gE Blog Series: World Cup South Africa Part 4 - Sponsorsing and Advertising

With 32 different countries represented, and almost the whole world watching, the World Cup is a hot spot for advertisers across the globe. While FIFA is exclusive with who is officially sponsoring the tournament, other companies are still trying to get a piece of the action. The six main sponsors of the World Cup are Adidas, Coca-Cola, Emirates Airlines, Hyundai Cars, Sony, and Visa. There are also several other sponsors that are not as prominently featured at the tournament. 

One of the biggest competitions for a sponsorship slot was between Nike and Adidas. Adidas has generally been considered a soccer brand, but Nike has not let that stop them from moving in on the same market. Adidas is an official sponsor of the World Cup in addition to sponsoring 12 of the 32 teams, but Nike is close second sponsoring nine teams. In addition, Nike has actually gotten twice as much online buzz as Adidas surrounding the tournament. This makes Nike the most mentioned company associated with the World Cup. They are not the only ones who have taken advantage of online marketing. Carlsberg also has beaten official World Cup sponsor Budweiser for online hits.

So what does this mean? Sponsoring the tournament is certainly an honor and gives these companies a leg up on advertising opportunities, but that is not the end of the story. Soccer is the most popular sport worldwide, so companies all over the world are using the World Cup to lure customers in.

Anytime a major international sporting event takes place, there is a plethora of sponsorship and advertising opportunities. The host country generally experiences a boost for their local businesses and certainly their tourism. This World Cup is no different for South Africa. Businesses all over the globe are seeing the positive ramifications from the tournament and the sponsors hope to see results from the big bucks they pay for advertisements.