The Impact of Social Media Marketing during Mega Sports Events –an Empirical Study in the Frame of the FIFA World Cup 2014

Throughout the past decade the rapid proliferation and widespread adoption of social media for marketing purposes can be observed across all technological and digital touch points. This paper focuses on the implementation of social media marketing during mega sports events. We examine impacts by analyzing adidas’ and Nike’s social media campaigns in the frame of the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil. What impact did the social media activities of Nike and Adidas have on their Twitter and Facebook presence? Which additional value did the social media activities contribute to their respective targets of the entire marketing campaign? In order to answer these questions an empirical study was conducted. Several hypotheses were formulated and tested.