How Audi Created the World's Biggest World Cup Scoreboard Guerrilla marketing worth at least $2.1 million By Robert Klara

June 27, 2014, 11:47 AM EDT

Anyone who remembers when Ikea installed living rooms inside of bus kiosks or Red Bull’s Nascar racing team set up a pit stop in the middle of Times Square knows that New York is the place for a high-impact guerrilla-marketing stunt.

But the latest contribution to this branding pantheon—Audi’s Giant LED Scoreboard in Brooklyn—shows just how high the bar of entry has been raised for brands that want that kind of street-marketing cred. In the 1980s, legendary adman Jay Conrad Levinsonexplained that guerrilla marketing worked because it was surprising, easy and inexpensive.

Well, it’s still surprising—but cheap and easy? Not in New York, yo.

First, a recap. Last week, Audi switched on the lights in its titanic installation on the Brooklyn waterfront. The “scoreboard”—which will display top World Cup results for the rest of the month—is actually a grid of shipping containers, nine rows of them stacked five high. A showroom-new Audi A8 sits inside each open-ended container. With the cars’ headlights turned on (plus a little bit of dramatic red backlighting), the containers form two massive “8” configurations that resemble a digital clock.

In a bit of (well-earned) horn tooting, Audi’s press statement proclaimed that the display “will bring the excitement of world-class soccer to NYC.”

No doubt, that is true. 

But excitement—especially here in New York—means there’s a tab to pay, and Audi has obviously dug deep for this one. The first hurdle was finding a spot with good sightlines from Manhattan and big enough to pile up 45 intermodal shipping containers. “We looked at several prominent locations when scouting for a site,” Audi of America’s marketing director Loren Angelo told Adweek, “and Greenpoint was chosen because of the level of visibility it provided the scoreboard. It can be seen along the entire East Side.”

Audi’s team loaded 28 new A8 sedans into the shipping containers, which were then hoisted into place, the top row perched 40 feet over the East River. (An aside here: Audi did not disclose the cost of this little project, but given the A8’s base price of $75,100, it committed at least $2.1 million worth of product to the effort.)

Wiring up the entire assembly mandated close to 2½ miles of cable, which connects the relay boards for each car’s LEDs to a central controller located on-site. An operator sits out there with a computer, making sure we get those scores from Brazil.

Before you get the warm fuzzies for Audi performing this feat of public service, it’s worth mentioning that this setup will culminate not in a match in South America, but one in New Jersey. On July 31, Munich’s FC Bayern will take on Club Deportivo Guadalajara in the Audi Football Summit in the Meadowlands. (Audi AG is a partial owner of FC Bayern, which probably also explains the lavish marketing outlay going on in Brooklyn.)

We haven’t seen the winner’s trophy for this tournament, but just in case the prizes haven’t been picked out yet, Audi will have 28 slightly used A8s on hand. Just a suggestion.

Sony Creates 'Social Media Broadcast Channel' for World Cup

Soccer Tournament Expected To Dominate 60% of All Tweets For An Entire Month

By Emma Hall.

Sony has created a single online platform, called One Stadium Live, to bring together conversations and content across Twitter, Facebook and Google+ before and during the World Cup.

One Stadium Live starts May 1 and is part of Sony's tier one sponsorship of the FIFA tournament in Brazil. The mobile-first website at will highlight hot topics to give fans a snapshot of how the whole world is feeling about games, players, tactics, gossip -- and the inevitable controversies -- surrounding the World Cup 2014.

The platform is designed for mobile devices first.

Nick Bailey, CEO and executive creative director of IsobarU.K., which created One Stadium Live, said that Twitter expects 60% of all tweets during matches will be World Cup-related during the month-long soccer tournament, which starts on June 12.

Mr. Bailey described One Stadium Live as being "like a social broadcast channel for football." He added, "It will be like turning social content into TV content. You'll be able to tune in and see what people are saying, but in an engaging and entertaining way. It won't feel like just a load of Twitter hashtags – it will be a snapshot of what the world is feeling."

