• by Mallory Russell , June 13, 2014

This year’s World Cup has seen a huge number of campaigns featuring celebrities.  Of the more than World Cup 50 campaigns analyzed by Visible Measures to date, 55% of them have famous faces.  The majority of those campaigns star players participating in the tournament.

But does it matter which famous athletes these brands use to star in their campaigns?  Does one athlete generate more traction than another? Which World Cup player is also a viral video superstar?

 Lionel Messi: The Most Coveted Brand Spokesperson

The soccer star to appear in the most World Cup campaigns so far is Lionel Messi. The Barcelona FC forward has starred in nine World Cup campaigns for Gatorade, Pepsi, Samsung and adidas to date. 

Messi is extremely popular.  He has already been voted the world’s best player four times and won six league titles with Barcelona FC and three Champions Leagues.  His athletic success mirrors his track record in branded video. Both of the Turkish Airlines videos that he starred in with Kobe Bryant reached more than 100 million views.

Other players have star power in video content too.  Neymar Jr. – Messi’s FC Barcelona teammate and a Brazil native – and Robin Van Persie – the Dutchman who plays for Manchester United – each starred in five video ad campaigns apiece. 

Wayne Rooney:  The Most-Watched Player

Messi, Neymar and Van Persie may have starred in the most campaigns but they are not the player who generated the most views. That honor goes to England’s Wayne Rooney, the most viral video player.  Campaigns starring Rooney, a forward for Manchester United, have generated 195.8 million views. 

Rooney has starred in three World Cup campaigns to date – Nike’s Risk Everything, Samsung’s Galaxy 11: The Beginning and Samsung’s Galaxy 11: The Training.  Nike’s campaign is the most viewed of all World Cup initiatives thus far, with 100+ million views.  Samsung’s Galaxy 11: The Training is the second-most-viewed campaign, garnering more than 57 million views.  Rooney’s campaigns have generated 37.3 million more views than Lionel Messi, who comes in second place with 158.5 million views. 

The Englishman’s campaigns have garnered 37.3 million views more than Lionel Messi, who come in at No.2, with 158.5 million views. Messi stars in almost all of adidas’ videos. And while adidas has released more campaigns than its competitor, Nike, they haven’t generated nearly as many views as the Portland-based company’s videos. The Argentinean was also a part of the same Samsung campaigns that featured Rooney.

But It Takes a Team To Score a Viral Video

It is important to note that the campaigns that generated the most views, like Nike’s Risk Everything and Samsung’s Galaxy 11, feature multiple soccer stars – not just one – and this made all the difference in their viewership metrics.  Campaigns that use multiple celebrities drive higher viewership because it allows brands to reach different demographics – different countries and club fans – with one piece of creative while generating significant buzz.

So while each of these soccer stars draws their own audiences, it still takes a team to score a true viral video.