The FIFA World Cup 2018 is coming to an end and it has been an entertaining tournament to say the least. From upsetting favourites to Cinderella stories there were no lack of storylines this year. A quadrennial event, the World Cup unites people, even non-football fanatics and this lays the perfect opportunity for brands to leverage and showcase creative ads.
Some certainly caught our attention with the witty satires and endless shades thrown on some of the notable footballers. And of course, the smart perfectly timed ads – although some were blatantly jumping on the bandwagon.
Here’s some of our favourites!
1. Screwfix’s own Legends of the Game
What Is It?
Screwfix’s Legend of the Games was a major hit and ranked as the most well-received World Cup ad so far. A DIY chain store, Screwfix showcased construction employees sharing the names of previous football legends in short videos (10s). Using names like David Seaman and Michael Owen in football-related actions, the ad was simple but effective. Watch the compilation above to appreciate this classy ad.
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You don’t need fancy stars (at least not literally) and big budgets to create a successful and engaging ad. With well-timed sound effects and affiliation to current events or happenings, a video as short as 10s can produce amazing results. Advertising doesn’t have to be complicated and grand.
2. KFC Dissing on Brazil’s Neymar Diving Antics
What Is It?
South Africa KFC produced this gem that garnered a lot of attention and reports from multiple news outlets. By relying on one simple fact – football players dive and overreact to fouls, often rolling on the floor continuously. This was made even better because of the impeccable timing – Neymar Jr., the Brazilian star, was getting ridiculed online for the same behaviour. As a result, the ad became comedic gold.
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Timing is everything here. When your ad resonates with what is already being discussed online, it tends to do well. By relying on trends and discussion points on social media, this ad hit the jackpot in engaging the audience.
It pays to listen and research current topics and trends. Literally.
3. Geico – The Longest Goal Celebration… Ever
What Is It?
A goal celebration dragged out. Really, it was that simple. The ad had a simple logic: as long as football players celebrated by sliding, Geico will keep helping people save. They relied on a common football knowledge – players sliding after scoring. Similar to KFC’s ad, they exaggerated the fact to ridiculous extents and made the audience’s day. Not a knee-slapping, roll on floor kind of way, but the giggle and smile kind of way.
The Eureka
The ad worked because of a strong tie-in with Geico’s branding. Geico has always released ads in the same line of logic, only tweaking the content in general. With simple logic and tie in with brand and current events, your ad will produce desired results.
Have a strong brand story, it makes it easier for you to come up with ads that are strong, relatable and ties in with current events.
The TL;DR Lesson Plan
- Keep your ads simple, short and sweet.
- Listen to online conversations, there is 🏅to be found
- Have a strong branding story
Or, you can just hire a creative digital agency to do all these things for you, if you know what I mean. 😉
Table of Contents
1. Screwfix’s own Legends of the Game
2. KFC Dissing on Brazil’s Neymar Diving Antics
3. Geico – The Longest Goal Celebration… Ever
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After Facebook’s recent scandal with leaked user information and the US Election fiasco, the social media giants have decided to become more transparent with their platform. In early April, Facebook announced they were making ads transparent and marking political ads as special cases.
This has been a long time coming, given the chatter on Russian meddling since the US Elections fiasco ended 2 years ago.
How does this affect your business?
Ad transparency means anyone and everyone can now view all the ads you are running. This includes your target audience and unfortunately, your competition. The good news is that they can only see the content and the type of ad but nothing on the data and statistics that come with it.
So what should you do?
The digital marketing industry has seen massive changes over recent years and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rising factor. Because of the expansion of AI, we are able to study and identify consumer trends when crafting marketing strategies. This is vital, as an effective partnership between AI and digital marketing results in a boost for performance and revenue.
In line with the AI rave, Facebook has acquired the genius startup, GrokStyle. Yes, the social media goliath has acquired the entire team behind the savvy invention. By emerging with a one-of-a-kind invention, Grokstyle has helped multinational corporations communicate with its consumers effectively. Their point-and-search functionality earned recognition when it was added to Ikea’s mobile application, Place.
Beyond enhancing its AI inventions, the social media platform is on a roll to get new technology to contribute to their AI capabilities. Brands and companies can continually adopt new technology to always be ahead in engaging its audience while exploring and tapping into new territories for digital marketing in the near future.
To fully maximise the use of existing social media features, speak to professionals who can craft a thorough strategy just for you.
So how should I utilise AI in my marketing strategies?
AI has evolved to be beneficial to many industries, as seen by Facebook expanding on AI’s creative abilities to enhance their consumers’ experience. How about you?