FIFA World Cup 2014: Nike vs adidas

As the 2014 FIFA World Cup builds its tempo, a report released by Repucom shows Nike and Adidas at the centre of a heated battle to maximize the advertising and sponsorship potential of Football’s greatest occasion. Player endorsements and team kit manufacturers have traditionally been where the rivals face off every four years, and that competition continues unabated.

This year, adidas can boast stars like Argentina’s Lionel Messi, Germany’s Mesut Ozil and Robin Van Persie of the Netherlands, while Nike’s list includes Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr. of Brazil and England’s Wayne Rooney.

In 2010, adidas kitted out 25% more of the teams than Nike, but Nike predominates in Brazil, outfitting 10 of the 32 teams, one more than adidas. Since 2010, social media has begun to redefine the competition with users of Twitter, Facebook and other platforms soaring from four years ago.

In overall fan and followers, currently Nike has the edge with over 36 million Facebook page ‘likes’ and 1.8 million Twitter followers- twice as many engaged fans across these platforms as adidas. Facebook is where both brands find more traction. In early June of this year, Nike had approximately 18 million more Facebook page ‘likes’ than adidas. Back in February the gap was under 5 million.

In the developed markets of the US and the UK, the two brands’ Facebook fan bases have grown by no more than 10 per cent during 2014. But among the top 10 ‘most engaged’ countries for their Facebook sites are the likes of India, Mexico and Colombia. And it is in these emerging markets that Nike has enjoyed the greatest success in growing its online fan base. The current page likes on the adidas Football Facebook page are 18.6 million while that on the Nike Football page are 37.3 million. But this gap between the two brands in terms of online followers is likely to decrease as the World Cup approaches the Finals. Nike may well have taken the first steps on this battleground but with their official FIFA partnership status, adidas commercial strategy will certainly be a strong force throughout the FIFA World Cup months.

Ambush Marketing
Most football properties already undertake extensive policing of their brand and environment through compliance monitoring or commercial auditing across media platforms and around the venue. The key remains how the policing is enforced if any breaches are found. The best principle to follow is that prevention is better than cure.
Ambush campaigns tend to be national in nature and so their reach is usually quie limited compared to the potential global reach of an official partnership. More genrally, the best defence is a properly executed and sufficiently leveraged official campaign. Given its primacy of position and credibility of authorization, official activity should always overshadow more loosely connected and less universal ambush activation. When buying an official partnership, a brand is tapping into legacy, tradition and history, three crucial aspects of how football fans view the game. An ambush campaign can, at best, stimulate a current association, but we have yet to see a credible campaign that links a non-sponsor with the past.

One of the most important keys to a successful marketing campaign is an integrated activation. Multiple platforms and vehicles should transmit a common theme. Official partnerships enjoy a much richer palette of opportunities than outside brands. This is a potentially powerful head start.

Nike’s Risk Everything campaign certainly got people sharing and engaging, their social media fan base growth illustrates this well. In two weeks, the campaign had 52 million You Tube views, 98000 Tweets and 504,000 Facebook interactions. In terms of companies who are not official FIFA World Cup partners or sponsors, Nike’s activation has proved fruitful. In contrast however, Samsung has not fared so well.

It is the official FIFA World Cup partner adidas who has performed the best, showing themselves to be a company which is doing well to protect against ambush marketing. Their share of voice online could well increase further during and following the 2014 FIFA World Cup as their exposure increases.