Nike's Not a World Cup Sponsor, but It's Stealing the Show
YouGov Survey Suggests Athlete Relationships and 'Write the Future' Campaign Providing Brand Lift
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Here's one more sign that Nik
e's epic "Write the Future" is fast becoming one of the most successful ambush-marketing efforts in history.
The footwear and apparel behemoth saw the largest uptick in positive consumer perceptions among measured brands in the
U.S. and the U.K., and it placed fourth in Germany, according to the BrandIndex survey. Nike has direct relationships with many star athletes competing in the World Cup, and it is using them in its TV and web video campaign, which appeared online three weeks before the World Cup beganThe survey asked 5,000 people daily in each country, "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, was it positive or negative?"
In the U.S., the brands that saw the top increases in positive buzz were Nike, which is not a World Cup sponsor; ESPN and ABC, which show World Cup matches; and Sony and Adidas, which are official sponsors. In the U.K., Nike led again, followed by official sponsors Vis
a, Sony, Hyundai and Budweiser. In Germany, Coca-Cola scored the biggest increase on the strength of a highly integrated global campaign built around soccer celebrations, followed by Emirates, Adidas, Nike and Continental.
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Nike, Hyundai, ESPN Top World Cup 'Movers' List
June 23, 2010
Like other major sports events, th e World Cup is an opportunity for marketers to get consumers talking about their brands. That's exactly what Nike, Hyundai and ESPN have done. The three brands have received the biggest consumer perception boosts among U.S. consumers in the first week of the international soccer tournament, according to market research firm YouGov's BrandIndex report. Rounding out the list were ABC, Sony and Adidas.The Brandweek Buzz Report by YouGov is a weekly consumer perception report that analyzes the most talked about brands based on buzz: The scores are based on weighing positive and negative perceptions of a brand. A +100 score is positive, a -100 score is negative, and a rating of zero means that the score is neutral.
YouGov interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of 1.5 million individuals.
For the World Cup "Top 5 Buzz Movers" report, YouGov focused on three countries: U.S., U.K. and Germany.
The key findings were:
• The U.S. has traditionall y lagged behind in terms of interest and support for soccer. However, the magnitude of improvement in buzz score during the first week of the tournament shows relative consistency across countries, indicating that the U.S. has been very receptive of the event, falling in line with Germany and the U.K.
• While not an official sponsor, Nike is an aggressive World Cup advertiser, having launched a campaign dubbed "Write the Future." Team sponsorship has also helped Nike's World Cup presence, since it has strong ties to the Brazilian team, one of the consensus favorites to win the tournament. Overall, the brand has been successful in improving its buzz score in each of the countries.
• When considering the net works broadcasting the World Cup games, ABC and ESPN have experienced considerable buzz boosts during the first week. The gains come at a time when regular programming is in a dark period.
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Marketers Have ‘Goals’ at World Cup, Too
By STUART ELLIOTT [EXCERPT]The 2010 World Cup is the first to be played under the auspices, or maybe under the influence, of the social media. So companies that analyze data from Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets are eagerly providing data on how advertisers — official and otherwise — are faring among soccer (or football) fans.
...Buzz for Nike is spiking in another survey, by YouGov, known as the YouGov Brand Index, which is being conducted in the United States, Britain and Germany.The buzz for Nike rose by the most of any World Cup advertiser in Britain and the United States, according to the YouGov Brand Index, and was fourth in Germany, where Coca-Cola was the biggest “buzz mover.”
The improvements for Nike in Britain and the United States were greater than for any official sponsor, according to YouGov.
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