FIFA World Cup 2018 finally ended with exquisite team performance, courage, resilience, sad ending for Croatia and a powerful win for France.

The underdogs joining the finals already won the hearts of the world. They showed true team spirit and proved that one doesn’t require only star performers to go ahead and succeed but its team spirit, leadership and collective effort which helps you reach the horizons. The world cup surely gave a lot of lessons to us corporates as well.

The Croatian Fairytale ended yet won hearts of all!

Though Pakistan couldn’t qualify and participate in the World Cup, still the beautiful game with its charm had eyes of Pakistanis stuck on the sports channels.

Be it post or pre-match hype, football match analysis was part of discussions among students and professionals. Football fever was just around everywhere. Thinking about the notes, Pakistani brands actively came up with campaigns pertaining to the world cup 2018 which was a positive sign.

In the world full of clutter where brands are active in bombarding and trying to catch the impressions of TG, World Cup 2018 was a forum where brands could get automatic engagement with target audience.

Below are some creative executions which caught my attention and for which I would like to write about.

The Coca-Cola Anthem #WC2018

https://youtu.be/QFRipVG_03M

Coca-Cola partnered with Jason Derulo and came up with the official anthem. Multiple adapts of anthem were made in collaboration with local stars of various countries being an international campaign.

Coke Studio having a strong association in Pakistan did a good move by getting QB on board for the Pakistani version “Chak dey Phaddey”. The brand played on established equity and fame of Coke Studio, henceforth the content was relevant.

A part of the Pakistani version video was shot in Pakistan and it featured Pakistani superstars along with QB who was the lead singer.

As part of the campaign the World Cup trophy tour was organized by Coca-Cola and Pakistan was among those 51 countries. The overall campaign created pre-hype of the World Cup and created a sort of festivity around the world. FIFA’s fictional Alex Hunter was made Coke’s first virtual brand ambassador as well.

https://youtu.be/QFRipVG_03M

#DhakDhakGoal

https://youtu.be/BNEnmB5gVq0

Out of all other local brands, EBM came up with a very energetic and catchy song. The campaign was live on Digital, ATL, Radio and OOH. The hashtag was taken to the international level to Russia with digital amplification.

Talking about the hashtag of the campaign #DhakDhakGoal gave a very youthful and energetic feel. 

Kudos to the team for coming up with a very good song and video with local stars. The creative billboards added to the flavor of the campaign. However, a lot more could have been done to integrate the brand image with instant energy.

In the coming days, activations can be done to give endless ripples to the excellent communication by the brand and make the strong association with sports also.

To sum it up, its great to see brands staying active in foreseeing the trends to engage with the target audience. Brands which capitalize on such events with local interest get ahead of the game by making themselves stand out among the tough competition.

Contributed by: Hassan Javed, Assistant Manager Marketing – Kenwood & Homage

About the Author:

A marketing enthusiast full of energy with a passion to learn. For me, learning is a continuous process & about taking chances. I strongly believe in going the distance & daring to make a difference by giving back to the society!