Social Media Tool Mines Insights from World Cup

WAGGENER EDSTROM’S TWENDZ PRO SERVICE FINDS MEANING IN SEA OF INFORMATION

SEATTLE — JULY 6, 2010 — Those yet unconvinced that the World Cup — or Twitter — has exploded in popularity, consider this: Tweets regarding the World Cup have reached nearly half a billion individuals. Combine a global event like this with a 24x7 news cycle, and the result is a vast and churning sea of information. Can any meaningful, useful conclusions be drawn from the endless waves of data and opinion? For instance, what stories or teams does the public care about most? And who is influencing the conversation?

Global PR agency Waggener Edstrom Worldwide (WE) set out to answer these and more questions by analyzing the 2010 World Cup with its interactive dashboard for WE twendz pro™ service, available at http://bit.ly/dgUCpZ.

The product goes beyond facts and stats to measure sentiment and influence, allowing users to quickly sift information and drill deep into any issue, organization, brand or event. For example, although Italy didn’t make it to the knockout round of 16, a quick skim of the twendz pro service shows it has some of the most adamant and widely dispersed fans in the World Cup. In nearly every match it played, Italy was the fan favorite. Nearly 22 percent of Italian fans tweeted from outside of Italy, with nearly 16 percent from America.

The top World Cup influencers on Twitter were mostly media outlets, including the handles of ESPN, The Huffington Post and BBC World. Top individual influencers were determined to be celebrities and athletes including Shaquille O’Neal, Steve Nash, Tony Hawk and Russell Brand.

Tinkering with the dashboard can be fun, but it has also revealed a wealth of the types of insight useful to marketers and business decision-makers. Much has been made about Nike (not a 2010 World Cup sponsor) topping official sponsor Adidas in tournament buzz. Much of the media attention focused on a single Nielsen statistic,* which reported that Nike’s brand buzz came in around 30 percent as compared to Adidas’ 14 percent. Yet, one representative hour of monitoring the twendz pro service painted a more complete and nuanced picture of the situation: The disparity between the two brands was smaller and more complex than reports would suggest. In that hour, Adidas garnered 238 tweets containing only its brand name compared to Nike’s 152; while World Cup-related tweets about Nike were largely neutral in sentiment, 28 percent of tweets mentioning Adidas were positive.

The twendz pro service also picked up a strong environmental concern among many Twitter users. A one-hour scan of the World Cup dashboard revealed more than 150 tweets concerning the World Cup and the environment, ranging from complaints about this tournament producing “eight times the amount” of carbon as 2006 to tweets about companies looking to future games in order to attempt to remedy the problem. Energy consumption involved in the operation of the events and waste produced by fans were top of mind within these tweets.

This information could be applied to influence sponsorship strategy for future events or to potentially identify a problem that isn’t being properly addressed by finding specific ways to tie a brand into a solution.

“The World Cup is the perfect type of complex, global event for us to showcase this innovative tool’s ability to sort through the Twitter noise and distill important information. It’s an easy jump to see how businesses and marketers could benefit,” said Julee Bean, WE’s director of product marketing.

The World Cup dashboard will continue to collect and interpret data through the remainder of the World Cup tournament. This and all sample dashboards are free to use. Paid dashboards are customizable and combine automatic data gathering and information sorting with a human element by utilizing trained marketing analysts to interpret the incoming raw data and make targeted, meaningful conclusions for the user or client. Neither the twendz pro service nor WE is a sponsor of or affiliated with FIFA or the World Cup.

* “Nike Ambushes Official World Cup Sponsors,” June 11, 2010, NielsenWire, http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/media_entertainment/nike-ambushes-official-world-cup-sponsors/

About Waggener Edstrom Worldwide

Waggener Edstrom Worldwide (WE) is a global, integrated communications agency. For more than 25 years, the independently owned firm has developed strategic communications programs for innovative and world-changing clients, working to influence markets, inspire people and improve lives. In 2009, WE was named one of Oregon Business' 100 Best Companies to Work For. WE was also named European Technology Agency of the Year in 2008 and Best Large Agency to Work For by the Holmes Report in 2006. WE has earned numerous honors for its outstanding work on behalf of clients, for its exceptional people and for its innovation in communications. The agency has more than 800 employees in 16 offices around the world, and its 17 Global Alliance partners expand the agency's reach to 30 additional international markets. WE has six global practices: Consumer Marketing, Corporate Communications, Healthcare, Public Affairs, WE Social Innovation and Technology, along with its digital strategies group, WE Studio D™. More information can be found at WaggenerEdstrom.com.

Waggener Edstrom, Innovation Communications and WE Studio D are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Waggener Edstrom Worldwide Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.