• by Wayne Friedman , July 27, 2010

When it comes to pure awareness, not all global marketers witnessed improvement from their World Cup sponsorships.

Companies like Visa, McDonald's and Hyundai posted gains -- especially with younger viewers of the event. This is according to the Shelton, Conn. researcher Survey Sampling International.

Visa showed a lift among women 20-29, while men 30-39 had higher levels when it came to messaging from McDonald's. Hyundai grabbed good results from women 20-29 and men 30-39. Visa also had improvement among all male groups.

Those with little gains were Budweiser, MTN (Mobile Telephone Network) and Seara, among those who did not see the needle move on their awareness levels. SSI says respondents were no more likely to recognize these companies as sponsors during the last week of the event than they were before it began.

While Coca-Cola and Adidas remain the most recognized World Cup sponsors -- coming in at first place and second place, respectively -- neither company witnessed higher awareness results from the World Cup. SSI believes this is due to existing strong connections with consumers.

Interest in the World Cup remains high.

After the just-completed event, 68% of men 20-29 and 64% of men 30-39 say they are interested or very interested -- although down somewhat from before the event. For women after the event, 53% of 20-29 respondents and 41% of 30-39 respondents say they are interested or very interested. Overall, this is a slight increase from before the event.