FIFA Sponsors Turn To Social Networks For World Cup Advertising

Sony Ericsson Using Social Media As Large Part Of World Cup Marketing

FIFA sponsors are "turning away from traditional TV and billboard campaigns and using social networking sites to make their pitch to fans" ahead of this summer's World Cup in South Africa, according to Jonathan Clegg of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Sony Ericsson -- one of FIFA's six long-term corporate partners -- plans to "use its sponsorship of the competition to create a digital community of sports fans to get its message across." The company plans to use sites such as Twitter and Facebook to "engage directly with individual fans rather than broadcasting to millions." Sony Ericsson Dir of Global Marketing Partnerships Calum MacDougall said the '10 event will mark the first "social networking World Cup." MacDougall: "Social networking is going to be at the heart of the 2010 World Cup -- you only need to look at the huge rise of people using Websites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to appreciate that." Clegg reported the centerpiece of Sony Ericsson's campaign will be the "launch of an online football application that provides fans with access to videos from World Cup qualifiers and friendly games in the lead-up to the tournament." The company also has launched the Twitter World Cup, an "online competition that encourages fans from participating nations to tweet their teams to victory in a virtual tournament." Clegg noted despite "falling advertising rates, campaigns that revolve around social media are also attractive because they are cheaper than cross-media adverts, which for a huge event such as the World Cup, can end up costing companies millions of dollars." Synergy CEO Tim Crow predicted that "big brands can be expected to start moving away from a costly mass-media approach to something much more focused and efficient." Crow: "It doesn't cost anything to set up a Twitter feed" (WSJ.com, 1/12).