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2010 FIFA World Cup
Every sport has teams whose fans love to hate a rival team (and their fans). Whether it is for past defeats in championships or the trade of a star player (see Babe Ruth and the ensuing Red Sox curse) these rivalries create a passion in the sport that is unrivaled.
The same competition and disdain can be seen between top brands through their advertising; many of them, such as Pepsi versus Coke, with the 1980’s Pepsi Challenge ,or the more recent Verizon versus AT&T with the battle of the coverage maps, are very direct in their criticisms. While these behemoths compete on a year-round basis, specific sporting events such as the Super Bowl, Summer Olympics and now the FIFA World Cup bring out some serious ad spending and creativity that many times is as entertaining as the actual event.
One rivalry of particular interest with the World Cup around the corner is the advertising battle between the footwear brands Nike, Adidas, and Puma. For the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Puma was the best represented brand with 11 countries, versus 8 for Nike and 6 for Adidas. For the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Nike jumped out to an early lead in the advertising battle with the viral video ad “Write the Future” ,which has been an early success. While not an official sponsor, the Nike swoosh is prominently displayed on jerseys for such teams as Brazil, Portugal, Holland, USA, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.
Puma, the sponsor of such teams as: Italy, Cameroon, Algeria, Switzerland, Paraguay, Czech Republic, Poland, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Uruguay, and Angola also recently launched its first ad, which has a focus on African football and features background music by Gnarls Barkley. While the overall theme may be soccer and the timing and visuals relate to participants in the World Cup, Puma is also not an official sponsor, and as with the Nike ads, they do not use the logos associated with FIFA or this year’s World Cup. Enjoy the African football-focused ad here:
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In 2006 Adidas scored with this ad of kids picking their favorite “neighborhood players” for a quick game of futbol:
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Adidas is the official sponsor of not only the 2010 World Cup, with their logo on the official ball, but also the sponsor of such teams as Spain, South Africa, Argentina, Mexico, Germany and France. While there has been more buzz about their design of the official match ball “Jabulani” than their ads, this is sure to change. In 2006 Adidas scored with this ad, and while not much has been seen from them yet this year, this is expected to change. For now we will leave you with this short ad:
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