The 2022 FIFA World Cup™—a month-long football marathon featuring 64 matches—will attract an estimated 5 billion viewers worldwide1. And the reach of the World Cup extends far beyond the field, with team and player updates, predictions and other content taking over screens and, increasingly, social feeds in the months surrounding the event.
在如此众多的目光聚焦下，品牌肯定会投入巨资与热门球员合作，试图在新的热情受众中取得进展。但是，并非所有的赞助都具有同样的影响力，预算敏感的营销人员希望最大限度地利用其支出，因此需要确定广告费用的最佳价值。
According to Nielsen’s 2022 World Football Report, while free-to-air television is still the preferred method of viewing matches (81%) for football fans who watch sports, social media is now a go-to platform for all things football, with 72% of fans claiming they use apps to watch the action. And to meet these fans where they are, marketers should be partnering with players, turning midfielders into influencers and fan engagement into brand engagement.
In general, influencers can heavily sway campaign performance and impact. According to the 2022 Nielsen ROI Report 71% of consumers trust advertising, opinions and product placements from influencers, and influencer marketing drives 80% brand recall and a 9-point increase in both brand affinity and purchase intent relative to consumers who did not see the influencer ads2.
And when it comes to the wide world of sports influencer marketing, football has some of the most powerful figures. 尼尔森影响力范围 measured the average social media value of branded posts for Instagram’s top 10 most influential footballers. This number represents the media value derived from the logo exposure a brand gets when partnering with an influencer.
克里斯蒂亚诺-罗纳尔多 is the most-followed footballer—and the most-followed person overall—on Instagram, with over 471 million followers. His reach, account growth and engagement rate all make him the most impactful influencer in football. A recent Instagram post from Ronaldo promoting his partnership with Clear Haircare garnered over 4 million interactions in the first 24 hours, highlighting the footballer’s extensive reach and impressive fan engagement.
但是，广告商并不需要与顶级影响者合作，就能在竞争中占得先机。与关注度较低的参与者合作，仍然可以获得快速增长的受众。与关注度较高的队友相比，后起之秀的参与率通常也更高，因此虽然总体覆盖率较低，但在粉丝群中的渗透率却更高。与后起之秀建立合作关系可确保品牌在克里斯蒂亚诺-罗纳尔多的未来中抢占先机。因为随着球员粉丝群的扩大，品牌的潜在客户群也会随之扩大。
今年的头号上位者、巴塞罗那队中场加维在社交媒体上人气飙升，现在他的社交媒体价值已经超过了塞尔吉奥-拉莫斯，尽管拉莫斯的粉丝数是他的近十倍。尽管加维的人气越来越高，但他的 Instagram 时间轴上却没有任何赞助帖子，这表明品牌和广告商目前在识别这些新晋体育影响者并与之合作方面面临着挑战。
但是，与许多营销挑战一样，答案和机遇都在于数据。了解哪些球员具有当今的社会价值固然重要，但通过识别未来的体育影响力超级明星，品牌和广告商可以最大限度地发挥其营销资金的影响力。随着数十亿体育迷在社交媒体上关注体育赛事，那些能够利用数据将体育影响者和信息进行正确组合的品牌将在受众和营销活动中大获全胜。
For more insights, visit our World Cup Hub or download 球迷所想2022 年世界足球报告.
资料来源
- 国际足联
- 尼尔森品牌影响力 2022 年第二季度标准
