Hyundai’s marketing campaign for the '14 FIFA World Cup “centers around a Tumblr-powered microsite and includes a set of 120 pieces of original art that will be rolled out by the car brand during the course of the month-long tournament," according to Lauren Johnson of ADWEEK. Tumblr yesterday made a “big splash" in Times Square, taking over Hyundai’s "massive billboard” as part of its World Cup campaign. The goal is to “target avid sports fans who are digitally inclined but may not be Tumblr users." Roughly three-fifths of the content will be “created by six Tumblr influencers -- or artists -- and the remaining portion of creative will come from Innocean team members (Hyundai’s agency and brainchild behind the Tumblr initiative) and design studio ilovedust.” Hyundai yesterday also added “two new features” to the microsite, including a "where to watch" feature to find nearby places in 12 cities to watch World Cup matches. Memes also are a “big push with a new tool that lets users remix an existent piece of artwork or create their own that can then be shared across social media.” The content itself is “tailored towards specific countries (the U.S., Mexico, Spain, Brazil and England are all top priorities) and the effort includes real-time and planned posts.” While Tumblr is at the “heart of the campaign, Hyundai’s global sponsorship of the games also includes retail, social, point-of-sale and television activations” (ADWEEK.com, 6/9).
WHEN ALIENS ATTACK: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Jonathan Cheng notes Samsung has “unveiled a seven-minute, computer-animated video that blurs the lines between online short and out-and-out commercial." The video, which "captures the first half of a fantasy soccer match between an all-star roster of Samsung’s 11 celebrity endorsers, and an alien team called the Hurakan, overseen by a hooded figure reminiscent of Star Wars’ Emperor Palpatine, is the
culmination of a months-long campaign." While the package is “slick, Samsung will have to scrap for the World Cup limelight: after all, there are a lot of big brands out there on the world’s biggest stage, with plenty of marketing clout to boot.” An example is Nike's “Risk Everything” campaign, which “features a five-and-a-half-minute computer-animated video featuring the world’s best soccer players, playing a winner-takes-all final match against a faceless team of super-athletes ‘to make a stand -- to save football.’” Both Nike and Samsung feature Portugal MF Cristiano Ronaldo and England F Wayne Rooney in their ads (
WSJ.com, 6/10). In Portland, Allan Brettman noted Portland-based Wieden+Kennedy and London-based Passion ad agencies “collaborated with Nike" to produced their animated spot (
OREGONLIVE.com, 6/9). Meanwhile, T-Mobile and Univision launched a social media campaign called "El Gran Pase." Users can submit a video of themselves kicking a soccer ball with the hashtag #GranPase, with a chance to be included in the campaign alongside singer Shakira and other famous soccer fans (
T-Mobile).
