand to successfully “ambush” a World Cup sponsor, as the Nielsen study shows. Carlsberg, a sponsor of the England national team, had almost four times the level of mentions in English-language messages around the tournament than Budweiser, the official World Cup beer sponsor.
