#WorldCup2014 – What the Most Social Event Ever Teaches Us About Marketing

 One hundred and fifty million tweets were sent during the 2012 London Olympics (more than 2012 US elections and Super Bowl combined), something no one expected at that time. It was named the first truly social Olympics, and social media networks – Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn – became the breaking news platforms for news organizations and Olympic fans alike.

Fast forward two years and Ellen DeGeneres breaks the record with more than 3 million retweets of her star-studded Oscar selfie. While the selfie alone garnered 32.8 million views, up to 3.3 billion Oscar-related tweets were recorded during the course of the telecast.

There is no doubt that social media has become the companion medium for those participating in marquee events. In the multi-screen, multi-channel era, consumers no longer consume programming from one source. They are sharing the highs and lows via social media networks, engaging with like-minded individuals, and celebrating or commiserating as part of a global community.

With the #WorldCup2014 taking place over the next month, we can expect conversation levels on Twitter and Facebook to reach new highs. Data already shows that 19 million social mentions were tracked before the first match between Brazil and Croatia, while 12.2 million tweets about the game alone was sent out across 150 countries post-match.

 In anticipation of the most social event in history, both Facebook and Twitter have created dedicated pages on their platforms to track #WorldCup content shared (here and here) on their platforms and to serve as hubs for tournament fans.

Over the past 20 years, Nike and Adidas have earned $1.9 billion and $2.4 billion in soccer revenue. In addition, Visa has also revealed that expenditure during World Cup 2010 hit $176 million in South Africa and that promotions associated with events like World Cup or Olympics Games delivered 20 percent higher return on investment.

 Social media has and will continue to reshape the landscape for marquee events. Brands continue to invest heavily in sponsorship for events such as these as it makes commercial sense for them to do so but just as many brands are finding creative and interesting ways to infiltrate these same events without becoming official sponsors.