One Stadium Live will use analyze the meaning of posts, rather than just key words, to group fan posts together, while the technology will also remove bots and retweets from the conversation.

Isobar has set up a newsroom in its London office to bring an editorial layer to One Stadium Live. A team of moderators will be working round the clock, across six time zones, to push out the best conversations. Moderators will be there to safeguard Sony and keep things like racism and drugs out of the conversation. The site will also carry profiles and statistics on all 32 teams and their players, and news feeds to keep fans up to date in six languages.

The last tournament in 2010 attracted two billion TV viewers, and since then internet use has increased by 53%, Twitter use by 13,500%, and Facebook has gone from 300 million to one billion users, according to Isobar.

Trials held during recent friendly international matches demonstrated the variety of conversations around soccer, from pundits and tactics to team colors and whether or not individual players were "hot." Mr. Bailey said, "There is such a rich texture of conversation. We want it to feel like a big carnival of football, to create a wonderful ripple effect around games so that the whole world becomes a stadium."

One Stadium Live feeds into Sony's "One Sony" drive, which is attempting to unify the diverse Japanese company under one brand identity.

Sony calls its approach "From the lens to the living room," to capture the way the brand shares in the user experience, from the cameras that film the matches, to its Bravia TVs used to watch them, and Sony Xperia tablets and smartphones used to share the experience. Exclusive FIFA archive footage will also be available on Sony Entertainment Network.

Mr. Bailey said, "Our insight was that Sony brings fans closer to the detail of what's on the pitch -- closer to the visceral action -- so that we can make every fan's experience a bit more like being in a stadium." A spot promoting One Stadium Live, also by Isobar, will run on Sony's own channels and websites.

Once the World Cup is over, Isobar hopes to be able to adapt the One Stadium Live technology to create a second-screen experience across other big sports events, and for global shows such as the Academy Awards.

ESPN Celebrates the Weird, Wonderful Time Warp That Happens During the World Cup Day or night, you're on Brazil time By Kristina Monllos

May 27, 2014, 3:52 PM EDT

We're only 16 days away from the start of the World Cup. And ESPN—which will present all 64 matches of the quadrennial tournament across the ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC networks—released its latest teaser commercial on Tuesday, this one devoted to the time warp that happens for viewers around the world every four years.

The spot, by Wieden + Kennedy in New York, feels like the beginning of an action movie where the team is getting together before a big heist—except here, we're seeing how different people around the world are getting ready for the World Cup. And wherever they are in the world, day or night, they'll be setting their countdown clocks to Brazil time.

The spot moves seamlessly from metropolis to metropolis, with business executives, children, fisherman, etc., getting ready for the event. It opens on a favela rooftop in Rio and goes around the world—to a pub in England, a social club in Ghana, a fishing boat off Spain, an apartment in Russia, a car heading to Tehran, a bar about to open at dawn in Japan, an office in Seattle, a family barbecue in Mexico and a research station in the Andes—before returning to Brazil.

"Every 4 years the world has one time zone," says the end line. (That follows a spot earlier this month that said, "Every 4 years the conversation starts again.")

Thanks to our longitudinal proximity to Brazil, Americans will see the matches at exceedingly humane hours, with kickoffs generally scheduled for noon, 3 p.m. or 6 p.m. ET. That's a lot better than other recent World Cups—in particular, the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea, whose daily slate of matches began at 2:30 a.m. and wrapped up shortly after breakfast.

ESPN Celebrates the Weird, Wonderful Time Warp That Happens During the World Cup Day or night, you're on Brazil time By Kristina Monllos

• May 27, 2014, 3:52 PM EDT

We're only 16 days away from the start of the World Cup. And ESPN—which will present all 64 matches of the quadrennial tournament across the ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC networks—released its latest teaser commercial on Tuesday, this one devoted to the time warp that happens for viewers around the world every four years.

The spot, by Wieden + Kennedy in New York, feels like the beginning of an action movie where the team is getting together before a big heist—except here, we're seeing how different people around the world are getting ready for the World Cup. And wherever they are in the world, day or night, they'll be setting their countdown clocks to Brazil time.

