World Cup Marketing Opportunity

The World Cup is a sporting event that takes place once after every four years. It is celebrated by millions of fans from all over the world who love the football sport. The tournament normally involves 32 countries from different parts of the world that are drawn to compete for a trophy. The teams go through qualifying matches that take over a month. The World Cup is considered to be the biggest sporting event in the world today which is viewed by millions of people from every corner of the world.

The World Cup brings with it opportunities which when exploited bring a lot of economical gains. Most of these opportunities are focused on the business and the economy of the participating country. Countries that have hosted the event in previous years have gained tremendously from the event (Grewal, 2010). However other countries and companies all over the world can use the event to boost their financial position during the 4 week period and gained economically as well.

It is for this major reason that the event is targeted by multinational companies who want to market their products and develop their brands to the whole world. The companies try to take up this opportunity to reach their consumers who use their products and target other markets in the world. This paper discusses the marketing opportunity that exists during the World Cup. 2. 0 Marketing Opportunity during World Cup a) Global Reach The World Cup is one event that creates big opportunities for very many brands to make huge gains during its duration.

The World Cup period which normally lasts for a month attracts very many fans from all over the world to travel to the hosting country. The hosting country normally receives millions of tourists who come in from different countries. The tourists become targets for the local small business who take up the opportunity to promote and market their products to them at this time. Tourist companies and other key players in the hotel industry also take up this opportunity to market themselves to the tourists during this period so that they can attract more tourists long after the World Cup is over.

Other fans from other countries who are not able to travel to the country watch the games live on their TV’s at home, or in social joints while others follow the proceedings online and using other media such as the mobile phones. In total over five billion viewers watch the game proceedings through their TV sets (Landler, 2010). These fans become the target market for most of the products and brands that are marketed during the period. It creates an opportunity for the companies to create a presence in millions of screens all over the world as they market their products.

The use of mobile phones and the internet has also created an avenue for these companies to reach a wider target of football fans who may not be able to access their TV’s during every match. b) Sponsorships The World Cup event is normally governed by the International Federation of Association Football commonly known as FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) (About FIFA, n. d). The governing body normally relies on the income it gets from the companies that are interested in becoming official sponsors and partners of the event.

This is a great opportunity that is given to the multi national companies to promote their products by associating themselves with the event and financing its operations. The companies are also given exclusive advertising rights to advertise their products associating them to the world cup event. Advertising campaigns that are made focus more on the fans and the football to capture the interest of the fans and blend in with the football theme. Companies which sponsor and partner with the governing body get an unbeatable marketing platform to advertise their products over those of the competitors.

For example Coca Cola has used its official FIFA partner status to market Coke exclusively as the official drink of the 2010 World Cup to take up the leadership in the soft drinks market and dominate its rival, Pepsi (Football Marketing, 2010). During this year’s World Cup the company developed a theme that encouraged their fans to upload their celebrations into the internet. The marketing strategy is considered to be the biggest marketing campaign the company has ever had all over the world (Football Marketing, 2010).

c) Digital Reach The World Cup has been used in the past to promote products through the media using TV’s and sometimes even radios to reach the target audience. This year a new method has been devised and has been used to create marketing opportunities all over the world. The internet has been used as a means of promoting the brands of different companies. This is due to the increased number of football fans who were using the internet to remain engaged and up to date with the World Cup.

Other digital marketing approaches have been devised such as the mobile advertising campaigns. The World Cup event has given companies the opportunity to use the mobile phones to market their products through the mobile campaigns. Many of the soccer football fans have been downloading applications that have been used to promote several brands. SMS alerts have also incorporated by the companies as a way to market themselves as they also keep the fans up to date with all the football information and happenings of the World up.

ESPN Company for example, offered fans the chance to get SMS alerts on every happening and event that was part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup (Kats, 2010). The big brands have also been running similar marketing activities that have promoted their products over the small and medium products. Companies like Nike have used the internet to reach over tens of millions of football fans through You Tube. The company though it was not an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup, has been able to reach its target audience.

An analysis that was carried out over the internet proved that the Nike had the most visited link during the world cup tournament. This was in comparison to official sponsors who had also used the internet to reach their market. The company developed an advertisement that was uploaded on You Tube which was about writing the future (Horrow & Swatek, 2010). 3. 0 Conclusion The World Cup is a very significant event in the sports calendar. It is also a very important event for most of the countries and companies who gain tremendously from the marketing that is carried out during the period.

It is however important for the companies to be careful when they are marketing their products during the event to make sure they incorporate the football theme into their advertising campaigns so as not to make the fans detest their brands especially when they are too formal. Advertisements and marketing campaigns that incorporate the World Cup spirit become very successful and are branded in the minds of the million of football fans. Reference List About FIFA. (n. d). Retrieved July 15, 2010, from FIFA: http://www. fifa. com/aboutfifa/federation/index. html Football Marketing.

(2010, May 4). FIFA World Cup, Strategy. Retrieved July 15, 2010, from Football Marketing: http://www. football-marketing. com/2010/05/04/6-marketing-strategies-to-exploit-world-cup-opportunities/ Grewal, L. (2010, June 2). The World Cup 2010 Portfolio . Retrieved July 15, 2010, from Investopedia: http://stocks. investopedia. com/stock-analysis/2010/The-World-Cup-2010-Portfolio-ADDYY-NKE-V-MCD-SNE-KO-BUD-DEO-GPMCY-PPLT0602. aspx Horrow, R. , & Swatek, K. (2010, June 24). World Cup: Guerillas on the Pitch. Retrieved July 15, 2010, from Bloomberg Business Week: http://www. businessweek.

com/lifestyle/content/jun2010/bw20100624_645847. htm? chan=globalbiz_special+report+–+world+cup+2010_special+report+–+world+cup+2010 Kats, R. (2010, June 16). FIFA World Cup presents big mobile marketing opportunities for brands. Retrieved July 15, 2010, from Mobile Marketer: http://www. mobilemarketer. com/cms/news/advertising/6562. html Landler, M. (2010). U. S. marketers take global tack on World Cup – Americas – International Herald Tribune. Retrieved July 15, 2010, from The New York Times: http://www. nytimes. com/2006/06/06/world/americas/06iht-sell. 1904760. html? _r=1