IMC Hawks Blog

Category: Advertising

  • Feared advertising cuts for World Cup 2010

    The biggest event in all of sports has nearly arrived, and no, it is not the Super Bowl. The 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted in South Africa, will take place this summer, and even soccer isn’t without its fair share of marketing strategies. FIFA has branded itself in a very distinct way that has influenced athletes and spectators for years. However, it has been a long four years since the last World Cup, and the economy has certainly changed.

    The usual advertisers and sponsors such as Nike, Addidas, Coca Cola and McDonalds have had reservations about advertising strategies this year. Usually, companies begin producing soccer paraphernalia months to years in advance.  This is in compliance with World Cup advertising campaigns that do not allow for last minute decision making. Athlete sponsors are also arranged months previous to the event to ensure the effective selling of products. 

    According to an article on ESPN, the problem advertisers are encountering this year is that they cannot guarantee efforts in marketing will actually generate high sales. This is a legitimate concern that companies such as Castrol have taken into consideration. This company created Castrol Performance Index, which is a “quantitative analysis that computes an efficiency rating for each player during each match of the current European qualifying campaign.”  In order to effectively market this proposal, Castrol also recently announced the signing of FIFA soccer player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo as a global ambassador. Selling is further guaranteed using this strategy because the player will simply self promote the product.

    So as the World Cup draws closer, the feared drop in advertising spending may go one of two ways:

    1. Advertisers will continue to spend, realizing the World Cup still is and always will be a great opportunity to reach potential customers.
    2. Advertisers will choose to limit and reduce their campaigns, resulting in a serious decline of World Cup ad-related spending.

    Whichever direction advertisers decide to turn, this year’s World Cup will be unlike any other year, pioneering new strategies and tactics for marketing campaigning.

    Here is a MasterCard commercial from the 2006 World Cup.

    Nicole Doherty, designer

    Stephanie Saulsbury, writer

    Lacey Inman, researcher

  • Pepsi’s Super Bowl Strategy

    Every year, millions of people tune in to watch the Super Bowl. Some are watching because their team is playing for the title, others are watching simply for the love of the game and the rest are watching for the entertainment provided by the infamous Super Bowl commercials. Millions of dollars are spent on commercial time during the game. Last year, companies paid $3 million for every 30-second spot. This year, the price has gone down to as low as $2.5 million for a 30-second spot, reflecting the current economy.

    While the cost is lower than last year, some big companies have decided not to run ads during the Super Bowl at all this year. The game, scheduled to air on February 7 on CBS, will not be showing ads by FedEx, General Motors or Pepsi. This is the second consecutive year that FedEx has chosen to not buy any ad spots, and GM spokesman Tom Henderson said, “We are going to focus our resources in other areas.”

    According to The Huffington Post, “Pepsi was one of the biggest advertisers in last year’s game and has advertised every year since 1987.” But Pepsi’s reason for not running any ads this year is different from the other companies’ reasons. Instead of buying ad spots during the Super Bowl, Pepsi is running a social media campaign that started January 13. The Pepsi Refresh Project is a community-based campaign that allows people to nominate and vote for the community service project, charity, small business, nonprofit organization or anything else that most voters would like to see receive financial support from Pepsi. There will be up to $1.3 million in grants distributed each month to the winning nominees.

    As social media continues to grow, many businesses are finding ways to use the different mediums to reach potential and current customers. According to a recent article on SunSentinel.com, companies such as Zappos.com and Best Buy are utilizing social media outlets like Twitter to help them better reach their customers. So is Pepsi trying to do the same thing? Are they simply trying to be smarter with their money during this rough economy, or are they moving in a new direction with their marketing strategies?

    If Pepsi is moving their marketing strategies in a new direction, is the Super Bowl the smartest time to do so? According to Fran Kelly, chief executive at Arnold Worldwide, in an article on Boston.com, many companies are not buying ad times during the Super Bowl because it is too expensive. She said, “For a lot of our big clients that are advertising year round, they don’t want to spend the time or money to do a Super Bowl ad.”

    But according to Andrew Graff, chief executive of Allen & Gerritsen and chairman of The Ad Club of Boston, “Viewers don’t skip over the Super Bowl spots.’’

    Many people don’t watch every day commercials; they leave the room, mute the TV or fast forward through them with today’s technology. It is highly unlikely that anyone is ever going to be fast forwarding through the Super Bowl commercials. So the question is, if Pepsi is trying to save money, should they pull their regular commercials that run every other time during the year and save the money for Super Bowl ads when more viewers are basically guaranteed to watch? But, if instead of saving money they are trying to generate attention around what they are doing in place of running ads during the Super Bowl, their new strategy has a chance of being successful.

    Nicole Doherty