For those of you not fortunate enough to work for a company with three TVs on my floor alone at the office, the USA World Cup game today was amazing. Landon Donovan's amazing goal in extra time, was so incredible, almost surreal. Watching with a few of my friends at work, on my way out on to an appointment was so much fun- especially since "The Soccer" is not any of our "first sports." We are all converts because of the World Cup. I watched the World Cup four years ago too, I was in Austria, and to see the German fans go so crazy seemed foreign to me, not just because I was in a foreign country, but because I had never seen a large group of fans so passionate...much more passionate than even the most passionate College fans, sorry LSU fans, the German people are much more rabid.
The power of "The Soccer" is unfathomable. Is it the sport? Is it the patriotism of your country competing?- although this is more passion than the Olympics. Some advertisers already know this, some advertisers are taking advantage of this, many are international companies who understand how much of an impact Soccer/Fubol has across the world. The advertisers on TV during the broadcast are getting their recognition, and most recent reports are that today, during Landon Donovan's goal, they are researching, but many thoughts are that it was a record for internet traffic. According to popscsi.com http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-06/us-algeria-world-cup-match-may-have-set-internet-traffic-record - it overloaded twitter, many had problems getting on ESPN's feed of the game, web traffic spiked to 11.2 million visitors per minute, more than the 2008 presidential election.
In advertising, there are always creative ways to introduce your business and product to a new audience. Sometimes you have to think out of the box for new and innovative ways to tell your non-traditional demographic, that you have something to offer, you have something that will improve their life. Sometimes business owners are nervous about investing advertising dollars in something that they have not tried before, well thought out strategy and creative will go a long way- look at the boards around the fields at the World Cup, these advertisers are getting their money's worth.
