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The World Cup is about to wrap up, but most people in the USA aren’t paying too much attention. The US team lost to Ghana in the round of 16, so only the staunchest soccer fans are still engaged.  I actually watched an entire game this year to the dismay of my wife and kids who have endured me grumbling about how boring soccer is forever. The game I watched was a tie (imagine that) between the United States and England and I made a few observations.

First of all, no TV commercials at all during play? I had no idea there was a sport that didn’t have “built-in” breaks for TV. I think soccer would do itself a huge favor adding commercial breaks.  A portion of the Super Bowl audience watches the broadcast simply for the commercials. It would add an element of entertainment to a sport that suffers from a perspective of being boring.

With no TV breaks, how do sponsors become part of the event? The on-site signage is one way. I noticed VISA, KIA, and Coca-Cola. I’m sure there were more, but that’s what stuck with me.

The big brands that want to associate with the World Cup have turned to social media as their primary vehicle. VISA skipped broadcast spots in the US and created a YouTube “Go fans” campaign that invites people to upload videos in support of their teams by doing a rendition of soccer’s “Gooooaaaaal” call. Anheuser- Busch launched an online reality show in the “Bud House” with 32 soccer fans that are eliminated from the show when their country’s team loses. Coke’s global TV campaign directs viewers to a YouTube page where it’s collecting goal celebration videos.

Rei Inamoto, CCO at VISA’s agency AKQA said it best, “This World Cup is going to be the first global event that fully utilizes the power of the web and social in a way that wasn’t possible until now.”

Leave it to one of the oldest sports in the world to force advertisers to blaze new trails in media placement strategies.