Since the start of the opening kickoff, though, Adidas has reasserted itself at the top of World Cup brand dialogue. When looking at the top 10 official sponsors and their major competitors, a follow-up study by NM Incite, a Nielsen McKinsey Company, found that in the first two weeks of the tournament Adidas overtook Nike as the top brand. Adidas buzz accounted for 25.1% share of World Cup buzz online compared to 14.4% before the event. Nike, meanwhile, dropped from 30.2% to 19.4%.

Part of Adidas’ increased buzz levels were due to discussions around the controversial official ball of the World Cup – the Jabulani. For the week ending the 13th June, which included the first three days of the tournament, the ball accounted for 8% of all English-language messages related to the World Cup.

“Half the game in buzz is ‘fanning the flames,’” said Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of digital strategy at Nielsen. “The Adidas football Facebook page, for instance, is now up to over a million fans and they are dropping new content several times a day, all while the average post is generating upwards of 100 comments. At the end of the day, brands need to keep the buzz ball in the air as long as possible – sponsored or otherwise.”

Budweiser, too, overcame a pre-tournament ambush from Carlsberg to assert itself as the most highly buzzed beer brand tied to the World Cup. Buzz share for the official beer of the World Cup climbed to 4.9% as it overtook Carlsberg, whose share fell to 2.4%.

Other official sponsors who enjoyed a noticeable increase in World Cup buzz included Hyundai/Kia (from 2.4% to 4.7%) and McDonald’s (2.8% to 4.2%).  The overall share of buzz for the 10 official World Cup partners/sponsors increased from 52% to 66% since the start of the tournament.

“Sponsorship still matters, but it’s far from a ‘conversational’ guarantee,” added Blackshaw. ”For big events like the World Cup and Olympics, you can always expect a modest ‘echo effect’ from any level of paid or sponsorship investment, but that’s just the foot in the door. The rest really depends on variables like timing, creativity, controversy, and a combination of brand readiness and agility.”

The NM Incite follow-up study compared the share of online buzz between World Cup sponsors and their major competitors in relation to the World Cup in the run up to the event (month-long period ending June 6th) and during the first two weeks of the tournament (11th -25th June). English language World Cup-related messages on blogs, message boards, groups, video and image sites – including Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter – were monitored for the study.

The study revealed that, over the last month, there were twice as many references to Nike in online English-language messages related to the World Cup than for its biggest competitor and official World Cup partner, adidas – who had the highest levels of tournament mentions of any of the official brands.

Nine of the 32 teams participating will be wearing Nike kits including the US and Australia, compared to 12 for adidas. However, much of Nike’s buzz activity was driven by its global “Write the Future” campaign which featured many of the biggest stars who will be on show in South Africa including Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo as well as other famous stars such as Kobe Bryant, Roger Federer and even Homer Simpson.

The full-length video has enjoyed almost 14 million views on YouTube since the middle of May. Not to be outdone, adidas produced its own Star Wars-themed World Cup video featuring David Beckham, that’s drawn over 2 million viewers since its release just last week.

HIGHEST SHARE OF ONLINE WORLD CUP BUZZ
(Sponsors vs. Competitors)

Nike wasn’t the only brand to successfully “ambush” a World Cup sponsor or partner. Carlsberg, a sponsor of the England national team, had almost four times the level of mentions in English-language messages around the tournament than Budweiser, the official beer sponsor. This was partly due to Carlsberg’s star-studded ‘legends’ World Cup ad, launched in early May to promote its England association. Rock band Kasabian, adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Olympic rower Sir Steve Redgrave and athlete Dame Kelly Holmes combine to deliver “probably the best team talk in the world.”

Following Nike, the “ambush” brands most associated with the tournament were Carlsberg, Pepsi and Panasonic.

“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,” said Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of digital strategy at The Nielsen Company. “This study shows that compelling, savvy marketing can establish this sort of connection in the eyes of consumers without having to write that expensive sponsorship check.”

For most of the sponsors, though, their official relationship with the tournament has successfully resulted in higher associations with the World Cup than their competitors:

• FIFA partner Coca-Cola had five times the level of association with the World Cup than Pepsi – despite the latter’s ‘Oh Africa’ ad featuring World Cup stars such as Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Kaká which has generated over a million views online
• Triggered by Twitter retweets in early June to its FIFA YouTube page and its campaign to create the longest “goal” shout, Visa had 15 times the World Cup association than MasterCard
• FIFA partner Sony is timing the launch of its 3D TV sets with the opening day of the tournament, helping to drive association levels seven times higher than Panasonic and ten times higher than Philips

Nielsen’s study, conducted between May 7^th to June 6^th 2010, looked at English language World Cup-related messages on blogs, message boards, groups, video and image sites – including Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter – that mentioned at least one of the 10 official FIFA partners and sponsors with a global footprint or two of their top competitors (30 brands in all).

So what’s driving the data? There are no doubt a multitude of factors: exciting games, compelling storylines, and perhaps even the economy. But one that may go unnoticed is the NBA’s two year old advertising campaign: “Where Amazing Happens.”

Debuting in 2007, the “Where Amazing Happens” commercial spots featured still photos of NBA action accompanied by a signature piano riff. The ads were also supplemented with internet banner ads, print and outdoor extensions and are streaming on Youtube, NBA.com and other online video sites.

This season, “Where Amazing Happens” commercials evolved into CGI replays of some of the most memorable moments in NBA history. By slowing down the action, the commercials highlight the drama embedded in professional basketball that may occasionally go unnoticed with the game moving at such high speeds.

According to Monitor-Plus, Nielsen’s advertising tracking service, the NBA ran more 30-second spots within nationally broadcast games than any other advertiser. The league used this inventory, which is negotiated into the network contracts, to promote “Where Amazing Happens” and is expecting the promotion to help increase viewership and deliver more eyeballs to its official sponsors and network advertisers.

Whatever the reason for the ratings renaissance, a Nielsen Sportsquest survey finds that buzz in the NBA is definitely surging. As of April 2009, interest in the NBA was at it’s highest point since July ‘07, with 33% of total persons aged 12+ identifying themselves as avid NBA fans. The data also revealed that NBA fan interest is spilling over to increased awareness for their sponsors: NBA fans are 50% more likely to name official wireless sponsor T-Mobile as a cell phone provider and 37% more likely to have a favorable opinion of Nike.

Viewership is also higher among patrons of Nike and T-Mobile. Nielsen’s MRI fusion data shows that in Q4 2008, NBA viewership on TNT, ESPN, and ABC, was 47% higher among Nike Shoe wearers, and 23% higher for T-Mobile subscribers.

In a day and age where advertising campaigns often come and go very quickly, the NBA has stuck with “Where Amazing Happens” and its persistence looks like it’s paying off for the league and its partners.