Women's World Cup

Here is a post that I had started about the Women's World Cup (tear), and what I thought of the sponsors at the game. Again, always feel free to argue!

Side note, these girls are all over the place now, and did you see they broke the WPS record of 15000 fans. That is big! David Letterman, the Today Show, and Good Morning America. They have also become very popular on twitter. Ride the wave girls!

 7/17/2011

So they didn't win, which stinks for all of us American fans and for the sponsors as well. Think of all the opportunities lost! Sorry that was very unsympathetic of me, but they are lost opportunities for the athletes as well. "Abby Wambach, World Cup Champion" sounds a lot better then "Abby Wambach, World Cup Runner Up", but the fact that they made it to the finals still created increased awareness of Women's Soccer that will hopefully result increased sales for the WPS (Women's Professional Soccer). Combined with the sucess of the mens team at last year's World Cup there is hope for soccer in the US.

The partnerships made sense Visa, Coke, Hyundai, and Powerade. This last partnership was particularly intriguing to me. Not because it seemed out of place, it completely makes sense that a sports drink be a sponsor of a sporting event like this, but I feel like this is a major sporting event that Gatorade usually has a presence at, but Gatorade found ways around it. These are the things that make Gatorade the extremely smart and successful brand it is.

Above you will see a not so visible picture, damn the blackberry curve, of my twitter feed on my laptop , circa 2006. I took this picture during the closing minutes of the Women's World Cup because I'm that much of a nerd that I want to see what people are saying about the game on twitter. And though you can't see it, Gatorade's handle is tweeting about the game and giving encouragement to the USA team. Sarah Robb O'Hagan who is at the bottom of the screen is the CMO of Marketing for Gatorade and she is making a comment about how her taxi driver is blabbing on about something during a very critical time in Women's Sports History. And then there is Powerade...womp womp...who is tweeting about a football workout they did somewhere are in Texas. My only thought is, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This is such an opportunity to connect with millions of people. I even went to Powerade Zero's twitter feed, and nope, nothing there either. 

Ok, I know I'm a woman so you are probably thinking I'm getting all Rosie the Riviter on you and not realizing that people don't care about women's sports, but I can admit that women's sports probably have a hard time matching up to football in Texas, but this game being watched by millions of people in the country. The great Darren Rovell even tweeted earlier this week about how men watch women's sports more then women do. It is not just enough to have a static sign these days. Engage, engage! People need touch, they need outreach. For Powerade, if you are going to spend the money to sponsor and get the field board, activate around it to get the most for your buck! Use the exclusivity to give you more.

Gatorade also took it a step further, and got behind their athlete Abby Wambach, pretty much the star of the month, well next to Hope Solo, and made their tweets about her. "Congrats to Gatorade Athlete, Abby Wambach" was one of their messages. Under Armour, Adidas, and Nike do a great job of this as well. Gatorade handed their twitter reigns over to Abby for an hour the week before the championship game and allowed fans to ask her questions. That is what people want! They want access, they want connection. Powerade got the visibility with their static sign and blue water jugs, but walking away from this game who will you remember as sponsor of the tournament. Powerade or Gatorade? Subway is another great example of how their partnerships with Olympic athletes tricked consumers into assuming they were an official sponsors.

 Hats off to Gatorade for a very well planned, slightly gorilla marketing, campaign surrounding the Women's World Cup. As a brand, if you don't get the official sponsorship you find ways to establish that connection with consumers. 

What of do all of you think? Are there sponsors that stuck out to you? Am I completely off base? I want to hear your thoughts.

Go fourth...

P.S. Next World Cup? Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand!! I'm accepting donations for airfare. Expect to see some heavy posting about that!