The spot moves seamlessly from metropolis to metropolis, with business executives, children, fisherman, etc., getting ready for the event. It opens on a favela rooftop in Rio and goes around the world—to a pub in England, a social club in Ghana, a fishing boat off Spain, an apartment in Russia, a car heading to Tehran, a bar about to open at dawn in Japan, an office in Seattle, a family barbecue in Mexico and a research station in the Andes—before returning to Brazil.

"Every 4 years the world has one time zone," says the end line. (That follows a spot earlier this month that said, "Every 4 years the conversation starts again.")

Thanks to our longitudinal proximity to Brazil, Americans will see the matches at exceedingly humane hours, with kickoffs generally scheduled for noon, 3 p.m. or 6 p.m. ET. That's a lot better than other recent World Cups—in particular, the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea, whose daily slate of matches began at 2:30 a.m. and wrapped up shortly after breakfast.



CREDITS
Client: ESPN

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, New York
Creative Directors: Brandon Henderson, Stuart Jennings, Gary Van Dzura, Caleb Jensen
Art Director: Mathieu Zarbatany
Copywriter: Andrew Jasperson
Producer: Luiza Naritomi
Executive Producer: Temma Shoaf
Account Team: Casey Bernard, Katie Hoak, Alex Scaros

Production Company: Imperial Woodpecker
Director: Stacy Wall
Executive Producer: Doug Halbert
Line Producer: Terry Shafirov
Director of Photography: Corey Walter

Editorial Company: Final Cut
Editor: Jeff Buchanan
Assistant Editor: Geoff Hastings
Post Producer: Beth Fitzpatrick

Visual Effects Company: MPC
Senior Producer: Matthew Loranger
Lead Flame Artist, Creative Director: Gigi Ng

Mix Company: Heard City
Mixer: Philip Loeb
Producer: Sasha Awn

Music Company: Travis + Maude
Creative Director: David Wittman
Producer: Kala Sherman

VW ensures brand visibility during World Cup via soccer app

By Joe McCarthy

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May 28, 2014

Volkswagen’s Onefootball Brazil app

Audi and Porsche are among the luxury automakers likely to benefit from their parent company Volkwagen’s World Cup application that facilitates the fan experience during the globally adored event.

The “Onefootball Brazil” app consolidates FIFA World Cup 2014 information for easy access and lets fans customize content around a favorite team. Interactive features will allow fans to connect with one another around the world.

“Football has the power to reach every corner of the planet,” said Carsten Krebs director of corporate communications of Volkswagen, Herndon, VA. “It is not only a sport, it is a universal language of global communication, especially during the time of the World Cup.

“Being accessible to everybody, football perfectly fits the Volkswagen brand as it is an inclusive and truly democratic sport – the people’s sport – with appeal to all Volkswagen target groups, maximum proximity, visibility and relevance to the consumer,” he said.

“With the Onefootball Brasil app, we have found a smart, innovative and relevant way of leveraging our global football footprint. Moreover, we can provide our international markets with a global platform through which they can easily communicate local brand/product messages to highly engaged consumers while offering them a highly relevant experience that goes far beyond traditional advertising.

“In a nutshell: Onefootball Brasil offers a huge potential to emotionalize the Volkswagen brand by connecting with highly engaged consumers in emotional moments.”

Picking the winner

Volkswagen’s app begins by asking users to select a World Cup contender to center the content on.
Onefootball app
Onefootball app
Onefootball app
Volkswagen has built large communities with mobile apps before.

The ensuing home screen displays the chosen team’s first contest and filtered tweets from their official Twitter page.

On the bottom of the screen, users can select “Results,” “News,” “Live” and “More.” The top menu bar includes “Home,” “Tournament” and “Squad.”

Fans can access the latest videos including press conferences and learn about the players on their favorite team. A live ticker including game commentary will help fans track the schedule.

When the World Cup begins June 12, fans will be able to follow live updates from games. Users can receive push notifications when relevant content emerges or when a game is approaching.

Before games, users can predict winners and top players of matches. During games, users can chat with one another in a live forum.

