Sports

Chatting and posting on social—especially on Facebook—has proven to be a common trend during this year’s FIFA World Cup, so it comes as no surprise that social platforms are helping brands extend their reach and get their ads in front of more followers.

Entravision Communications Corporation announced that its television and radio broadcasts of the 2014 FIFA World Cup have generated strong ratings to date across its platform of television, radio and digital properties.

In a joint effort, Richards/Lerma and digital agency Digiworks introduce The Social Cup; a dynamic dashboard where users can see which country garnered the most mentions, the ultimate Dream Team, how many “friendly” messages the referees have received and more.

The World Cup is one of the best, real-time and global brand sponsorship opportunities, but it seems a brand doesn’t need to shell out hefty sponsorship fees to FIFA to get the benefit of it. More than a third of consumers identified MasterCard as a sponsor of the 2014 futbol games, even though MasterCard has not been an official sponsor since 2006.

Week two of the global FIFA World Cup party. So far the event is delivering great entertainment, except when you are Brazil. Brazil’s team is struggling to live up to its unrealistic lofty fan expectations, and there are still daily protests in Brazil against the enormous expense at which this festival comes. The Brazilians love football, but hate FIFA and their own government.

By Gonzalo López Martí @LopezMartiMiami

The World Cup is here. If you’ve been watching the games on Univision like yours truly, you might have been exposed to the barrage of fútbol-related ads. Let’s rate and dissect a few of them.

Methodology? Unaided recall filtered by sixteen long years in the ad business. I just sat through a bunch of games and then proceeded to write what popped in my mind sans rhyme or reason.

Disclaimer: I coined the names of each spot solely for reference purposes. They are NOT the actual names given them by the brands or agencies behind them.

Telemundo introduced a new version of its Deportes Telemundo app for mobile devices as part of a re-launch of its digital sports platforms.

According to ZenithOptimedia’s new Advertising Expenditure Forecasts, the FIFA World Cup will boost global adspend by an estimated US$1.5bn this year. The event will deliver large television audiences and high interest in news media and sport websites, at a time of year when – in the northern hemisphere at least – people normally spend less time consuming media. We expect TV to benefit the most, but World Cup advertisers will spend more of their budgets on internet advertising, with advertisers more active on social media than during any previous sporting event.

I don’t have much time, because the World Cup is on and my home country, The Netherlands, has gotten off to a pretty amazing start. But I also follow England, Belgium, Team USA, Brazil, Japan and Germany (the last one I want to see losing, just like any other Dutchman, only to probably see them win the whole tournament). OK, I will admit I watch the whole thing beginning to end.

How much value is generated from sponsoring the World Cup? Or its superstars, such as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo? Here are five metrics that are crucial to finding out.

While Brazil has had some hiccups in its preparations, the economic windfall from hosting the World Cup could be upwards to $65B. The influx of visitors alone will generate over $3B for Brazil. The World Cup is a momentous event and with that comes a stage for introducing innovative concepts and pushing marketing to new heights.

This week men, women and people of all ages from every corner of the world will gather around a TV set to join the passion of the World Cup and catch a hint of the spirit of Brazil. No other sport has the power to ignite the love for country and passion as soccer does during World Cup season, particularly for Hispanics. From an iconic Latin American destination to official music and entertainment featuring an all-star roster of Latino talent including Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez, Claudia Leitte and Shakira, this year’s championship is more infused with Latino flavor than ever before.  By Lili Gil Valletta, Co-Founder XL Alliance. Media Contributor.

A new graphic using statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau’s International Data Base shows the populations of the 32 participating countries in this year’s FIFA World Cup and past champions. The combined population of this year’s participating countries is 1.9 billion.

The first matches are only hours away, and over the course of the month-long tournament billions (with a “b”) of fans will look to catch some of the action, whether on TV, on the radio, via other assorted media or even on-site. But while most of the world is getting ready for the event, here in the U.S. neither the tournament nor soccer itself have reached mainstream acceptance. However, demographics give reason to believe this might change over time, as younger generations of Americans are showing far more interest in the sport and event alike than their older counterparts.

World Cup fans will be watching the 2014 games across multiple devices, often simultaneously, according to an analysis from Experian Marketing Services. Specifically, World Cup fans are 31 percent more likely than average to watch online video across multiple devices, with 64 percent of adult fans watching online video during a typical week, compared with 49 percent of all adults.

Mike Sievert – Chief Marketing Officer /  T-Mobile

This week, the 2014 FIFA World Cup kicks off in Brazil, and we’re helping to bring this awesome global spectacle to your living room – and your phone – in typical Un-carrier style.

The World Cup is an amazing, incredible quadrennial event, and T-Mobile’s Simple Choice plan is hands-down the best option for the hundreds of thousands of Americans travelling to the games – with unlimited data and texting and low-cost calls while in Brazil.

Among Hispanic soccer fans, filling the World Cup “sticker album” is a time-honored tradition. ESPN Deportes’ marketing team pays tribute to that ritual in its latest marketing campaign promoting the network’s news and information coverage around the World Cup.

Querying sports enthusiasts from 11 markets – Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States – who have smartphones and plan to follow the tournament, the survey reveals that 48 percent overall plan to use their phones to follow the World Cup, second only to TV (63%) when it comes to media channels for keeping up with the game.

By Gonzalo López Martí @LopezMartiMiami

Dear Mr. Marcelo Claure.
You are a long-time Miami resident.
An accomplished entrepreneur.
It’d be fair to say you are the most successful Hispanic businessman living in the US today.
You amassed one bulky personal fortune and built a global corporate juggernaut from scratch.
Not in real estate like all those big shots driving flashy, second-hand Maseratis around town: you made your money in the highly competitive field of mobile telecommunications.
You employ hundreds of people locally and thousands more across the world.
This community owes you a lot.
You are an example for this town and for Latinos all over the planet.
Question: what’s your exact share & role in the bid to start an MLS franchise in Miami?

ESPN Deportes will provide 24/7 multiplatform Spanish-language news and information coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup from Brazil June 12 – July 13 available across television, radio, online and mobile.