Official World Cup sponsors recover from competitor ambushes

New Nielsen research around sponsorship of the World Cup reveals that despite the success of competitor ambushes at the start of the competition, official sponsors are now coming out on top in social media conversations.

NM Incite, a Nielsen McKinsey Company, compared the share of buzz between the World Cup sponsors and the major competitors in relation to the World Cup in the run-up to the event (month ending 6 June) and during the first 2 weeks of the tournament (11 -25 June).

In the run-up to the tournament, Nike successfully managed to ambush the official sponsors with a football-themed video giving it a 30.2% share of World Cup related messages – twice as much as official sponsor Adidas. Furthermore, four of the ten brands most associated with the event were not official sponsors (although Carlsberg were an official England sponsor).

However, in the first two weeks of the tournament Adidas has overtaken Nike, now accounting for 25.1% share of Buzz compared to 14.4% before the event. Nike has dropped from 30.2% to 19.4%.

Other official sponsors who have seen a noticeable increase in share of world cup associations include Budweiser (jumping from 1.0% to 4.9%) and Hyundai/Kia (from 2.4% to 4.7%) and McDonalds (2.8% to 4.2%)

Overall the share of buzz for the ten official partners/sponsors has increased from 52% to 66%, a very significant uplift since the tournament began.

Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of digital strategy at Nielsen, said: “Half the game in buzz is ‘fanning the flames’.

“The Adidas football Facebook page, for instance, is now up to over a million fans and they are dropping new content several times a day, all while the average post is generating upwards of 100 comments.

“At the end of the day, brands need to keep the buzz ball in the air as long as possible – sponsored or otherwise.”