Finally, fans can customize their profile, share content on social media, access Volkswagen’s digital magazine and request feedback.

The app is available in 15 languages and can be downloaded here.

“Through the native integration of localized Volkswagen branded content, consumers are encouraged to discover Volkswagen products as well as find close-by dealerships and book test drives,” Mr. Krebs said.

“In order to ensure a high degree of responsiveness and relevance during the World Cup, we set up a small international team in Wolfsburg, which is able to react on the spot to the games by posting directly into the news feeds of the App,” he said.

Bound together

For instance, Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Porsche, under the Volkswagen Group umbrella, have attracted substantial attention in global markets through the branded mobile app, “Sports Car Challenge 2,” recently reaching 1 million downloads.

The app acts as a way for racing fans to explore VW brand models and discover vehicle capabilities with precision while on virtual racing tracks. Perhaps more so than other product category, automotive brands can cultivate new fans, solidify loyalists and spur real-life product interaction effectively with mobile games (see story).

Audi is also bolstering its commitment to soccer by bringing the Audi Football Summit July 31 to the United States for the first time.

The Audi Football Summit harnesses global appeal by bringing together Germany’s FC Bayern Munich and Mexico’s Club Deportivo Guadalajara. The timing of the summit could not be better, as soccer enthusiasts will be revved up from the FIFA World Cup, especially since Germany is pegged by many to be favorite (see story).

Although Volkswagen will certainly generate downloads for its latest app, the amount of content circulating during the World Cup may be overwhelming.

“There will be no shortage of ways to get World Cup news,” said Jeff Hasen, Seattle-based chief marketing officer of Mobivity.

“The winners will be established sources like ESPN and those who drive awareness to an experience that differentiates and brings additional value,” he said. “It might be gamification or a contest or a community that is perceived as unique.”

“‘Me-too’ apps or sites will be bounced out of the first round just like the also rans on the field.”

Real-time marketing will be battleground for brands in 2014 World Cup, says Castrol global sponsorship manager

Real-time marketing around the upcoming 2014 World Cup will bring out the most fierce competition between brands, according to Paul Goodmaker, global sponsorship communications manager at Castrol.

Castrol’s ‘Footkhana’ ad, featuring brand ambassador and Brazilian football star Neymar Jr in a battle of skills with rally driver Ken Block, is the most-shared social video from a sponsor so far, according to figures from Unruly.

The automotive oil and lubricant brand until recently boasted it had the most shared World Cup video of all, but it has since been pipped into third place by Nike and Samsung. According to Goodmaker, the release of the video was deliberately timed to beat the release of such big brand rivals and make an early impact.

“That was our big digital activation and we deliberately set out to in and grab the headlines before any other brands activated,” Goodmaker told The Drum. “We achieved what we set out to do there.”

For Goodmaker, timing will be everything in this year’s World Cup and Castrol’s pre-planned activations will assist the brand in making as much use of real-time marketing as possible.

“We have two main activations during the tournament,” he continued. “One is the Castrol Index, which is something that we’ve run across all our football sponsorships since Euro 2008. Essentially we do data analysis for the best football players in the tournament; we have tracking and technology at all of the stadiums as well as a team of performance analysts that measure every single pass, tackle and touch of the ball.

“They will assess the impact that has on the team’s chance of scoring or preventing a goal, and we crunch all of that data and end up with a Castrol Index score out of 10 for their performance in the tournament. We end up with a performance ranking of players and that will be updated after each round during the tournament.”

The Castrol Index is the official performance ranking of the tournament and the brand will have a space on the Fifa.com website. It will also be marketed through Fifa’s social channels as well as Castrol’s.

The brand’s second activation is another link up with Fifa in the form of a predictions game that users’ can take part in throughout the tournament for the chance to win prizes. The activity builds on a pre-existing relationship between Castrol and Fifa.

“We worked with Fifa in 2010 and 2012 and we’ve essentially taken the learnings from what we did then and applied them to 2014,” he said. “Obviously the media landscape’s evolved but we’ve taken that on board and believe we’ve got an even more compelling product that will engage people during the tournament.

