14 DAY TRIAL // With less than two months until the start of the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa, PepsiCo International and Microsoft have partnered for a new global campaign focused on the main sporting event of the summer. The Redmond company already launched the MSN World Cup News Centre in April, 2010, working with Press Association Sport, and has also teamed up with PepsiCo for the Global Football campaign, which will be served to football fans through Microsoft Advertising.
According to the Redmond company, PepsiCo International’s Global Football campaign will be offered on no less than 14 markets worldwide, including Europe, the Middle East and South America. The promise from Microsoft is that its advertising division has put together an integrated brand engagement campaign, featuring ad content from Pepsi as well as a new website hosted on MSN. The integrated Global Football campaign was developed by Microsoft Advertising in concert with OMD International London.
“We are thrilled to partner with PepsiCo International once again on a truly innovative, ambitious and engaging brand campaign,” Darren Huston, corporate vice president, Global Consumer and Online, Microsoft, revealed. “As excitement ahead of the 2010 summer of football grows, there will be a significant upsurge in demand for information and entertainment around the game. Microsoft’s broad offerings through our global channels provide unrivalled reach across the internet, the ‘Football Hero’ campaign will help PepsiCo International tap into this summer’s football buzz by positioning it as a brand that is well attuned to the needs of its target audience.”
Live as of 15 April 2010, the campaign is designed to take advantage of the growing enthusiasm building for the 2010 football World Cup in Africa and is planned to last until the end of the summer. Its target audience will be able to enjoy content featuring star players such as Lionel Messi, Didier Drogba, Thierry Henry, Ricardo Kaka, Frank Lampard, Fernando Torres, Andrei Arshavin, and Michael Ballack.
Microsoft Advertising’s Creative Solutions team has worked to put together the ‘Football Hero’ website, offering fans a chance to play their way from ‘zero to hero’ in no less than five interactive games. Advertising from the Global Football campaign will be offered across Microsoft Advertising portfolio such as Xbox.com, Xbox LIVE, Hotmail and MSN, but also Windows Live Messenger.
“Building on the phenomenal success of the Pepsi Max Club we are excited to be working with Microsoft Advertising again to build an exciting and engaging brand experience for football fans around the globe. Working with Microsoft Advertising we can reach a vast audience of engaged consumers and embrace the competitive spirit of football. Our target consumers are always looking for new, exciting and more engaging ways of spending time online, and we believe the launch of the ‘Football Hero’ website will be a popular source of entertainment over the coming months as hundreds of millions of consumers turn their attention to football,” Claudia Lagunas, Digital and New Media director at PepsiCo International, stated.