Ambushed!

My last few weeks in Europe were incredible - but I was amazed at how World Cup fever had taken over - especially in Berlin.  It was virtually impossible to get any of the locals to focus on the task at hand.

Marketers have been concentrating a lot of their efforts at the World Cup as well with some great successes - often ambushing the official sponsors efforts.  The successful campaigns integrated a variety of platforms:


Write the Future - Nike

Building on the 360° LED experience we created for EMS, Nike is using social media on a "massive" scale. It's draping the "Write the Future" campaign over a Johannesburg building, creating an incredible four-sided screen. "Write the Headline” allows fans around the world to root for their favorite World Cup player in a really big way.
Participants can "talk" to the player they think will ‘Write the Future’ through submissions at Facebook (facebook.com/nikefuture), Twitter (#nikefuture), QQ (a Chinese chat program), and Mxit (a South African IM app).  These messages, combined with pre-produced video, are fed to the translucent LED screens covering the building.  This stunning "pop-up billboard" is visible throughout much of the city and has served as a backdrop for many news stand-ups.
Talk about taking over the city!

The Rumpus Room handled production.


Play the Future
Nike has adapted the campaign to various venues all around the globe.  For instance in Spain's Nike stores, shoppers can interact and play digital pinball games on flat screens.  The interactive experience is similar to what we created for Medtronic's booth.

Produced by DoubleYou in Spain.


Oh Africa - Pepsi
Even though Coke was the official sponsor, they were ambushed by Pepsi who managed to have their beverage served at the Fifa-sanctioned fan fest in Durban - supposedly due to a "delivery error."
And check out this great spot that went viral. Great soundtrack, cute kids, big-name players including Messi, Henri, Lampard, Kaká, and Drogba.  It definitely feels authentic (without needing vuvuzelas).

Orange - Bavaria Beer
The best ambush is probably Bavaria Beer of Holland. Official sponsor Budweiser spent millions, but all the attention has gone elsewhere.  And Fifa's heavy-handed reaction has kept this brewery front and center.  They couldn't have dreamed of a better result.  The story:
36 women who were removed from the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg during the Holland-Denmark World Cup match. The group arrived at the match dressed as Danish supporters, but soon stripped off their red and white gear to reveal orange mini-dresses marketed by the Dutch brewery Bavaria.

The dress has become very popular in the Netherlands and caused a minor “beer war” even before the start of the World Cup. Sylvia van der Vaart, wife of Dutch soccer star Rafael, played a prominent role in the Bavaria campaign – rather embarrassingly for rival Dutch brewer Heineken, the sponsor of the Dutch national team.

And now Holland is in the finals on Sunday - everyone will be wearing Orange.