World Cup Match Trucks
Best Use of Event Marketing (More Than Five Venues)
Best Vehicle-Based Experiential Campaign
Agency: Civic Entertainment Group
Campaign: World Cup Match Trucks
Client: ESPN
ESPN wanted to create a compelling event marketing campaign to drive support for their coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which would include more than 230 hours of live HD programming – all 64 matches.
ESPN wanted to round out its “One Game Changes Everything” multimedia campaign with an experiential program that would connect with both soccer enthusiasts and casual viewers. To capitalize on soccer lovers’ need to watch together and also their love of their country’s food, ESPN created Match Trucks, one-part World Cup viewing party, one-part ethnic food truck, designed to reach passionate fans in neighborhoods where home countries were involved, including Mexico, Korea, Italy, Brazil and Portugal.
In June 2010, ESPN brought World Cup fans together in Los Angeles (17 event days) and New York City (19 event days) to watch matches live in HD and enjoy authentic, international street food served from two branded food trucks.
The trucks partnered with gourmet street food pioneer Kogi BBQ, were branded with ESPN’s World Cup murals and featured 55” outdoor, LED video screens on top with the feed provided by DirecTV. Trucks visited ethnic neighborhoods and high-traffic destinations such as Wall Street, Columbus Circle and Hollywood and Highland.
Match Trucks were wrapped in creative from the Am I Collective murals featured in the ESPN print and out-of-home campaigns. Menu items, priced between $3 and $7, included Bunny Chow and vuvuzelas from South Africa, Rice Balls from Italy and Yaki Mandoo Dumplings from Korea, among other items.
Fans were able to follow the trucks on Twitter and a microsite with calendar updates. Events and locations also were promoted by ESPN Radio and via grassroots outreach to local consulates, MLS Soccer teams and local soccer clubs. On-site, staff distributed ESPN broadcast schedules.
Roughly 110 media placements generated 13.3 million media impressions. There were 372 social media mentions, while Twitter generated 320,275 followers. Sixty blog posts and 41 online articles/forums reached approximately 12.6 million people. ESPN World Cup television viewership rose 41% from 2006 (up 48% while the U.S. remained in the tournament). The trucks interacted with more than 112,000 people and nearly 6,000 food orders were filled.
