The quadrennial World Cup is coming again soon, and the marketing hotspot will naturally be the World Cup in late November. So, how can companies seize the hot spots of the World Cup and eat this marketing feast? The author of this article has analyzed this, let's take a look at it.
The quadrennial World Cup is coming again, this time a little later than before, with the host host playing Ecuador opening the opener on November 20, Doha time.
We all know that the natural years where the World Cup and the Olympic Games are located are marketing years, and after this National Day, the marketing hotspot should be the World Cup in late November.
I boldly expect that despite this year's economic downturn and the advertising industry has been impacted, this World Cup will definitely set off a wave of marketing climax this winter, after all, this is an overseas event, high certainty, for domestic is online marketing, will not be particularly affected by yq; Moreover, looking back at the 2021 European Championships and Tokyo Olympic Games postponed by a year due to the new crown yq, the heat was not affected by the inconvenience caused by yq, but gave the Chinese audience watching the fire online from across the shore a channel and comfort for emotional catharsis.
So companies with budgets in hand can boldly rush forward, and let's review how ferocious Chinese companies invested in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Chinese companies account for a third of the $835 million in sponsorship fees, more than $400 million in sponsorship fees for U.S. companies (only $64 million for the host Russia), becoming the source country for the most sponsors of the event, and many local companies have participated in World Cup marketing in different forms.
01 What are the characteristics of this World Cup?
First, this is the first World Cup in the post-epidemic era, the most important football event, will become the export of fans' emotions, we know that a large part of the marketing value lies in paying attention to the emotional value of the audience, grasping the emotional value, grasping the traffic code, marketing communication is twice as effective.
Second, this is the first winter World Cup in the Northern Hemisphere, with a 28-day competition cycle from November 20 to December 18, followed by the Singles Day and Christmas seasons, which is actually the peak season for marketing conversion.
Third, this is the last World Cup in which 32 teams participated, and the next one will be expanded to 48, so this World Cup is the last one that does not inject water (we have reason to believe that when the World Cup final round is expanded to 120 countries, the Chinese team will definitely be able to enter the World Cup!). ), the absolute double proud Messi, C Ronaldo, Modric, Benzema, Suarez and many other superstars and Belgian Red Devil Golden Generation collectively ended, known as the twilight of the gods. This must be a World Cup full of nostalgia and parting, and their stories, legends and surroundings are bound to be talked about for a while.
02 How to play World Cup marketing?
From 1994 to watch the World Cup, in 2010 began to Ali, Tencent, Lenovo and other companies to initiate and participate in the World Cup marketing, to observe many cases, in short, to participate in the World Cup marketing has such three ways to play: cast, paste, rub.
1. Vote: Kryptonite player
It is to cooperate with the official FIFA (FIFA) to buy and buy directly.
The official sponsorship system of FIFA World Cup is mainly divided into three levels: FIFA Global Partner, FIFA World Cup Sponsor, and FIFA Regional Supporter. Global partners are the highest level sponsors of FIFA; World Cup sponsors are second, allowing for global World Cup-related promotions; Regional Supporters are limited to intra-specific marketing.
Looking back at the history of World Cup marketing of Chinese enterprises, in fact, until 2010, the South African world, the first time there was a Chinese sponsor, that is, the photovoltaic company Yingli from Baoding, Hebei Province, there was a sponsor due to the financial crisis to withdraw, Yingli "accidentally filled the gap", became the first Chinese company to sponsor the World Cup, the billboard on the green field, so that the "China Yingli" four Chinese characters broke into the fans' vision, a battle to become famous. Yingli's shipments grew by 100% in 2010 and more than 50% in 2011. This sponsorship not only allowed Yingli to taste the sweetness of cooperation with the world's top sports IP, but also let Chinese companies see the "money scene" of World Cup marketing.
At the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the radical expansion of Yingli once again became the only Chinese sponsor at the World Cup.
Time to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Chinese companies of Kryptonite players finally formed a blowout, and surpassed the United States to become the largest sponsor of this World Cup source country. In the three-tier sponsorship system of the World Cup, Chinese companies have historically appeared.
In the 2015-2018 World Cup cycle, FIFA signed 14 new sponsors, of which 7 are from China, namely Wanda, Hisense, Mengniu, Vivo, Yadi, Di Pai and Zhidian Art Realm.
Wanda Group became China's first FIFA global partner, with an agreement valid for up to 15 years. The top sponsors of the same level with Wanda have cooperated with Coca-Cola, Adidas, VISA and so on for many years.
Hisense has found an international direction in the marketing of sports events. In 2016, Hisense first became the top sponsor of the European Championship. In the second quarter of that year, Hisense TV sales in the European market soared by 56%, which gave Hisense great motivation to win the World Cup sponsor.
Hisense spent nearly $100 million to become the official sponsor of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Subsequently, vivo and Mengniu also became sponsors of the FIFA World Cup.
