From Adidas to Budweiser FIFA's global partner brands stoke football fever

IPSOS survey showed that Coca Cola, Adidas, Hyundai, McDonald, Vivo, and Budweiser were the brands with the highest recall among Indians as FIFA partners

In a country where cricket rules the hearts and minds of its people, football is a relatively new usurper to the throne. And while there is not a chance in sight, yet, of an Indian team on the field, brands are not letting that dim their promotional fervour. From Adidas that has footballs dropping off the skies to Budweiser drones making their way from New Delhi to Moscow to Qatar Airways’ promotion tents in malls, FIFA’s global partner brands are leaving no experience untried to reach the game’s growing legion of fans in the country.
 

FIFA’s partners include Adidas, Coca-Cola, Wanda, Gazprom, Hyundai Motors– Kia Motors, Qatar Airways, and Visa. FIFA World Cup sponsors (global and on-ground) include Budweiser, Hisense, McDonald’s, Mengniu and Vivo. India is not among the 32 participant nations but Indian audiences are deeply engaged with the tournament and well versed with the brand partners. 

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A recent survey by market research firm IPSOS revealed that 85 per cent Indians watch football, with 31 per cent calling themselves passionate followers of the game. When it comes to the FIFA World Cup, the IPSOS survey showed that Coca Cola (70 per cent), Adidas (67 per cent), Hyundai (57 per cent), McDonald’s (57 per cent), Vivo (46 per cent), and Budweiser (33 per cent) were the brands with the highest recall among Indians as FIFA partners.

For some brands, the route to the customers’ mind is through immersive offline experiences which are expected to drive online conversations around the product and the game. Adidas, for example, has focused on the out-of-home medium. A campaign by its media agency Carat and OOH agency Posterscope (both under the Dentsu Aegis umbrella) has been about putting the brand on the field with the players. According to the agency it has been all about TelStar, the official football that is being used in the FIFA world cup and reaching out to enthusiasts, both players and fans, across various age groups. 

OFF THE FIELD

Adidas:  A large billboard on a busy spot on bustling streets with a dangling rope, which when tugged yields a Telstar football that is the official FIFA  2018 ball
 

Budweiser: A television campaign that had drones converging upon Moscow from different parts of the world, including India with contests and promotions on social media
 

Qatar Airways: Virtual football activation in malls across Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore and contests on social media that offer winners a chance to fly to Russia for the final
 

Hyundai: A helpline where fans can call in to nominate a friend or family member to be entertained by the automaker while they watch the game, uninterrupted

Based on the client brief, the agency developed an interactive innovation on a unipole with a rope hanging to get passers-by curious about the contraption. In a video that recorded the experience on the street, the voice-over points out that that it takes more than one person to pull the rope and when a group gets a successful tug going, a TelStar football drops down leading to (in most cases) a joyous roar. 

Sean Van Wyk, senior marketing director, Adidas India said, “The love for football is growing massively and we wanted to kick-start the celebration in an impactful way. The idea was to celebrate and reward the spirit of coming together as a team. The pure joy on people’s faces of kicking the official World Cup football around the field was an amazing sight, sport really does have the power to change lives.” 
 

The objective all around is to bring Indian fans closer to the game, even without a team on the field. Beer brand Budweiser for instance, localised a global campaign where thousands of drones fly over the participant nations as they head towards Moscow, one flies over the Gateway of India in Mumbai. Kartikeya Sharma, marketing director–India, AB InBev said, “This is one of the biggest sporting spectacles across the globe and we aim to offer the ultimate opportunity for fans in India to come together through our integrated campaign and create the euphoric energy.” It is also taking 35 football fans to the FIFA World Cup in Russia. The brand also has exclusive access to the “Man of the Match” trophy and select consumers/influencers will get an opportunity to present the trophy to star players. Besides the brand has organised several public viewings of the matches and is running a campaign on Snapchat too. 

Hyundai has taken the digital route, under the #SaveMyGame campaign, it asked fans to call in on a special helpline and nominated a family member or friend who could be gifted an experience while they watched their matches, interruption free. Puneet Anand, senior general manager and group head-Marketing, Hyundai Motor India said, “Hyundai has a long-standing history in football as a proud automobile official partner of FIFA since 1999. We are confident that #SaveMyGame will strike an instant chord with both the fans and their friends and family.” For brands and fans, the game has just begun.