“I see a big change from a real-time marketing perspective,” he went on. “That has an obvious importance for a sports event. I do think that’s one of the big changes and certainly it’s something we’ll look to do, particularly on Twitter we feel that’s probably the best platform for us to engage with people in real-time, as goals are scored.

“It’s going to be competitive out there with lots of brands trying to own different elements of the tournament.”

Castrol has enlisted Mindshare, its global media agency, to manage the brand’s social community during the event as well as paid media, and further support will come from M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment.

The brand will also continue to capitalise on the success of the Footkhana video – created with agency Earn - in the run up to and during the tournament with the release of fresh content.

Mercedes Benz: World Cup 2014

This latest ad from Tempo for Mercedes features the German national football team, who the car brand are sponsoring in this year's FIFA World Cup. Set to Rudimental's hit track 'Not Giving In', we see a combination of car and football related shots, which move through the Mercedes logo, finishing up on a packed pitch full of supporters.

http://www.bestadsontv.com/ad/62796/Mercedes-World-Cup-2014

Hyundai teams with YouTube channel Copa90 as part of 2014 FIFA World Cup partnership

POSTED BY NATALIE MORTIMER

Hyundai UK has teamed up with Copa90, the largest independent football channel on YouTube, as the automotive brand looks to engage with football fans and “add value” to its FIFA World Cup partnership.

The collaboration will see Hyundai UK support two original Copa90 shows, which will engage audiences in the lead up to the tournament with a series reviewing all 12 host cities, followed by a new interview series during the event.

Hyundai UK’s marketing director, Andrew Cullis, commented: “Our long-term partnership with FIFA allows us to connect fundamentally with a passionate global audience.

“For this year’s 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, we wanted to further improve that connection by working with Copa90 to bring engaging content and an exclusive competition to enhance the fans’ experience of the tournament - bringing a bit more of Brazil to Britain.”

The partnership launches today (25 March) with a competition asking fans to recreate their favourite goal celebrations and enter them online. They will then be in with a chance of winning one of seven pairs of VIP packages to the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Peugeot Launches #KickItToBrazil: A World Cup Inspired Campaign

Stephen Goldasz

The French car manufacturer Peugeot is launching a new online social media campaign called 'Kick it to Brazil' which will see a single football travel across five continents. 

In the build up to the next football World Cup tournament in Brazil, starting this June, Peugeot is inviting pass a football around on an exceptional global journey.

The special football has already been “kicked-off" this month at Paris. It will travel around the globe crossing more than 30 countries and just as many borders in just 100 days.

It will be passed from person to person with the aid of various Peugeot vehicles. Cars which will be used to transport the special football will include the Peugeot 2008 and the Peugeot 3008.

The 2008 is a stylish urban crossover based on the Peugeot 208 supermini, currently priced from £12,995. The 3008, priced from £16,645, is a larger family crossover model which delivers impressive practicality and is available with a diesel-electric hybrid powertrtain.

Other methods of transport will be used including bicycles, motorcycles and planes to help Peugeot’s special football complete its journey.

At each step of the way, those who come into contact with the football will be able to share their unique experience on specially dedicated Facebook and Instagram pages.

Social media users will be able to follow the campaign with the tag line #KickItToBrazil.

The football at the centre of Peugeot’s campaign will be the car brand’s link between it and its fans. Peugeot will invite its fans to choose what happens next or to come and meet the “Kick it to Brazil" team in order to personally interact with them on a day to day basis.

Each country the football visits will host events which will often be improvised, depending on the creativity of the people involved. Also each day, a short video clip will be generated and uploaded on facebook and the Kick it to Brazil campaign website.

The special football will finish its travels as part of Peugeot’s campaign on 12th June 2014 in the Brazilian Amazon. It finishes travelling on the same day the FIFA World Cup in Brazil begins with its first match.

During the Kick it to Brazil campign, Peugeot is also promoting the “One kiss, One Tree" project. For each image that is uploaded of a person kissing the football, the French car maker will contribute to its Forestry Carbon Sink project in Brazil by planting additional trees.