LONDON: Brands in some timezones are likely to benefit from late-night online browsing and dual screening during the upcoming FIFA World Cup, new data has revealed.
Online retailer eBay released figures relating to consumer behaviour on its UK site during the most recent comparable football competition, Euro 2012, and said there were opportunities for brands to reach consumers well into the evening and early morning as some World Cup games in Brazil would not kick off until 11pm in the UK.
The Drum reported, for example, that even as England had been losing to Italy during the 2012 tournament there had been more than 4,000 searches for football shirts on eBay.co.uk.
Nor was the search activity restricted to football items. During the same game there had been almost 35,000 searches for handbags and more than 50,000 searches for sofas, an indication perhaps of the opportunities to reach "football widows".
The 'halo' effect extended to the consumer electronics category, as eBay noted a 20% increase in the number of searches for widescreen TVs in the UK during the two months prior to Euro 2012, compared with the same period a year later.
Phuong Nguyen, director of eBay Advertising in the UK said there were still opportunities for brands in many categories to target shoppers in the build up to the tournament.
And with some late evening kick-offs she expected "to see a rise in nocturnal shoppers as Brits stay up late to catch the action live".
"Brands who extend their campaigns to later in the evening will be able to effectively engage these nocturnal shoppers and grow sales online," she added.
But, eBay warned, brands would need to be careful to identify and segment football fans from non-fans in order to ensure they did not alienate potential shoppers.
A series of articles posted on the Warc Blog looks at marketing and sponsorship strategies that have worked successfully at previous World Cups and similar sporting events such as the Olympics Games.
Online retailer eBay released figures relating to consumer behaviour on its UK site during the most recent comparable football competition, Euro 2012, and said there were opportunities for brands to reach consumers well into the evening and early morning as some World Cup games in Brazil would not kick off until 11pm in the UK.
The Drum reported, for example, that even as England had been losing to Italy during the 2012 tournament there had been more than 4,000 searches for football shirts on eBay.co.uk.
Nor was the search activity restricted to football items. During the same game there had been almost 35,000 searches for handbags and more than 50,000 searches for sofas, an indication perhaps of the opportunities to reach "football widows".
The 'halo' effect extended to the consumer electronics category, as eBay noted a 20% increase in the number of searches for widescreen TVs in the UK during the two months prior to Euro 2012, compared with the same period a year later.
Phuong Nguyen, director of eBay Advertising in the UK said there were still opportunities for brands in many categories to target shoppers in the build up to the tournament.
And with some late evening kick-offs she expected "to see a rise in nocturnal shoppers as Brits stay up late to catch the action live".
"Brands who extend their campaigns to later in the evening will be able to effectively engage these nocturnal shoppers and grow sales online," she added.
But, eBay warned, brands would need to be careful to identify and segment football fans from non-fans in order to ensure they did not alienate potential shoppers.
A series of articles posted on the Warc Blog looks at marketing and sponsorship strategies that have worked successfully at previous World Cups and similar sporting events such as the Olympics Games.
Data sourced from The Drum; additional content by Warc staff
