Photo credit: Colours Wallpapers
Thousands of Americans, both bandwagon-ers and diehard fútbol addicts, are caught up in the fervor of the World Cup after an intense and exciting U.S. vs. Ghana game yesterday. Since the tournament started last week, a slew of upsets have soccer fans worldwide glued to the Internet and social media.
Global brands are encouraging fans everywhere to follow sponsored social media hashtags for all the best World Cup news, updates and fan-fueled rivalries. Press Kitchen tags some of the big ones below:
Budweiser continues its sports dominance by branding itself as the official World Cup beer. Budweiser has partnered with FIFA to create the “Rise as One” campaign and website, creating compelling video content that illuminates how the world is united by a universal love for the game. The #RiseAsOne hashtag features game results, scores, and friendly competition.
Yesterday’s #ManoftheMatch winners, including USA’s Clint Dempsey (left), who scored a record-crushing goal in the first 32 seconds of the game! Photo credit: @BudweiserFC Twitter.
Budweiser’s Twitter feed is extremely active, with several World Cup Tweets every day – and even a separate Twitter feed just for FIFA and Budweiser updates (check out @BudweiserFC). The company’s #ManoftheMatch hashtag encourages fans to “vote” on which player(s) they feel deserve to win, and then Budweiser posts photos of the winners with a branded Budweiser trophy.
Budweiser has also created a fun service on its Facebook page called “Paint the World,” where followers create a personalized virtual image of their face painted the colors of their favorite team.
As one of the long-time partners of FIFA, adidas is commonly considered the most popular soccer brand in the U.S., even beating out Nike (which dominates essentially every other sport). The adidas website resembles a screaming World Cup ad, with player profiles, team apparel, and even a popup window where visitors can chat with an adidas “soccer expert.” Adidas is also firing up fútbol fans with its “#allin or nothing” campaign (also annoyingly featured on the #AllInOrNothing hashtag). The campaign plays off the idea that World Cup athletes have earned their way to the top by committing to go “all in” over the last four years and during the tournament.
Some of the great athletes featured in adidas’ #AllInOrNothing campaign. Photo credit: adidas.com
Surprisingly, the @adidas corporate Twitter is much less fútbol focused than the website, with less than 10 World Cup-related Tweets, and even some NBA news sprinkled in.
As FIFA’s exclusive financial partner, Visa has taken technology to a new level this World Cup. The company’s “Everywhere You Want to Be” series of film and print ads reach 104 countries worldwide, promoting how everyone, everywhere should have access to the tournament.
Visa has also created a social media campaign for consumers to stay connected, engage with fellow fans and players, and get the most out of their World Cup experience. The campaign is split into 4 tiers, each of which is customized to countries’ cultural and demographical needs. For example, the Visa Transporter allows fans to virtually “insert” themselves into various World Cup events by simply uploading a personal photo to a series of videos that can be shared on social media.
Photo credit: MediaPost.com
Another great facet of Visa’s campaign is the newly launched World Cup educational video game called Financial Football, which harnesses people’s passion for football as a way to teach both students and adults the fundamentals of personal finance. The game has already been translated into 30 different languages and played 3 million times. Check out the rest of the social media campaign here.
While Visa doesn’t have a specific trending hashtag for the World Cup (and its Twitter feed is relatively devoid of soccer updates), the company is tying the hashtag #everywhere to several FIFA-related events.
Hashtags to follow:
#FIFA
#Brazil2014
#WorldCup2014, #WorldCup
@Budweiser #RiseAsOne and #ManoftheMatch
@adidas’ #allin or nothing, #Allinornothing
#everywhere