Update: Experian Hitwise identifies the brands topping the World Cup sponsorship league
London, 22 June 2010 - Experian Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, today reveals that Budweiser, an official FIFA World Cup sponsor and sponsor of the USA team, was the brand that made the most of its World Cup involvement last week. UK Internet searches for Budweiser increased by 25% between the week ending June 12th and the week ending June 19th and its Experian Hitwise World Cup Brands Index* score increased from 145 to 182 based upon the volume of searches for the brand.
The top five performing brands in the Experian Hitwise World Cup Brands Index last week (w/e June 19th) were as follows.
Brand Index Week 2 – top five performers
Rank | Brand | Experian Hitwise Brand Search Index, w/e June 12th | Experian Hitwise Brand Search Index, w/e June 19th | Week on week change (%) |
1 | Budweiser | 145 | 182 | 25.0% |
2 | Kia | 91 | 103 | 13.2% |
3 | Westfield | 84 | 95 | 12.7% |
4 | Vodafone | 115 | 127 | 11.0% |
5 | Adidas | 107 | 117 | 10.0% |
Budweiser was the only brand featured in last week’s Index to retain its position in the top five. The remaining top four positions in the table were this week filled by sponsors from a variety of categories, with car manufacturer Kia in second place and significantly outperforming its larger automotive rivals. Kia (Slovakian team sponsor and FIFA partner) saw UK Internet searches increase by 13.2% and its Brand Index improve from 91 to 103. Fiat was the next best performing automotive brand with an 8.2% increase in searches. Australian shopping centre giant, Westfield, completed the top five along with Vodafone and Adidas.
Meanwhile, the Technology and Telecoms category was the best overall performer in the brand index with searches up 5.2%, well ahead of its nearest rival, Automotive (1.6%).
“The brands that performed well in the Experian Hitwise World Cup Brands Index this week were those sponsoring the ‘underdog’ teams: Kia (Slovakia), Westfield (Australia), Vodafone (Greece) and Budweiser (USA). Given the poor performances of some of the favourites in the opening games, this isn’t perhaps so surprising,” commented Robin Goad, Research Director for Experian Hitwise.
“Our analysis highlights that it’s as much about how a brand runs its sponsorship package as it is about who they are sponsoring. Simply aligning with a hopefully successful team isn’t enough. Budweiser has an integrated marketing campaign that links outdoor media, TV and press advertising with in-store on pack promotions, trade promotions and an online presence that includes a ‘predict the winners’ game. Kia is also pushing its sponsorship through dealerships, a special World Cup edition car and by creating a World Cup fans’ site in conjunction with four newspapers and broadcasters.”
Robin Goad adds: “It is also interesting to see that the Technology and Telecoms brands performed best overall, as this hasn’t yet had a big impact on searches for many of their products. Sales of televisions were expected to surge on the back of the World Cup, but last week searches of television were down 14% compared to last year. It would seem to be the mobile phone brands Vodafone and T-Mobile that are boosting the performance of this category.”
Other ways in which the World Cup has influenced UK online behaviour over the last week include:
Overall Brand Index Week 2
Experian Hitwise Brand Search Index, w/e June 12th | Experian Hitwise Brand Search Index, w/e June 19th | Week on week change (%) | ||
All Brands | All Brands index | 105 | 105 | -0.3% |
Automotive | Overall Automotive index | 94 | 95 | 1.6% |
Chevrolet | 94 | 88 | -5.6% | |
Fiat | 92 | 100 | 8.2% | |
Hyundai | 91 | 98 | 7.1% | |
Kia | 91 | 103 | 13.2% | |
Mercedes Benz | 94 | 98 | 4.3% | |
Peugeot | 87 | 81 | -7.3% | |
Volkswagen | 102 | 101 | -1.1% | |
Food & Drink | Overall Food & Drink index | 111 | 107 | -3.6% |
Budweiser | 145 | 182 | 25.0% | |
Cadbury | 77 | 77 | 0.0% | |
Carlsberg | 120 | 60 | -50.0% | |
Coca Cola | 98 | 101 | 3.9% | |
Corona | 133 | 89 | -33.3% | |
Heineken | 78 | 44 | -42.9% | |
McDonalds | 90 | 97 | 8.1% | |
Pepsi | 57 | 49 | -14.3% | |
Peroni | 100 | 100 | 0.0% | |
Powerade | 80 | 80 | 0.0% | |
Tesco | 113 | 108 | -3.9% | |
Sports & Fashion | Overall Sports & Fashion index | 101 | 101 | 0.2% |
Adidas | 107 | 117 | 10.0% | |
Dolce & Gabbana | 96 | 96 | 0.0% | |
Gillette | 96 | 96 | 0.0% | |
Marks and Spencer | 103 | 100 | -2.7% | |
Nike | 92 | 100 | 9.4% | |
Nivea for Men | 100 | 100 | 0.0% | |
Puma | 98 | 104 | 6.3% | |
Westfield | 84 | 95 | 12.7% | |
Travel | Overall Travel Index | 103 | 102 | -0.5% |
Emirates | 103 | 101 | -1.7% | |
Hertz | 95 | 101 | 6.1% | |
Lufthansa | 88 | 88 | 0.0% | |
Quantas | 117 | 108 | -7.1% | |
South African Airways | 250 | 232 | -7.3% | |
Virgin Atlantic | 96 | 97 | 0.5% | |
Technology & Telecoms | Overall Technology & Telecoms index | 105 | 111 | 5.2% |
Samsung | 98 | 99 | 1.1% | |
Sony | 93 | 93 | 0.4% | |
T-Mobile | 107 | 110 | 2.2% | |
Vodafone | 115 | 127 | 11.0% |
The next Experian Hitwise Brand Index will be available on 29 June 2010.
Contact:
Jannie Cahill
Experian Hitwise
+44 20 3042 4773
press.uk@hitwise.com
* About the Experian Hitwise Brand Search Index
The Index is based upon the volume of UK Internet searches for multiple variations of each brand. All of the brands selected are either official FIFA World Cup sponsors, or sponsors of national teams with products that have strong brand recognition in the UK. The base for the index was set at 100 using the average weekly search volume for each brand during May 2010.
About Experian Hitwise
Experian Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Experian Hitwise gives marketers a competitive advantage by providing daily insights on how 25 million Internet users around the world interact with more than 1 million Web sites. This external view helps companies grow and protect their businesses by identifying threats and opportunities as they develop. Experian Hitwise has more than 1,500 clients across numerous sectors, including financial services, media, travel and retail.
Experian Hitwise (FTS:EXPN), www.experianplc.com, operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada and Brazil. More information about Experian Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.co.uk.
For up-to-date analysis of online trends, please visit the Experian Hitwise research blog at www.ilovedata.com and the Experian Hitwise Data Centre at www.hitwise.com/datacentre.
About Experian
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