Made-up number used to show benefits of World Cup ‘victory’, non-sponsors ambush e-chatter
After the 
stunning All Whites victory last night, which 593,800 Kiwis watched on TV One and 150,500 watched on Sky, FIFA’s worst nightmare, a New Zealand vs South Africa final, is still on the cards. And while a range of lying geeks pull numbers out of the air in an attempt to quantify how much the “lost productivity” will cost the nation, stunning new research by StopPress reveals the victory has actually made the nation more than $45 million in terms of increased patriotism (text received after final whistle: “I am having kittens. I have died and gone to heaven. I love sports.”) and vuvuzela sales. Anyway, everyone knows the result of the match (apparently we’re part of Australasia now). But who’s winning the World Cup brand wars?
With its Buzz tool, The Nielsen Company analysed English-language blogs, forums and social networks to find out which companies had received the most online word of mouth around the World Cup. And, interestingly, Nike and Carlsberg have “ambushed” the official sponsors with their creative marketing.
Nike took a 30.2 percent share of the online conversation prior to the tournament, despite the fact it is not an official sponsor. And it’s primarily because of ‘write the future’ (and that all-pervasive internetty thing). Official sponsors Adidas and Coca-Cola had a 14.4 percent 11.8 percent share of electronic word of mouth respectively (Pepsi only got 2.5 percent) and Sony was fourth on 11.7 percent. Carlsberg’s campaign (as well as sponsorship of the English team) managed to snatch 3.9 percent of the internet chatter, “almost four times as many mentions as rival beer brand and official sponsor Budweiser, and Hyundai Kia, another official partner, generated just 2.4 percent.
“If you’re a company with a large global footprint, it’s natural to want to associate yourself with a major worldwide event like the World Cup,” Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president, digital strategy, at The Nielsen Company, said. “Compelling, savvy marketing can establish this sort of connection in the eyes of consumers without having to write that expensive sponsorship cheque.”
Football World Cups, hence the name, typically include different countries from around the world. Which seems like the perfect excuse to show these AT&T print ads that were created by Guido Daniele. 
What do you think?