World Cup's 10 best campaigns

In the run-up to the World Cup, Cream saw a spike in media campaigns linked to football. By successfully linking with the beautiful game that is football, a team or a megastar player, brands can tap into fans' passion and fervour and reap the benefits.

Some brands forked out huge premiums for official sponsorships while others took a more subtle approach. Cream, the online intelligence service for marcomms innovation (www.creamglobal.com), has selected 10 of the best football-related campaigns including sponsorship, ambush marketing, player-endorsements and grass-roots activities:

• Heineken, Italy, 2009 - Heineken plays a prank on football fans and rewards them for being good sports. The stunt was broadcast live on Sky Sports, where 1.5 million viewers watched Heineken spring the trap. The online video of the stunt has so far been seen by 5 million viewers, enhancing Heineken's "made to entertain" branding.
  
• Western Union, Spain, 2006 - Western Union finds a low-budget solution to piggy-back a high-profile event and reach Romanian immigrants in Spain. Some 20 000 Romanian fans attended the match, many of them wearing the WU branded, crowns in Romania's national colours. With an investment of €5000, Western Union generated and estimated €80 000 publicity in national and international media coverage.
  
• Budweiser, Global, 2010 - Budweiser leverages its World Cup sponsorship with a reality TV show that brings together fans from each of the 32 qualifying countries. During the tournament itself, the group will host a 'man of the match' poll via its website, and in the build-up, the firm is also holding the 6v6 Budweiser Cup, an international amateur football tournament. Local tournament champions will win an all-expense-paid trip to the World Cup, where they will play in the 6v6 world finals.
  
• Vasco de Gama, Brazil, 2010 - A Brazilian football club gets fans to pledge their allegiance by getting a tattoo of the club's logo. People could track the progress on a dedicated Twitter page, with tweets about the number of tattoos and photos of the end results. The team and the speedy tattooist beat the record, with 805 tattoos in 24 hours.
  
• Sony, UK, 2010 - Sony encourages consumers to trade in their old electrical items for money off the price of a new Sony television. In a series of humorous TV spots, well known football personalities are seen swapping out of date electrical equipment for a brand new television set. The scheme has the added benefit of allowing consumers to dispose of their old electrical products safely.
  
• Castle Lager, South Africa, 2009 - Castle unites South African football fans with a huge campaign in the run-up to the World Cup 2010. Superfans are rewarded, and used to encourage other fans via commercials, singing, in-trade activations, Superfan parties and a range of Superfan cans.
  
• Nike, South Africa, 2009 - Nike takes all of the World Cup glory, despite not being an official sponsor. This campaign sees 100 fan-generated headlines selected each night to be displayed on Africa's largest LED screen.
  
• Helvepharm, Switzerland, 2009 - shows its modesty through the sponsorship of a veteran football club. As a result, Helvepharm was the only pharmaceutical generics company that won market share.
  
• Coca Cola, Argentina, 2008 - Coca Cola helps young people achieve their dream of becoming professional footballers. The talent-seeking show engaged with 10.6m homes and there were more than 550 000 visitors to the football stadia to see coaching. Fox Sports teen rating tripled during broadcasts and Coke's connection with teens and football grew by 10; 11 of the 25 players have been selected to play on professional football Clubs.
  
• Puma, Europe, 2006 - highlights concerns about Pele's mystery deliveries before the 2006 World Cup. Turns out he was taking the stars some new boots. TV ads, print advertising and even cycle-taxis, canal boats and point of sale all contributed to the campaign. Puma's football turnover is reported to be up 40% year on year.

For full details of these campaigns and many more innovative global marcomms campaigns go to:
www.creamglobal.com/how-to/17802/21790/harness-football-fever/.