The football World Cup taking place in Russia may not be everybody’s cup of tea but most fans have suggested that it has been a competition of considerable merit. When you think of the legacy of the London Olympics, which became like a benefit concert for BMW, Mini and a handful of other carmakers involved in its broader performance, sport and sport sponsorship have always proven to be the happiest of bed-partners.
According to the latest data from automotive industry analyst, Sophus3, FIFA World Cup partners Hyundai and Kia have scored a memorable victory in the tournament. With a record 24.4m television audience in the UK alone, for England’s dramatic penalty shoot-out victory against Colombia, on Tuesday 3rd July, all eyes in automotive marketing were focused on the results off the pitch and on the car brand websites. In fact, traffic to Hyundai’s and Kia’s websites in the build up to the Three Lions’ crucial game increased significantly.
Between 6pm and the England v Colombia kick-off at 7pm, the crucial hour reserved typically, for securing the best seat in the house, or making the final dash for home, or pub, both South Korean car brands saw significant traffic increases to their respective websites in the UK. This has been repeated for other nations too.
Sophus3 has been analysing online car-buyer traffic to automotive websites since the time of the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan and in the past 16 years has pulled together an enviable automotive squad at the top of the Premiership in the world of digital analysis. Of course, it helps that every volume and premium car brand in Europe is supported by Sophus3, a factor that gives the London-based team an unique view of automotive consumer behaviour and trends.
Scott Gairns, Sophus3’s Head Coach stated: “We would expect to see a strong performance from the South Koreans during the World Cup, given their status as an official partner, but their results indicate a real win for the brands. It could be said that their fans gave 110 per cent! Both marketing and digital engagement showed a significant increase at a time when we would expect people to be thinking more about England’s chances, were the game to go to penalties, rather than contemplating their next car choice.”
The only other car brand to see a positive move up the field and an increase in online traffic prior to kick-off was Citroen, matching the French football team’s improved performance, as the tournament in Russia has progressed.
All other car brands in Europe showed an unsurprising decline in web traffic between 6pm and 7pm last Tuesday, as most pundits would have predicted, but Fiat and Dacia proved to be the best of the rest and played off for the honour of coming third.
“The French should be really pleased with their result and we shall look in more detail at car brands’ World Cup performances at our first bi-annual automotive analysis media briefing on Tuesday 10th July,” Mr Gairns continued. “Whether England fans will be watching their team the following day in the semis, or test-driving a new Volvo will depend on their weekend match result against Sweden. After the Jules Rimet trophy has been lifted by the winning team later this month, we shall be analysing all of our car brand clients’ online performances this summer. As the 2018/19 football season kicks off in August, all hopes will be for a strong set of results in September to provide a successful end to the car sales season.”
