Visa is "briefing both the firm’s creative agency, AMVBBDO, and media agency, Starcom Worldwide, to meet business objectives, not traditional campaign goals for the financial firm’s World Cup sponsorships," according to Seb Joseph of DIGIDAY. Visa’s marketers are "asking for those sponsorship campaigns to deliver against global business priorities instead of awareness alone as it did earlier this year with previous events like the Super Bowl or Winter Olympics." Reach and engagement will "still be barometers of success for the financial firm’s marketing, but Visa will pay closer attention to how those efforts move the dial in terms of growing its share of the mobile commerce market or encouraging people to use their Visa cards instead of cash abroad, for example." Visa Chief Marketing & Communications Officer Lynne Biggar said, "We’re trying to get smart about the upfront briefing process to ensure that the insights used are really crisp and the objectives in place are really clear." More than 20 versions of ads "have been created for TV, display, social, print and out of home in 45 markets and 24 different languages." Galaxy F and former Sweden F Zlatan Ibrahimović "stars in all the ads." It is the "latest example of the lengths global advertisers are going to get their agencies to perform better." Visa "wouldn’t say whether this approach will extend to fee structure" (DIGIDAY.com, 6/5). Speaking at SBJ/SBD's Brand Engagement & Content Summit in S.F., Visa VP/Global Brand & Creative Andrew Cohen showed how the brand is using Ibrahimovic in its World Cup creative (THE DAILY).
INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISING: BLOOMBERG NEWS' Richard Weiss noted Adidas expects its sales of national team jerseys to "set a record around the World Cup in Russia this year, despite the host country being sanction-hit and several big-name contenders not qualifying." Experts predict the "absence of traditional soccer powers Italy and the Netherlands, along with the failure of the U.S. and Turkey to qualify, will hold back sales of World Cup merchandise." Adidas has said that the "overall financial impact from the tournament won’t match" that of the '14 World Cup in Brazil. Still, Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted predicted that shirts, the "most prominent seller among such gear, unit sales will outpace the 8 million Adidas sold" in '14. German soccer consultant PR Marketing predicts Adidas will also "sell 10 million official tournament balls, down from 14.5 million four years ago." The firm "forecasts sales of 14.9 million replica team jerseys across the 32 nations participating, down from 17.7 million" in '14 (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 6/5).
AD SEASON: CREATIVITY ONLINE's Alexandra Jardine asked, "Could Adidas pack any more celebrity 'creators' into its World Cup ad?" The spot features the likes of David Beckham, France MF Paul Pogba and Argentina F Lionel Messi, but it goes "far beyond just soccer legends." In total, there are 56 "well-known athletes, performers and celebrities in the 90-second ad," including tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, model Karlie Kloss, rapper Pharrell Williams, Brazil F Gabriel Jesus and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho (CREATIVITY-ONLINE.com, 6/4).
MESSI SITUATIONS: In London, Kyle O'Brien noted Gatorade’s new animated film, "Heart of a Lio," features Messi in animation, "telling his life on the pitch leading up to the World Cup" (THEDRUM.com, 6/5). CAMPAIGN LIVE's John Harrington noted Mastercard abandoned its "goal-for-meals" campaign with Messi and Neymar after it faced criticism. The campaign, which was promoted on Mastercard’s Twitter account for the Latin America and Caribbean regions, "faced a backlash, with several commentators saying it was in poor taste" (CAMPAIGNLIVE.co.uk, 6/5).
