Anyone who knows me knows I’m a big sports fan. And that’s not just because I love the competitive nature of games or the thrill of seeing live sport - the marketing practices that surround big tournaments absolutely fascinate me.
The summer (and autumn) of 2019 has been bumper-packed with huge sporting events. We’ve already had the Women’s World Cup, Cricket World Cup, and World Athletics, and the Rugby World Cup is still underway as I type.
But what role has digital marketing played during the games and in the build-up? Who got it right, and who got it wrong?
Here are my observations.
If you haven’t seen it, this is ITV’s brilliant animated campaign for the World Cup buildup
There’s no escaping the one major downside of this year’s tournament: the kick-off times. But, rather than simply hope that people set their arms a little earlier, ITV decided to play on the fact that Japan’s time zone doesn’t really work for World Cup drinks down the pub.
The resulting advert is magna-style (and thus closely linked to Japanese culture) and focuses on the dreams of rugby fans who end up falling asleep during the day thanks to an early rise for kick-off.
We’re treated to Street Fighter 2 references, massive humanoid robots and a pace that’s incredibly frenetic. It’s the perfect build-up for a big tournament.
As ITV’s creative director, Tony Pipes explained in a recent interview, the difficulty inherent with a campaign about something that hasn’t happened yet is easy to overcome with the right mindset: “You can showcase the past with footage, but it doesn't bring the relevance or anticipation of the upcoming competition”.
It was a delight to witness the fervour and hype surrounding the Women’s World Cup. The focus has always been placed on the men’s game, so for the girls to finally get their moment in the spotlight (including a much-needed place in the FIFA computer game), it really was a culturally relevant moment.
This gave advertisers a significant opportunity to leverage an audience of one billion viewers.
Cue BBC Sport, who went all out on some brilliant banner ads (BBC.jpg) and top-level coverage of the entire event. Visa were equally buoyant about the tournament, offering to spend just as much marketing the Women’s World Cup as they did the men’s in Russia.
Official Lionesses sponsor Lucozade Sport perhaps offered the best summary of the significance of the tournament and associated marketing campaigns. “I want the general public to watch our advertising, see what we’re doing and be inspired to turn on their TVs when the Lionesses are playing,” said their head of marketing, Claire Keaveny. “This is a real chance for us to be part of that change in perception.”
In June, the world was treated to easily one of the most exciting World Cups in recent memory, and the marketing campaigns stepped up their game to match the buzz surrounding the tournament.
Two campaigns that caught my eye included fascinating uses of hashtags.
The first, by sports giant Puma, referenced Indian captain Virat Kohli's unusually aggressive playing style and his brilliantly consistent batting. The resulting #SockThem hashtag was accompanied by an anthem of the same name performed by Indian rapper Divine.
Beyond creating a signature tune and hashtag for the tournament, this was a brilliant piece of video marketing that was designed to inspire the India fans to embrace the song and intimidate opponents.
I don’t really want to end this blog post on a sour note, but the World Athletics Championships has just finished and, unfortunately, the only marketing that appears to be flooding the web about the tournament is bad PR.
This is a classic example of something that could have been so good turning bad. And I won’t pass judgement on the detail, but this Guardian article sums up what many believe was a flawed event in Doha.
Drama off the pitch surrounding doping bans eclipsed initial worries about empty stadiums and the prospect of hosting a modern tournament in a state where homosexuality is illegal, but the presence of the latter in headlines didn’t exactly set the right scene.
Unfortunately, if you try and find any good news about the Athletics, the jump-off-the-sofa moments provided by our brilliant athletes are buried deep. This is why bad PR always trumps and why preventing it should always be a focus for brands and event organisers.
What did you enjoy about the marketing and PR surrounding this year’s biggest tournaments? Did I miss anything? Let me know on Twitter!
Web Design Northampton by New Edge
Ⓒ Copyright Pete Halsey
