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Strategies for making World Cup fans into fans of your brand

by | Jul 11, 2018 | Public Relations

It is actually fairly stunning that the World Cup only comes around every four years when you consider everything that goes into it. The building of the stadiums alone is a tremendous human endeavor that takes the labor and knowledge of thousands of people to make happen. All of this is put into an event that will be viewed by hundreds of millions of people all around the globe.

That is why, as the World Cup approaches every four years, companies begin to wonder what they can do to make a difference for their brand. Today we want to take a look at some ideas for branding around the World Cup.

Get Specific On Social Media

Most companies want to do some branding work on social media as it relates to the World Cup. They want to show fans of the game that they care about this sport that the fans so obviously love very much. It is important to do so in specific ways. Namely, a company should not use a generic World Cup hashtag. Rather, they should try to be as specific as possible.

Each individual match will have its own unique hashtag assigned to it. Those who use the specific hashtags wisely can end up making a great impression on the fans. You can show that you are watching the individual games yourself by tweeting with those specific hashtags.

Help Get Your Employees Into It

Your employees are a big part of your ability to get a lot of attention with your World Cup branding. There are probably at least a few soccer fans amongst your ranks if you start asking around. They might have some great ideas for how you can amp up the advertising that you do around the big event.

You can hire employee recognition companies to help reward and recognize those who have come up with great things that help the company advertise. You want to reward them for making great strides in helping you advertise and market. Giving them special recognition is the best way to get more and more people to join in the fun. People like it when their employers are so kind.

Focus Internationally

The United States did not make the World Cup this year, and advertisers within the country may well have been disappointed that this is the case. Without their home country in the competition, many Americans simply will not want to tune in to the matches at all. They may not feel like they have a rooting interest in the games.

Companies could do well to think about their international approach to the World Cup with their marketing. They may not even have any customers outside of the country at this point in time, but the World Cup is a great chance to start to cultivate those relationships. Many companies do not even realize just how beneficial having some international exposure could be for them. They could consider selling items online or perhaps even building up some storefronts in another land.

Be Mindful Of Trademarks

For big events like this the trademark protections are big. You have to avoid using anyone’s logo or other marketing materials without their permission. This includes the television networks themselves.

A lot of companies are coming up with clever ways to advertise during the World Cup. Make sure you do not barge in on their intellectual ideas. You might want to steal some of their thoughts, but make sure you refrain from doing so unless you want to find a lawsuit at your doorstep. You could use some of their ideas for inspiration, but make sure you don’t literally rip them off. You have enough talent in your organization to come up with some excellent marketing ideas all on your own. The World Cup is an event unlike any other, so come up with ideas that are outside your norm as well.

Jeremy Sutter
Jeremy Sutter is a freelance writer and former mobile marketing manager at Adobe.

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