By Rachel Haviland
Worldwide, fans and marketers alike have been waiting for today – the first day of the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup (or football if you’re a Brit like me).
Whilst the Super Bowl captures the attention of millions of people around the U.S., the World Cup is an event which garners the attention of hundreds of millions of fans and consumers around the world.
Global Advertisers like Coke, Nike and Visa are making their own play for a share! CBS reported that the ad revenue from the Super Bowl was around $170 million…..the expected advertising budget for the World Cup – for U.S. advertisers alone (not including official product sponsorships or TV broadcasting rights) is estimated at $243 million.
Advertisers are looking more towards the internet and social media to create a buzz during the month of World Cup matches.
- Nike’s ad has had over 14 million views since it went live on YouTube on May 20, 2010
- Coke’s TV ads direct viewers to their YouTube Page
- Budweiser is sponsoring a YouTube reality TV show featuring soccer fans from the 32 countries in the World Cup tournament.
Being an international event, the World Cup is on target to eclipse Social Media use by the U.S. Election, the Oscars or the Super Bowl.
Just goes to show U.S.-based marketers that the bubble we usually market in is just one corner of the globe. When you see how U.S. companies like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are being used globally by marketers who understand the incredible worldwide reach that the World Cup has, you realize how powerful Social Media really is.
