Inside brands’ World Cup goals
The Trade Desk
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Brands like SurveyMonkey and Hyundai are getting a kick out of the World Cup
By Damian Fowler
The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is already racking up record viewership, which means advertisers — from major sponsors to national B2B brands — stand to benefit from the world’s most-watched sporting event.
When the software company SurveyMonkey wanted to revamp its brand awareness strategy earlier this year, it tapped the PMG agency to help plan and execute its new campaign. It launched a video spot in the middle of Q3 — featuring the actor Giancarlo Esposito, best known for his role in?Breaking?Bad. The programmatic strategy targeted live sporting events, hitting the beginning of the NFL season, the NCAA basketball season, as well as Major League Baseball’s World Series.
So far, so good. But this year, the brand took advantage of another huge opportunity: the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which kicked off in Qatar on November 20. Two weeks into the tournament, this World Cup is already?breaking new records ?for viewership. The fever pitch around this ritual sporting event means it draws?huge audiences ?that are not exclusively sports fans.
“During the World Cup, people may watch even though they’ve never really watched soccer before,” Emily Schneider, the programmatic lead at PMG, tells?The Current. With that in mind, the SurveyMonkey spot will launch during the quarter finals, running through the semifinals and the final on December 18. From PMG’s perspective, the World Cup opens up the potential to reach audiences beyond the core American sports fan.
It helps that the U.S. men’s national team qualified for the 2022 tournament, after failing to do so in 2018, which is driving engagement for American fans. This year, according to?a new survey by Morning Consult , 3 in 5 U.S. soccer fans (58 percent) plan to watch the World Cup, an uptick on the 45 percent who said they watched in 2018. The game is gaining ground in a country where?football?usually means something else.
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Why U.K. retailers are doubling down on digital ads amid soaring inflation
By Zac Wang?
Strained supply chains post-pandemic, higher import costs due to Brexit, and soaring energy prices have sent inflation in the U.K. to a?40-year high . The latest government figures?show ?that retail sales remain below pre-pandemic levels, with discretionary goods taking the brunt of reduced customer spending.
Earlier this month, pandemic darling Made.com, an online furniture chain, collapsed into bankruptcy, following the economic troubles of mattress company Eve Sleep and shirtmaker T.M. Lewin.
But not all retailers are suffering. German discount retailer Aldi?overtook ?storied grocery chain Morrisons earlier this month to become the U.K.’s fourth-largest supermarket. After all, people need items like food and clothes, which means many retailers will be the first beneficiaries of whatever money consumers have left.
“Unlike [during] the pandemic, this time advertisers can see the challenge coming,” Pete Coates, managing director of U.K. client group at media agency iProspect, tells?The Current. In the early days of COVID, we saw retailers quickly stop spending until they could figure out what to do. Now we see a cautious attitude but a willingness to spend where there are opportunities.”
And to entice shoppers, many stores are ditching traditional media channels in favor of digital advertising. A recent survey by the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers and media analysts Ebiquity found that more than two-thirds of the U.K.’s largest advertisers say they intend to?cut their linear TV budgets , with 40 percent looking to cut spend in traditional media channels like radio, print, and out-of-home (OOH).