Qatar 2022 provides businesses with a unique opportunity, but it will take a little planning to avoid fixture congestion.
Football has always been part of the festive season, with families often having to organise their plans around Boxing Day and New Year’s Day league fixtures.
But this year will be different. For the first time in its long history, the FIFA World Cup will take place during the run-up to Christmas, running from November 21st until December 18th.
This means that for many businesses, who rely heavily on festive spending and also look to capitalise on the world’s biggest football competition when it comes around every four years, will be wondering how they organise their Christmas plans around the World Cup.
Well, the first thing we should say is: don’t ignore the football! The World Cup is an enormous opportunity, and in the UK the 2022 competition has a real buzz about it thanks to the England team’s recent international successes and the Wales team taking part for the first time in more than 60 years.
As such, there will be huge interest in the competition this year. Worries about early morning kick-offs have subsided – all but two of the home nations’ group games start at 7pm – so it’s business as usual for the most part.
To capitalise on both events businesses just need to incorporate the football into their usual year-end marketing plans. Below are a few ways you can make the most of this extraordinary World Cup.
Making the most of the 2022 World Cup.
1. Run a World Cup sales promotion.
The competition begins on November 21st and online activity will begin to rise 10-12 days prior to the big kick off. Why not run a football-themed promotion that starts around this time and runs throughout the four-week competition? It could be straightforward discounts or money-off voucher codes, “to celebrate the World Cup.” You could also offer free shipping, as this may encourage people to buy their Christmas gifts during the tournament. Black Friday (November 25th) will be key this year as both England and Wales have matches on that day.
2. Start early while there’s everything to play for.
Don’t delay kicking off. Interest in the World Cup is expected to peak around December 4th, but in the UK that will be determined by how long the home nations remain in the competition. An early exit for either team will extinguish the opportunity, so it’s key that you capitalise during the build-up to the competition and particularly the first 10 days when our teams are guaranteed to still be in with a shot. If England and/or Wales have a good run then you can extend your campaign.
3. Advertise where the biggest audience is.
At Reach we have a huge sporting audience, with more than 13m people reading our football content every month, which means that our online network will be more than a little busy throughout the World Cup (during Euro 2020 our tournament coverage received 63.4m views). This means that it’s the perfect place to advertise your business and reach our engaged sport-loving audience. You can also feature on our hugely-popular World Cup email newsletters that we’ll be sending out during the competition to our loyal subscribers.
If you’d like to capitalise on our tournament coverage, click below to find out more about our World Cup advertising and partnership opportunities. We’re here to answer any questions you may have.
