With no less than seven Latin American teams, including Mexico, qualifying for the second round of the World Cup in Brazil and, let’s not forget also Team USA, World Cup Marketing and Advertising Opportunities are still being sold.
Univision’s Juan Carlos Rodriguez recently told us that the current World Cup is the most successful ad-event in the history of Univision. Brands such as Hiunday and Dish, are advertising in Spanish in English-language media mainstreaming their Hispanic marketing. Below a look at how some digital and print media properties are capitalizing on the opportunity.
“With seven Latin-American countries and the U.S. advancing to the next round of the World Cup, advertiser inquiries from prospective and current advertisers of Hoy’s World Cup opportunities, online and digital are still being received,” says Sandra Alvidrez National Sales Manager, Hoy/LA Times Media Group in Los Angeles. According to Alvidrez, so far, the primary share of World Cup advertising is coming from the spirits/liquor advertisers, primarily within the beer category. “We are also seeing non-endemic advertisers such as studios, there’s interest in adjacencies to World Cup coverage for the promotion of their upcoming film releases. It’s also been a hot spot for local advertisers who obviously don’t have the budgets to be an official sponsor of the tournament, but can participate with small sponsorships partnered with content.”
Ginger Neal, President & Chief of Strategy at Lion Heart Digital, a multicultural newspaper digital ad network, tells Portada that “many media buyers voiced concerns about ad dollars going away but that is not what we saw. Our advertisers made their commitments in 2013 and our campaigns didn’t shift based on the outcome. While Mexico being in the finals makes everything more exciting, our publishers and most of their audience are committed either way.” According to Hoy Los Angeles’ Alvidrez, “as Mexico advances, it’s no surprise that more interest is building specifically in the markets that we cover, Los Angeles and Chicago; and current advertisers are extending their current campaigns to coincide with Mexico’s success in the World Cup.” (The Mexican National Team lost against Netherlands in the second round play-off on June 29). In terms of popular ad-categories Neal asserts that “much like 2010, on a national level most of our clients are committed to branding strategies. Some of the strongest national advertising categories include Telecom, Automotive, Airlines and Financial. ”
Zulema Tijero, Sales Manager at Washington D.C.’s Hispanic newspaper El Tiempo Latino notes that her newspaper published a special 2014 World Cup supplement a few weeks ago. She is now running special sections for 4 extra weeks and selling ads into it. The main source of advertising are local advertisers, lawyers and retail stores & insurance companies. She adds that at a regional & national level, budgets have been cut across the board. “Most or our sales came locally with the exception of McDonald’s. “Sales were 20% less from 2010,” Tijero concludes.
National Audience Success: More Attention to Soccer Overall
Hoy Los Angeles’s Alvidrez cautions that “although, World Cup has always been a global sensation, domestically it’s been a challenge, since other sports take priority. Soccer isn’t always a priority – but with this year’s numbers, it’ll be hard to find a national marketer who won’t want to participate at some level in 2018.”
Alvidrez adds that the U.S. team’s success is driving more attention to the sport overall, drawing a bigger domestic audience, that is much larger than expected, and even more so than the NBA finals or the World Series audiences.”
Differences vs 2010: A shift in Distribution
What are the main differences in Marketing and Media between the 2014 Soccer World Cup in Brazil and the one before (South Africa in 2010) “The shift we did see was in distribution. Most campaigns want to include video, social and mobile as part of the program. As far as overall advertising dollars we saw an uptick with some of the larger brands but for the most part we believe money is being reallocated, “says Lion Heart Digital’s Neal.
To Sandra Alvidrez, one important change at her property versus 2010 is having a reporter stationed in Brazil. This allows Hoy to provide readers in print and visitors online with a unique perspective, covering everything from first-hand accounts of how the weather is playing a role in these matches or international fans unscripted feedback on the World Cup overall.”
DOWNLOAD Portada’s 2014 Soccer Marketing Guide in partnership with SOCCER.COM and AC&M Group. (Free, login or free registration required).
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