The Marketing Innovation Blog

Sports marketing has been around for a long time, but the mediums used to target consumers have evolved as much as the strategies have. For example, the 2010 World Cup is one of the first major sporting events since the boom of social media – Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Flickr, among others – that are being used to reach consumers.

Take Facebook for example. During the 2006 World Cup, it had more than 12 million active users. Today, Facebook has more than 400 million active users.  Yes, traditional advertising still exists and is frequently used, but unique, interactive tactics have become the ‘norm’ for brands to break through the clutter.  Budweiser and Bavaria are two great examples of brands adopting innovative marketing strategies during the World Cup. 

Budweiser, the official 2006 and 2010 World Cup Beer Sponsor, has strongly embraced social media in 2010 more than ever before by launching their unique global marketing campaign, “Bud United,” an online reality TV series that started at the beginning of the World Cup. The campaign follows 32 “football” fanatics, one representative from each country with a team in the World Cup, living in one house, the “Bud House.”  As teams get eliminated, the representative from that country will also be forced to pack his/her bags and head home. 

This entirely web-based campaign includes:

- Episodes of Bud House on YouTube.

- Interactive online polls that offer a platform for viewers to weigh in on and influence certain events in the house. 

- Facebook and Twitter accounts where fans can follow the representatives who will be posting their experiences throughout the process. 

 So far, Budweiser’s campaign appears to be gaining momentum:

- Its Facebook page has been “liked” by more than 850,000 users

- Its YouTube channel has been viewed more than 1.4 million times

- Within the first 30 hours, 60,000 users took advantage of the Facebook app, changing their profile picture to one painted in their team’s colors. 

Since Budweiser is the only beer allowed to be served and advertised inside of the stadium, Dutch Brewer Bavaria took matters into their own hands by launching an all-out ambush marketing strategy to generate buzz for its brand. Bavaria recruited over 30 Dutch women who donned matching orange mini-dresses with Bavaria’s name and logo during the Netherlands-Denmark match.

- Although the stunt didn’t go off without a hitch (the 30-women brigade was escorted from the stadium, ending with arrests of two women), it did spark a media firestorm.

- While Bavaria and FIFA reached a settlement where Bavaria agreed to respect FIFA’s commercial program until the end of 2022, the media frenzy they created this year should hold them over until then anyway.

We want to know – what are some other examples of eye-catching marketing campaigns that have grabbed your attention lately?

Tags: Bavaria, Budweiser, FIFA, Social Media, Sports Marketing, World Cup

This entry was posted on Friday, June 25th, 2010 at 2:55 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.