The commercialisation of FIFA

Unilever and Coca-Cola have both reported strong second quarter results, attributing a significant part of their performance to World Cup marketing campaigns. Unilever in particular posted underlying sales growth of 5.8% this quarter, its best quarterly performance since 2010, whilst Coca-Cola reported a 5% growth in the volume of drink units sold. Both companies have also upgraded their full-year sales growth expectations.

But FIFA simultaneously faces criticism for its commercialisation of the tournament and is separately reported to be planning to sell a minority stake in a new commercial entity it has created for $20 billion. This commercial entity goes by the name of FIFA Forward Enterprise and will hold FIFA’s commercial rights and revenue streams.

These results demonstrate how strategic advertisement campaigns, like the World Cup marketing, can yield strong commercial success. But there is also the question of whether these campaigns only yield short-term commercial success. Unilever’s CEO, Fernando Fernández, explains that the company does not run World Cup campaigns for temporary success, and that instead the campaigns target emerging markets where brand loyalty is still being established.

What does this commercialisation of FIFA signify?

• FIFA's planned $20 billion commercial entity sale will attract significant investor interest on the back of commercial results like these
• Rival consumer goods groups that did not invest heavily in World Cup marketing face the question of whether they ceded brand share in key markets during a critical period
• The influencer marketing model deployed by Unilever at scale during the World Cup (50,000 creators across 120 markets) signals a structural shift away from traditional broadcast advertising and toward other forms of content creation