VR companies Guiding Art (LUCI), electric two-wheeler companies Yadi, and business formal wear brand Di Pai have invested 20 million US dollars each and become the supporters of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Asia.
In the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Wanda is still the top sponsor - FIFA global partners, and Hisense, vivo and Mengniu are also the official sponsors of the World Cup.
The above red sponsorship amount, is the data disclosed by the media, this is still just the tip of the iceberg of the huge World Cup marketing expenses of these several World Cup Kryptonite players, we must know that the sponsorship fee is only the threshold for obtaining the corresponding World Cup marketing rights, you want to let consumers know that you are the sponsor of the World Cup, the top partner, in addition to entering the field of billboards can be far from enough, but also need to sponsorship several times the cost of advertising marketing, terminal point of sale marketing, event marketing, gift marketing, etc., so that more consumers can see, Can participate, so as to make good use of the World Cup sponsorship status, the World Cup effect is fully amplified.
2. Sticker: Clever ambush
After all, the official sponsorship of the World Cup is limited, the threshold is very high, and there is also exclusivity in the category. For example, if Coke sponsors Pepsi or other soft drink brands, it cannot sponsor, Adidas sponsors, Nike and other opponents cannot sponsor.
But where there are eyeballs and traffic, there is a marketing battlefield, and more companies have another marketing method to "stick" the heat of the World Cup, that is, sponsoring participating national teams or sponsoring stars.
To be honest, I think this is a smarter and more clever approach, after all, the fans who watch the World Cup do not just watch the football game for the whole month, but will pay attention to certain teams, bring emotions into it, and feel that their favorite team is their home team (this kind of fan emotional expression has a certain relationship with the Chinese team having only entered the World Cup once and is getting farther and farther away from the World Cup, and it is also related to generations of people watching the World Cup to see that the five major leagues have been turned into fans by the world's strong teams. Many big teams, whether national teams or clubs, have a loyal fan).
I'll give you an example, for example, if Ecuador vs Tunisia, or Greece vs. Switzerland, I believe that in addition to the fans of the host country, the attention must be low, not to mention the pseudo-fans who watch the ball once every four years, and the largest audience for the World Cup is 70% of the pseudo-fan group who watch the ball only once every four years, and the World Cup marketing is also the attention of these people.
At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Dongpeng Special Drink, Wahaha, Manjurayton and other enterprises sponsored the Portuguese team; Del Flooring, Wanhe Kitchen Appliances, and Credit sponsored the Argentine team; Changhong Electric sponsored Belgium; Transferred sponsored the Brazilian team; Vantage Kitchen Appliances sponsored the French team.
For the sponsorship of football stars, Chinese companies have spared no effort, for example, Mengniu sponsored Messi; Great Wall Motors sponsored C Ronaldo; TCL and Harbin Beer sponsored Neymar; Gome Mobile sponsored Suarez...
However, sponsoring national teams and stars is a bit like a bet, the "paste" of the game is clever, but the "paste" is too close and easy to be affected by the team's performance, such as the last Russian World Cup, Mengniu sponsored Messi, and with Messi as the protagonist, with "born to be strong" as the theme of TVC saturation put the advertising period during the World Cup, although Mengniu is the official sponsor of the World Cup, but its brand positioning "born to be strong" is not highlighted through the World Cup group portrait, but bet on Messi alone, The final result we also saw, Argentina at the World Cup in Russia, the state is sluggish, stopped in the round of 16, Mengniu Messi's advertisement was also spoofed by netizens, such as "I am Messi, I am now panicking" became a popular terrier at that time.
Although it is not intended to "create" a popularity, it is far from positioning the "born to be strong" that the brand wants to build, and does not accumulate positive value for brand equity. It even dilutes the official sponsorship value of Mengniu's World Cup. This is a typical failure of the official sponsor of the World Cup to sponsor the star at the same time, and the reason is that Mengniu's marketing content is too dead tied to Messi, and the bet on the Meiqiu King is too big.
In contrast, ambush marketing boss-level players like Nike spread the risk through the multi-star sponsorship strategy and multi-star combination content, and also strengthened the official collaborator of the World Cup he wanted to disguise.
Looking back at these cases, we can see that as a latecomer to sports marketing, Chinese companies still have a lot of tuition fees to pay and a lot of experience to learn. Becoming an official sponsor of the World Cup, or becoming a partner of national teams and stars, does not mean that successful World Cup marketing, which can improve the probability of success, is a well-thought-out marketing strategy, and the World Cup atmosphere and football spirit are skillfully combined with marketing content.
Among the many marketing "plays" of Chinese enterprises, it is still Vantage that the most "eye-catching" of the routine is.
Among the many Chinese companies that sponsor the World Cup and teams or stars, Vantage, a not-so-famous kitchen appliance brand, has pushed marketing to a climax with the "France team wins the championship, Vantage refunds all the money" activity.
In the end, the French team sponsored by Vantage won the World Cup in Russia, and Vantage not only received super high attention, but also leveraged 1 billion yuan of sales with 79 million yuan of "refund", becoming the biggest winner of World Cup marketing.
