It’s that time. You’ve waited four years for this. For soccer fans, it doesn’t get any better.
The World Cup.
You grab a drink and head for the couch.
A message from a friend pops up on Facebook Messenger.
Have you seen the video of the slick-footed chap in “Ben’s Beers” body paint doing amazing tricks with a ball outside
Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow while being chased by security services? It’s become a viral sensation and cases of Ben’s are flying off shelves.
You have, however, seen quite a
few placements for big-time cola carefully placed around the pitch, but you’re not buying; instead, sampling some Ben’s has moved to the top of your to-do list. Everybody loves an
underdog, and Ben’s clever stunt should be rewarded.
For global sporting events like the World Cup, Olympics and America’s Super Bowl, unless your brand has millions to
spend on marketing, it’s almost impossible to get in on the action. For the 2018 Super Bowl, a single 30-second spot went
for more than $5 million; eight sponsors spent $75 million each for the 2014 World
Cup. With trademarks and exclusivity for official sponsors now fiercely protected, it’s nearly impossible for brand freeloaders to crash the party.
But it can be done.
Thanks
to social media and digital, clever brands can slip through the tight defenses thrown up by official organizations that control these events, and scrappy brands can make a lot of noise while spending
virtually nothing.
Ken Robertson is an ambush marketing expert and former “head of mischief” at Paddy Power, an Irish bookmaker. He now runs his own marketing and PR
agency.
Companies that spend a lot on sporting events are wasting money, says Robertson. “People expect more from brands now than seeing them on the perimeter boards
during a major event. These partnerships show a lack of imagination and even some insecurity from the brand.”
Robertson has proven himself a master PR prankster. During a 2014 Euro Cup
match between Denmark and Portugal, Robertson utilized Danish striker Nicholas Bendtner and a pair of boxer shorts to get Paddy Power some priceless publicity. When Bendtner scored the game winner, he dropped his trousers just low enough to reveal a Paddy Power logo at the top of
his green briefs, which was seen by millions on television and social media. It should be noted that Bendtner was fined and rules were later implemented by FIFA preventing this from happening again.
Paddy Power has moved on to ambush events in other clever, albeit controversial ways, including “poking the bear” for this year’s World Cup.
Even companies with
much deeper pockets are getting in on the action.
FIFA’s official Cup sponsors for the 2014 World Cup included Anheuser-Busch InBev, Continental and McDonald’s – but
not Google, who celebrated the launch of the 2014 Cup with a Doodle on its homepage – a football bouncing onscreen in the green and yellow of host nation Brazil’s national flag. Though not
an official Cup sponsor, Google generated huge amounts of publicity for themselves and connection with the Cup whenever users typed in a search query. Google Street View also allowed users to glimpse
inside the stadium and Google Trends featured a stat-filled microsite, generating even more association between Google and the Cup.
In 2015, spending way less than the $4 million plus for an official Super Bowl commercial, Newcastle Ale piggybacked on Doritos’ “Crash the Super Bowl” contest, where consumers
entered their own 30-second ads to win the chance to be one of Doritos’ official Super Bowl spots. Newcastle’s fake entry removed any mention of Doritos and prominently featured the Newcastle name and product. The spot achieved the
third highest reach of any pre-game Super Bowl ad.
“We think the formula for creating the most epic Big Game commercial of all time is pretty simple, but when it comes down to it, we'd
rather have people drink our beer while watching other peoples’ ads,” Charles Van Es, former senior brand director for Newcastle, told Business Insider.
Perhaps the greatest example of a brand “crashing the games” was Nike at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, after which trademarks became vigorously
protected. Nike decided that instead of throwing millions into a sponsorship, clever thinking could get the Nike swish noticed in other ways – for free. US sprinter Michael Johnson won the gold
in the 400-meter dash, propelled by a pair of gold-colored, $30,000 racing spikes given to Johnson by Nike. Millions of people saw the shoes during the race, and millions more saw Johnson sporting
them around his neck when he received his medal. Johnson and his Nikes also made the cover of Time Magazine. Nike also handed out free flags, which fans waved everywhere they went around the Olympic
grounds.
Reebok, on the other hand, forked over $20 million to be an official sponsor, and still couldn’t close the
gap with Nike, who beat Reebok 22% to 16% in recall and awareness amongst Olympic television viewers and
attendees.
“Doing the unexpected helps elevate brands. It’s all part of the public’s demand for more sophisticated communications,” said Robertson.
What scrappy brand will win big at the World Cup? The world will be watching.