Ahead of one of the biggest sporting events of 2018, the Captify planning team have been knee deep in data to reveal early planning tips to help kick World Cup campaigns into action.
1) TACKLE OR SIT ON THE SIDELINES? (SPONSORS VS NON-SPONSORS)
Brands facing the conundrum of whether to activate around the World Cup or politely spectate can get answers from Search Intelligence.
This year FIFA’s top tier sponsors paid on average $200m for sponsor rights to the game and here’s how those sponsors currently rank in the World Cup search leaderboard:
Qatar Airways: 52.22%
Kia Motors: 16.62%
Hisense: 8.97%
Adidas: 6.05%
Coca-Cola: 4.87%
Interestingly, despite not spending a penny for branding rights, the following brands are benefiting from a natural synergy with the global sporting event:
Heineken: 14.50%
Burger King: 14.40%
Paypal: 13.11%
Coors: 12.75%
American Express: 4.87%
Turn insights into action:
Non-sponsor? Take advantage of the synergy and piggyback to bolster awareness with consumers who already connect you to the game. Activate on audiences that are ready and raring to go. Sponsor? Amplify your world cup strategy for maximum reach and take advantage of increased search interest as a result of big sponsorship spend.
2) THINK GLOBAL, ACT LOCAL (DIVIDED SEARCH INTEREST US/UK/FR)
Search is a powerful tool to identify individual market nuances in behaviour. World Cup fever is prevalent in some markets more than others.
World Cup search interest vs the population:
US: 24%
UK: 47%
France: 29%
Turn insights into action:
Brands looking to plan and activate global branding activity need to apply a unique strategy for each market linked to where the nation is in the consideration phase. Here we can see brands have ‘permission’ to speak to consumers in the UK where interest is high but may need to hold back on US strategies a little longer whilst momentum picks up.
3) MONITOR THE MOTIVATION BEHIND THE MOMENT (SUPER FAN VS SUPER PATRIOTISM)
The World Cup 2018 is almost 7 months away and Captify’s data trackers are already in place to pinpoint and reveal a range of fan profiles. All fans are not equal, with some investing more into the game than others. Early signals of super-fans see spikes in searches for ‘flights to Russia and ‘visas for Russia’. In the UK following the qualifying matches flights to Russia increased by over 63% as fans get set to flock to show support for the team and country.
Turn insights into action:
Prospect and expand audience reach by understanding those World Cup fans who are actually NOT traditional football fans (by looking back at historical connected interests). Whether it’s pure patriotism or just jumping on the bandwagon, it’s an opportunity to engage with new consumers. Trigger dynamic creative powered by Search Intelligence to tap into the real passion points of fans.
4) DIVIDE BY DEVICE (DEVICE PREFERENCES BY COUNTRY)
Looking at search trends of football fans specifically, it’s evident that country by country screen preference is divided.
Device preference of football fans per country:
France: 42% spend more time on tablet
UK: 40% spend more time on desktop
US: 38% more time on mobile
Turn insights into action:
Search trends by device reveal when to upweight activity on particular devices at particular times. Consider video when Search reveals how light TV viewers and on-demand viewers search and consume sports-related content. Deliver advertising and messaging to football fans exactly how they like it when they like it
5) ONE TEAM ONE DREAM (DATA & CREATIVITY)
Last year in Captify’s ‘Summer of Sport’ agency roadshow ‘how to take advantage of the creative license that data affords’ was one of the most common conversations threads. Surprisingly on some occasions brands run performance strategies around events like the World Cup but don’t reference the event in standard performance formats, focussing creativity on high impact creatives.
Captify’s A/B testing around The Open showed that creative with a golfing reference performed over 30% better than creative without, exceeding campaign objectives for new credit card sign-ups.
Turn insights into action:
This one is short and sweet. Keep it relevant, keep it fresh. Trial, test and reset.
6) CAPITALISE ON SPORADIC & UNPREDICTABLE MOMENTS
Who can forget when Uruguay striker Luis Suarez was suspended from all football-related activity for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini. Many leading brands like Snickers and Spec-Savers swooped in to hijack the trending moment with a cheeky reaction. Search sees in real-time how euphoric and unpredictable moments garner interest for key players.
Top trending World Cup players revealed by Search Intelligence:
Lionel Messi: 16%
David de Gea: 15%
Cristiano Ronaldo: 15%
Gareth Bale: 9%
Mesut Ozil: 8%
Turn insights into action:
Understanding player sentiment throughout the game can influence a reset strategy to bolster even more share of voice during this ‘noisy’ time. The beauty of search is that it’s real and in real time. Brands can measure and activate instantly.
7) DID IT WORK? MEASURE ENTIRE SOV
It may seem far in the future but after activating a kick-ass World Cup campaign it is integral that brands measure the overall share of voice during the event to understand what worked and what didn’t.
Look back to look forward
In Captify’s study of last year’s Super Bowl, Budweiser commanded SOV pole position 5 days before and 5 days after with the ‘Born the Hard Way’ TV ad commanded over 80% of the top 4 beer tv ad searches (Bud vs Budlight vs Michelob vs Busch)
Turn insights into action:
Understanding post-campaign impact from multiple measurement sources can be tricky to navigate. Search is at the centre of overall measurement when determining overall share of voice. Look to Search to measure the true impact of overall marketing spend, not just digital.
Need specific vertical planning insights? Get in touch.
