Cup sponsors recover from competitor 'ambushes'

Shortly before the start of the World Cup in June, Nielsen reported that Nike "ambushed" its way into the World Cup conversation with the production of a popular football-themed video, featuring stars like Wayne Rooney that spread virally across the online community. Nike succeeded in pushing its competitor and official tournament partner adidas into the background of online conversations.

However, since the start of the tournament, adidas has managed to reassert itself at the top of World Cup brand dialogue.

Bouncing back

In a study of the top 10 official sponsors and their competitors by NM Incite, it was found that in the first two weeks of the tournament adidas overtook Nike as the top brand. adidas buzz accounted for 25.1% share of World Cup buzz online compared to 14.4% before the event. Nike, meanwhile, dropped from 30.2% to 19.4%.

Budweiser also overcame a pre-tournament ambush from Carlsberg and asserted itself as the most highly buzzed beer brand tied to the World Cup. Buzz share for the official beer of the World Cup climbed to 4.9% as it overtook Carlsberg, whose share fell to 2.4%.

Other official sponsors who enjoyed a noticeable increase in World Cup buzz included Hyundai/Kia (from 2.4% to 4.7%) and McDonald's (2.8% to 4.2%). Overall share of buzz for the 10 official World Cup partners/sponsors increased from 52% to 66% from the start of the tournament.