However, Vantage's "gambling" marketing can be said to have happened to "bump" into the great luck, planning the sword to take the side, and the successful luck of marketing is more consequential, which is difficult to replicate and difficult to learn from.
At the upcoming Qatar World Cup, Chinese companies are still quite optimistic about the heat of the World Cup and have made "bets".
GAC Mitsubishi (Outlander) reached a strategic cooperation with the Argentine national team; China CITIC Bank and MasterCard Partner to Launch Macyon Credit Card; NetEase became the exclusive online media partner of France and Argentina in China...
Competition between the two dairy giants is even fiercer. Mengniu continued to be the official sponsor of the World Cup, and signed a contract with Messi again, which is really not evil! In addition, the hot French rising star Mbappem director was also signed – apparently learning to diversify a certain amount of risk; Yili signed the three teams of Argentina, Portugal and Spain, and also signed C Ronaldo, David Beckham and Wu Lei as spokespersons.
3. Rub: Chiseling the wall to borrow light
Rubbing - very much like the backbone of the money and people who don't talk much, in fact, this trick is that regardless of the size of the enterprise, marketing budget and brand size will be combined into their own marketing strategy action.
If the previous "investment" and "sticking" rely on spending a lot of money, then "rubbing" requires the ingenuity of planning and creativity and the ability to mobilize cross-border resources.
According to the resource endowments of enterprises and brands, as well as the ability to plan activities and content, "rubbing" can be divided into:
- Cooperate with brands with sponsorship rights and interests in the World Cup or national teams and stars to form a linkage of marketing activities;
- Or simply rely on their own content and activities, without mentioning the World Cup, through content and design elements to hint at their relationship with the World Cup.
Case 1: For example, before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when I worked at Alibaba, I had insight into the most exuberant cycle of World Cup production and trading in the small commodity market such as Yiwu before the World Cup, about 70% of the world's World Cup supply came from Yiwu, but China as a source of goods only provided OEM production, including merchants on the Alibaba platform generally lack the design ability of original World Cup peripheral products, so I docked the "Visual China" website. In the designer-gathered website to collect designs related to the theme of football, and then on the Alibaba platform to match manufacturers to produce and sell, I also docked with eLong, which has the right to operate the World Cup viewing tour, to provide the largest number of designers with South Africa viewing tours.
The theme of our marketing campaign is "Winning the World Cup", "Ordering" of Orders. Through cross-border alliances with different platforms and brands, a customized production of sales to sales conversion of sales activities has been realized, and the brand voice has been added, while driving the sales of surrounding sources.
Case 2: My public number readers and readers of the book "Content Detonation Growth" should be very familiar, 2014 Brazil World Cup, I worked in Tencent, although we are also the World Cup network media reporting platform, but our main marketing strategy is still to "rub" the heat, 2014 World Cup is known as the first year of the mobile Internet World Cup, more than 80% of users through the mobile terminal to see the ball, we want to be close to the user to communicate, the preferred position is social media, So we chose to quickly output content posters with brand attitudes on World Cup match days by posting World Cup hot spots. These contents are widely disseminated on social media, because they also express the fans' attitude towards the relevant matches when watching the game, which reminds them to come to Tencent after watching the World Cup and commenting.
In the matter of "rubbing" heat, the only one who can continue to produce high-quality output is probably Durex Xiaodu, we have seen it change several different content layouts during the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but the output of information is only one - cute and fun color attitude.
There are also several car companies, thanks to the German chariot record, but also repeatedly show their work skills on social media, they are also from Germany's luxury car group - BBA.
In addition to one-dimensional output content, there are many brands that attract users' active participation by launching prize quizzes or game interactions, such as McDonald's launched the "McDonald Home" campaign during the World Cup, calling on consumers to vote for their favorite teams and turn the nearby 24-hour McDonald's store into the home of the teams they support. This activity is very good for the psychology of fans, fans watch the ball itself with their own position, but also for the offline store drainage to bring popularity.
03 To sum up
World Cup marketing, there are generally three ways to play, you can play with the official FIFA of the World Cup, you can play with the participating national teams and stars, you can also simply rub yourself.
The official authorization of the World Cup is an endorsement, a channel, and a momentum amplifier, but then again, those are after all the resources of corporate marketing, whether brand awareness, brand value and sales can be achieved, and how to effectively combine brand positioning with sports value and the spiritual connotation of football stadiums, in order to truly get the blessing of value recognition; At the same time, we should do a good job in the innovation and undertaking of sales channel play to meet the amplification of sales increments.
For companies and other non-sponsors with only national team or star sponsorship rights, all World Cup-related marketing activities must be taken seriously: provided that they are legal and compliant without touching FIFA's series of issues regarding the intellectual property and commercial rights of World Cup marketing.
Columnist
Prince Qiao, WeChat public number: East Qiao Xi Kan (ID: princeqiao)
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