As World Cup Goals are Scored, Nike Roars -- Youtube Harnessed for Advertising
June 18, 2010
(WORLD CUP TECHNOLOGY)
The noise Nike is making during the FIFA World Cup is almost louder than all of those Vuvuzela trumpets.
While 32 nations have their pride on the line in South Africa, there are other games afoot. Even though Adidas has been named the official sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, their efforts have been upstaged by a competitor – Nike.
So says The Nielsen Company, anyways. Its results were tallied after analysis of online blogs, message boards, and social networking sites found that “the sports shoe and apparel giant was more frequently linked to the World Cup than any of the tournament’s official partners and sponsors.”
Of the top five companies recognized for their high amount of “online World Cup buzz” by Nielsen, four are official FIFA partners. Nike won’t release its grip on the number one spot, however, and is noticeably bereft of any kind of official FIFA acknowledgement.
This is thanks, in part, to Nike’s popular “Write the Future Campaign.” The video, advertisement, which features a medley of soccer stars spliced with images of their fans across the world, is a visually stimulating piece that has captured the attention of millions of viewers. As of today, the video has garnished over 15,853,078 hits.
Social media connoisseurs represent a healthy part of the consumer constituency. In a consumer insight session participated in by Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of digital services for Nielson, Frank Eliason, senior director of Comcast’s (News - Alert) customer service via Twitter division and Yael Taqqu, principal at McKinsey & Co., they discussed some of the statistics. More than 40 percent of consumers go online to check reviews and consumer feedback before purchasing electronics, 60 percent of consumers visit social media forms regularly – with half of them returning on a daily basis and 23 percent of consumers expect companies to read and respond to feedback left online.
Historically, Nike has recognized the social media trend by releasing advertisements on Youtube during the World Cup. Back in 2006, Nike featured another soccer-based advertisement on YouTube (News - Alert) which became referred to as the “Ronaldinho ad.” The iconic series of images, featuring the talented Brazillian soccer star Ronaldinho, became strongly associated with the 2006 World Cup.
It has continued the smashingly successful trend in current years, much to the woe of its FIFA approved competitors.
Erin Monda is a TMCnet Contributing Editor. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
