The World Cup - Of Advertising
Click on the Google Image and you get the search results for “2006 World Football.”
I admire those images. Like at the time of the Olympic Games, everyday another picture showing the center of the Games; one day water polo, athletics, hockey, short track … “Although,” — you might think — “we are a virtual company, when there are games, we are there too; right by your side.” Google was right there. And now again, The World Cup. Again the image shows: ” we are with you.”
But then the opening game itself. Germany (4) - Costa Rica (2). You may have seen it. And you may have seen the advertisements as well. If you have observed the advertisements you recall one company that had a particular presence.
Amongst the “normal” advertisers we found:
- Philips, Braun, McDonald’s, Coca Cola, Avaya, Continental, Toshiba, FIFA WorldCup itself, Fujifilm, Hyundai, Adidas, Mastercard, T-Com, and maybe I’ve missed one (or two…).
Now which company was also present amongst those earthly giants?
The only Virtual Company that was present, was the very - YAHOO!
For about two hours, an audience of millions of people turned their back to their PC’s and notebooks and switched on the television. Prime time advertisement. And Yahoo was there, playing the marketing game. In the lead.
Despite Googles’ beautiful picture, I think this marketing move was won by its’ opponent. First half: Google (0) - Yahoo (1).
© 2006 Hans Bool
Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days.
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