When it comes to the FIFA World Cup, Madison Avenue is also scoring the brands in between matches, and already there are some clear winners and losers.
Indeed, the face-off between athletic apparel giants Adidas and Nike was almost as one-sided as Germany’s rout of Brazil in last week’s semi-final.
With two Adidas-sponsored teams making the final, the company cemented its status as the biggest global soccer brand over Nike.
Germany-based Adidas, which has sponsored its home country’s team since 1952, also took the top prize as the standout brand in the tournament, marketing experts said.
“Adidas was the overall winner hands down,” said Robert Tuchman of sports agency Goviva.
Added Jarrod Moses of United Entertainment Group: “It is the top brand in the whole experience.”
As if money-losing Sony needed another embarrassment, the official World Cup partner lost to Apple-owned Beats in the headphones sweepstakes.
Sony spent between $25 million and $50 million a year for the right to partner with FIFA, but that didn’t guarantee any brand loyalty.
The Japanese electronics giant sent out headphones to all the players but was upstaged by Beats’ unofficial World Cup campaign.
“Beats has no formal connection to the event, but they shot a beautiful ad featuring the two most talked about players: Luis Suarez and Neymar da Silva Santos,” said one marketing veteran.
The campaign, “Game Before the Game,” released June 5, scored 22.5 million views on YouTube.
“Just because you give FIFA money doesn’t mean you control personal choice,” the source said, adding that people were banned from wearing the Beats headphones in the stadium.
When it comes to big sporting events, Budweiser is used to hogging the limelight with a mix of cutesy and super-patriotic Super Bowl ads, but it lost out to German beer brand Paulaner on the global stage.
Paulaner sales rose 9 percent in June as Germans began celebrating their team’s ascent, said Bloomberg.
One brand that thought it snagged a winner only to lose her just as quickly was L’Oreal.
The cosmetics giant signed Axelle Despiegelaere to a modeling contract after spying her in the World Cup crowd.
But no one checked her Facebook page, where she’s holding a gun next to a dead animal with the caption: “Ready to hunt Americans.”