The World Cup is the world’s biggest sporting event, and I can hardly wait. There is something special about this tournament. It attracts a wide audience of people from different cultures and very few other sporting events can evoke such emotion and passion from across the globe.
This World Cup is also the first in the social media age, and is set to eclipse any event covered on social media previously – including the Super Bowl and US elections. Football (soccer) fans have never been shy to let their feeling be known and now social media has allowed millions of fans to come together on a common ground (Twitter, Facebook) and discuss the events unfolding.
Social media hasn’t only given fans the chance to come together, it has also given brands new opportunities to create content and make the most of the huge marketing opportunities which surround the tournament. As the domestic seasons are coming to an end across Europe in the next couple of weeks World Cup fever will really start to take off, as will the advertising and marketing campaigns.
One brand that has already started to capitalize on the opportunities provided by the world cup is Coca-Cola with their “History of Celebration” campaign.
For me the advertisement sums up what the World Cup is about – passion, joy and happiness.
“Our entire football campaign was designed to amplify the global ‘Open Happiness’ campaign for Coca-Cola,” said Emmanuel Seuge, group director, worldwide sports and entertainment marketing, The Coca-Cola Company. “By tapping into the joyous feelings that are expressed in goal celebrations we bring to life that moment of happiness and uplift that is at the heart of our brand.”
This ad is just one aspect of a fully integrated marketing campaign that will reach consumers through in-store displays, packaging, music, experiential and digital programs in more than 150 countries around the world.
Join the celebration.
Coca-Cola has already started to take this campaign viral ahead of the World Cup. As I said earlier the World Cup is set to eclipse any event covered on social media before. This offers huge opportunity to brands and it’s great to see Coca-Cola taking advantage.
Coca-Cola already has a huge social media following and does a great job engaging with consumers and customers. My advice would be make this summer all about the World Cup – they already have a great campaign that embodies the Coca-Cola brand and the World Cup and social media offers great ways to maximize this campaign.
As part of this campaign Coca-Cola are giving fans the chance to upload their celebrations to YouTube and offering tickets to the World Cup finals as prizes. I’d like to see them take this one step further and give the best celebrations the opportunity to be featured in ads and World Cup viral videos throughout the tournament, or they could challenge fans to recreate their favorite World Cup celebration.
The possibilities available to brands at this year’s World Cup really are endless. It will be interesting to see what Coca-Cola and other brands come out with in the run up to and during the tournament. It’s set to be an exciting summer both on and off the field.
How do you think Coca-Cola could take this campaign viral? What are the best World Cup campaigns you’ve come across?
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Good article. It's going to be an exciting World Cup off the field as much as on it.
Yes. This fifa world cup is going to be the best one and is about to bring some big opportunities for brands. I’m just waiting for 12 June for the opening match of Brazil vs Croatia.