The World Cup showed that "investing exclusively in social networking may be a strategy of diminishing returns," according to Talon Outdoor Innovations Dir Richard Simkins for CAMPAIGN LIVE. While much has been made of this year’s tournament being "the most social event in history" -- a moniker that "will inevitably be bestowed on every forthcoming major sports event -- in truth each one is usually just more social than the one before." With the focus on digital, "traditional" media was expected to deliver "business as usual" execution, but frankly, "the out-of-home sector got well beyond the group stages." Many brands’ tactical executions "demonstrate just how nimble and impactful the sector now is and how powerful it can be when combined in an integrated strategy." The World Cup’s Brazil location "provided plenty of inspiration, not least of all in the official anthem being sponsored by Activia." Also capturing the nation’s interest was the referee’s white spray; "while this is in common usage in other football territories, it has novelty value in the UK, prompting an ad by deodorant brand, Sure." One of the biggest stories to emerge was courtesy of Uruguay's Luis Suárez’s "inability to keep his teeth to himself for a third time in his career." A number of brands "used this opportunity to biting effect with Snickers, Specsavers and Nandos, Aldi, Paddy Power and Bud Light, all running light-hearted creatives off the back of the story." Taking an industry-wide view, any major sporting event "has a positive impact; traditionally this time of year is buoyant and the World Cup has added to this extensively." One interesting observation that arose during the tournament "is that investing exclusively in social networking may be a strategy of diminishing returns." Twitter, especially, "is becoming very crowded with both proactive and reactive creative, so achieving cut-through is more challenging and success could require ever increasing levels of investment." It would appear that "the tournament brand winners are the ones who stuck with a multi-media approach" (CAMPAIGN LIVE, 7/15).
COKE LEADS THE WAY: CAMPAIGN LIVE's Sara Kimberley wrote research carried out as the World Cup drew to a close over the weekend "found Coca-Cola’s Facebook fans grew more than any other sponsor during the tournament, up by 2.5 million to 85 million." Visa "grew its fan base by the second-largest amount," followed by adidas and then McDonald’s (CAMPAIGN LIVE, 7/14). CAMPAIGN LIVE's Kate Magee wrote research by Hootsuite's analytics tool UberVu revealed that Argentina's Lionel Messi "was the most talked-about footballer on social media during the World Cup." Messi "received 363,000 mentions during the tournament." Brazil's Neymar "came a close second with 316,000 mentions." The most active day for player mentions was June 24, "after Suarez garnered 78,000 mentions following his sending off for biting an Italian player" (CAMPAIGN LIVE, 7/14). BNAMERICAS' Pedro Ozores wrote "during the World Cup final a data traffic record was also set." According to Brazilian telcos association Sinditelebrasil, 2.6 million photos "were sent during the match, at an average size of 0.55 MB." During the 64 matches of the tournament, inside the stadiums a total of 4.5 million phone calls were made and 48.5 million photos taken, "corresponding to 26.7 TB" (BNAMERICAS, 7/14).
