Coca-Cola has always been a big spender when it comes to marketing during the Summer Olympics. But the company says those past budgets will pale in comparison to what it plans to invest for the 2014 World Cup.
Soccer’s premiere competition has increasingly become a bigger deal than the Olympics in many parts of the globe, mostly because there are more countries that participate in the competitions that lead up to the Cup than to the Olympics.
That distinction is important to Atlanta-based Coca-Cola. It is increasingly seeking sales growth opportunities abroad to balance the mixed results it has encountered at home over the past few years due to falling enthusiasm for carbonated drinks.
The company’s global volume, for instance, was up 2 percent in the first quarter of 2014, led by foreign markets that, with the exception of Europe, all saw positive volume growth.
Volume growth in the quarter was even in North America, Coca-Cola’s biggest market, while it was down 4 percent in Europe.
“There are several super important global properties like the World Cup and the Olympics which sponsors believe have tremendous value,” said John Sicher, editor and publisher of industry publication Beverage Digest. “Sponsors believe that associating their brands with the Olympics and the World Cup resonates with consumers around the world.”
Using its marketing muscle to stay ahead of the competition is just as competitive a sport for Coca-Cola as it is for any team on the soccer field.
The company’s arch-rival Pepsi is not an official sponsor of the World Cup, but has unveiled an advertising program of its own for the tournament. And while Pepsi plays second fiddle to Coca-Cola during the World Cup and Olympics, it owns the advertising crown for the Super Bowl, the most-watched sports event in America.
Coca-Cola is not saying how much it will spend on the World Cup. But Coke, which is generally believed to have spent upwards of $1 billion on the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, will launch marketing campaigns in 175 countries for the World Cup, up from the 100 countries involved in its Summer Olympics marketing two years ago.
In fact, the company’s marketing for the 2010 World Cup was also larger than its Olympics outlay, with campaigns in 160 countries, said spokeswoman Alison Brubaker.
“We have put a lot of marketing dollars and energy behind FIFA’s World Cup,” she said.
The financial importance of soccer may come as a surprise to many Americans. Bob Hope, a sports marketer and co-owner of Hope-Beckham public relations, said that while soccer doesn’t have the visibility in the United States that football, basketball or baseball enjoys, globally it is the most played sport.
“We have a tendency to think that what is popular in the U.S. is popular around the world and that is not true,” he said. “Soccer is a lot more accessible and there is a lot more passion.”
The could change, Hope said, as more U.S. cities add soccer franchisees, such as the one announced earlier this month for Atlanta. Falcons owner Arthur Blank has been awarded a Major League Soccer franchise that will play at the new $1.2 billion, retractable-roof football stadium that will replace the Georgia Dome in 2017.
In addition, the U.S. team is among the competitors for the Cup.
To leverage its connection to the World Cup, Coca-Cola, which has been an official sponsor of the FIFA tournament since 1978, has carted the solid gold World Cup trophy to 90 countries around the globe for public display — including a recent stop in Atlanta at the company’s North Avenue campus.
Delia Fisher, a spokeswoman for FIFA, said the tour has helped increase awareness of soccer because, while the sport has a tremendous world following, there are still parts of the globe where its reach could be improved.
Coca-Cola has also shot short documentary films about the impact soccer has on the lives of fans, produced a song for a World Cup album and created a photo mosaic of fans’ faces and messages for “The Happiness Flag,” the largest mosaic of its kind, the company said.
Not to be outdone, Pepsi has launched an ad featuring singer Janelle Monáe and six of soccer’s best players, including Leo Messi (Argentina), Robin van Persie (Netherlands), Jack Wilshere (England), David Luiz (Brazil), Sergio Agüero (Argentina) and Sergio Ramos (Spain).
The spot finds a fan running into the athletes as he winds his way through the streets of Rio de Janeiro to the strains of Monáe’s cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes.” The ad will air in more than 100 countries, Pepsi said.
Brazil is the host country for the World Cup. Competition begins June 12.
To Sicher, Coca-Cola’s investment is a simple matter of following customers. Known for its marketing skills as much as for its products, the company knows where to place its bets.
“The real value comes from the positive resonance that comes from consumers around the world,” Sicher said.
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