As we head into Brazil 2014, only a tantalising 19 days away, marketers are already twitching excitedly about the prospect of a huge and highly engaged audience ripe for the picking.


Each of the nations competing has at least one player with a verified account on Twitter, even Iran where Twitter is banned is represented by Hossam Masini. Savvy Social Media Managers may be dreaming of the footballing equivalent of another “Oreo moment” and looking back at past World Cups it’s not hard to imagine where the talking points might come from:

Over his head

Nowhere near his head

Improper use of his head

With more people tuning in to watch the World Cup than the Olympics, Tour De France and the Superbowl (sorry America) combined this World Cup is neatly coinciding with the rise of the 'second screen'. More and more people are watching with a mobile in hand and soaking up the information and reaction on social media as well as making searches based on the events of the game.

Above is how the searches were made during the 2010 world cup final. Largely desktop with the most queries immediately after the final whistle.

Below is how the searches were made during a major Champions League game in 2014. Predominantly mobile, with the most searches made around key moments in the match.

All of this points to an active audience ready to react in real-time to anything truly engaging. Perhaps surprisingly young survey respondents are casting increasingly disapproving glances at ambush tactics in favour of "classier" official sponsorship. Young consumers are increasingly aware of the showboating antics of the some brands and guffaws are turning to weary sighs. On the other hand, through traditional sponsorship, major brands are dominating YouTube with World Cup focussed content racking up millions of views, with the not inconsiderable muscles of Nike and Adidas flexing most successfully. Even the official England team announcement was made on Twitter, a platform that didn't even exist when the likes of Lampard and Gerrard were making their debuts, long since they'd spent a good few years getting in each others' way.

A very Twitter-centric England squad announcement


Samsung is building on the success of its Ellen selfie by giving the entire England team Samsung phones to use, and if league winning teams are anything to go by we won't be seeing an end to the selfie just yet. 

Manchester City players, Lescott, Kompany and Hart celebrate Permier League win with a selfie.

Now though celebrity endorsements are an artform all to themselves, as Hart proves advertising anything he can get his capable hands on, user generated content has matured into a pillar of marketing strategy and 9/10s of the world loves a bit of the beautiful game. With 87% of UK Twitter users expecting to watch the World Cup and the hashtag #worldcup already having been used 10 million times it's almost hard to anticipate the scale of World Cup fever the network is going to be crushed under. For fans and marketers alike the excitement is at vuvuzela-pitch but hopefully marketers will have more interesting and intelligent things to say than "OMG" or ":(" following the inevitable penalty shoot out exit.

Whatever happens lets hope we have some worthy world champions, that Wayne Rooney improves on a tally to match me and you - of zero World Cup goals, and that 'soccer' produces something to finally dethrone that imperious Oreo.