In the penalty shoot out of the sponsors, adidas overcame Nike to prove that sports event sponsorship does pay off.

In a recent Sporting Insights study of World Cup fans across Europe, North and South America, over 55% picked adidas as an official World Cup sponsor. Even though Nike sponsored many of the high profile teams such as Brazil and South Korea, only 30% of football fans picked them.

In contrast to much of the research currently published on the World Cup, Sporting Insights’ research has focused on the people actually targeted by sponsors and brands.

The research has clearly demonstrated that while those only marginally following the event may be fooled by clever advertising campaigns, the real fans do have a good understanding of who the official sponsors are.

This is further illustrated by the fact that Coca-Cola is still the most recognised World Cup sponsor around the world with 61% of fans selecting it as one of the official sponsors. This contrasts heavily with the 13% who thought Pepsi had paid for the right to be an official sponsor because of its adverts with high profile players like Beckham, Roberto Carlos, Veron and others.

In addition to awareness, Sporting Insights also examined the image of these brands amongst the World Cup fans. Identifying who is seen as the No. 1 sports brand in the world and how they really relate to the big World Cup brands.

For more information, please contact:

Christopher Rimmer on 01932 350600 or email chris@sportinginsights.com