Dive Brief:
- Amobee Brand Intelligence tracked the Twitter activity of four major FIFA sponsors for the hour before and after Sepp Blatter announced his resignation from FIFA on the heels of the latest financial scandal to hit the soccer organization.
- The results of the study showed all four brands saw a major spike in social media mentions after the announcement, largely due to a clip from "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver" in which Oliver challenged several brands to help oust the now ex-FIFA president.
- Budweiser experienced a 525% jump in mentions, Coca-Cola saw a 97% increase, Visa rose 71% and Adidas saw mentions spike by 53%.
Dive Insight:
Despite the unsavory allegations against FIFA, none of the brands that sponsor the soccer federation have pulled their partnerships. They did however make public statements calling for transparency and for the issue to be sorted out.
Ammiel Kamon, SVP of products for Amobee Brand Intelligence, told Adweek, "John Oliver's megaphone moment and public plea caused the brand involvement and awareness to be amplified."
Though now that Blatter has resigned, the brands are unlikely to pull their lucrative deals, despite Oliver mentioning them on his HBO show in context with the scandal.
