World Cup (PR) – the Winners and Losers

World Cup England fan

We have gasped and cheered, laughed and cried, hit up social media to share the moments.  The PR moments that is.  Drum roll please for the completely unscientific straw poll of the Action PR office view of the Russia 2018 World Cup PR winners and losers.

WINNER– M&S Waistcoats

Who knew that such a traditional and – dare we say it now? – old fashioned garment would become World Cup uniform? Gareth Southgate has done more for waistcoat sales in the last four weeks than perhaps the last four decades! His trademark dapper garment was adopted by the nation as a good luck token and the ultimate compliment to The Great Man. #WaistcoatWednesday gathered pace faster than Captain Kane.  Trending on Twitter, worn by an eclectic mix of people from the Good Morning Britain female presenters to kids and even dogs, #WaistcoatWednesday was a hit.  And the £65 garment flew off the M&S shelves.  Nicely done.

LOSER – Burger King

This one backfired spectacularly.  Burger King ran a social media campaign in Russia promising free burgers for life to women who got pregnant by World Cup stars.  Wrong on so many levels, the campaign to get ‘the best football genes’ to ‘promote the Russian team’s success for generations to come’, was hastily pulled and apologies made.  But not before the damage was done, leaving a bad taste in our mouths…

WINNER – Carlsberg  

One of its best ‘Carlsberg don’t do…. But if they did…’ pieces pitched a spoof story looking all the world like a BBC Breaking News item.  For a minute they had us as we were led to believe that ‘FIFA officials have noticed that Croatia used a player that was yellow carded two games ago.  He should have missed the last two games.”  It goes on to say that if Croatia is disqualified ‘England could potentially still be on their way to the final”.  It looked very convincing before stating ‘Carlsberg don’t do statuses, but if they did, this would be the best status of the World Cup 2018!” Despite risking fans feeling aggrieved after their spirits were lifted only to be dashed, on balance it’s a winner.

MEMES AND THEMES

IKEA.  SO MANY MEMES around their building, burning, breaking down, dismantling the Swedish business as the #ENGSWE match loomed into view. This photo was a PR winner for us, but a loser for IKEA.

IKEA Trophy Cabinet

THE LONDON UNDERGROUND. We need no more words.  In true PR style, this picture tells the whole story driving a train through the piles of memes. WINNER!

Gareth Southgate

Our favourite World Cup PR Campaign is ‘Gareth Southgate & the England Players’ 

What a seamless campaign they ran from the moment they stepped foot in Russia.  Calm, cool, modest, hard-working, clean living, smart training… they made us BELIEVE in them.  We were 100% behind them. We warmed to this new feeling of pride, loyalty and confidence in the England team.  They had the media eating out of their hand.  From ‘conducting’ the fans to Gareth instilling respect by pulling his players to their feet despite defeat.  The camaraderie, the kinship, the support and outpouring of love from the terrace long after the final whistle.  The pundits, sports and news reporters and commentators were quick to shower praise on this young team.  The media onside with England football?  Yes, really.  The fresh new faces of the England team and Gareth Southgate are PR Gold.  The World Cup may not be coming home but football most certainly is – in a much better shape than when it left for Russia.

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