FIFA World Cup™ Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola
Best Use of Event Marketing (More Than Five Venues)
Agency: ignition
Campaign: FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour
Client: The Coca-Cola Company
Holding the World Cup in South Africa was a milestone that Coca-Cola wanted to celebrate. They embarked on a 211-day World Cup trophy tour, visiting 130 cities in 84 countries. The program was designed to target consumers, customers, employees, media and key constituents/VIPs.
Day one included a welcome ceremony at the airport with a press conference, local celebrities and dignitaries. Day two provided exclusive media interviews, VIP experiences, employee engagement opportunities and customer hospitality opportunities. Day three, “Fan Experience Day,” connected 10,000 fans with Coca-Cola and the FIFA World Cup Trophy.
Tickets to Fan Experience Day were leveraged in local promotions to drive Coca-Cola sales volume, provided to strategic retail partners to drive sales via customized retail promotions and used as a barter for media buys to increase awareness of the sponsorship in print, radio and online outlets.
To keep Africa top of mind, the campaign expression: “Release Your African Rhythm, Refresh Yourself with a Coke” was publicized through a 3D movie around African rhythm and the youth market. Website integration of the live fan experience included downloads (both onsite and online) of pictures from a specially-designed photo capture system themed around the African spirit.
To minimize travel time and streamline international entries and exits, a plane was chartered and wrapped in a custom Coca-Cola and FIFA World Cup design. The plane also served as host to press, consumer promotional winners and key constituents, including heads-of-state. The traveling entourage also included a wrapped helicopter, multiple branded vehicles and a stage.
More than 914,000 consumers, 9,000 media, 44 heads-of-state and numerous local officials personally experienced the Trophy. The Trophy Tour traveled 94,000 miles, including all but three countries in Africa. Nearly 865,000 3D glasses were distributed, nearly 304,000 photos were taken with the trophy and earned media reached $77 million. In additional, good will was generated. Several countries reduced Coke’s taxes; plants were reopened after years of inactivity and more than 547,000 incremental unit cases were delivered.
