Nielsen Sports reports that adidas had the most overall brand exposure during the 2006 World Cup final between Italy and France, garnering over 1.2 billion impressions among adults 25-54. In addition, adidas was the clear winner in apparel sponsorship, according to Nielsen’s Sponsorship Scorecard service, due to its recognizable logo seen on the uniforms throughout the game. Nearly 30% of the exposures to the adidas brand were generated from its logo appearing on the jerseys and shorts worn by French players, and on the referees’ uniforms. In fact, despite not being worn by the winning team, adidas was able to achieve 83% of the 426 million apparel-related exposures throughout the match.

How the adidas Apparel Sponsorship Became a Success

Logo size was a key factor in adidas’ high impression total-adidas’ logo is large and easy to see on-camera.

In addition to measuring the adidas logo on the front of the jersey, Nielsen’s Sponsorship Scorecard also recorded adidas’ familiar three stripes, which were prominent on the sleeves of French team shirts – provided all three stripes were distinguishable.

Furthermore, the adidas logo also appeared on the uniforms of the World Cup referees, whereas Puma-sponsored apparel was worn only by Italy’s players.

Replay footage was another important factor that increased the number of adidas’ impressions. The much talked about “head butt” by France’s star player Zinedine Zidane, was shown repeatedly . France also had more shots on goal, which were frequently replayed.

“The World Cup final results demonstrate the potential value of sponsoring athletes’ apparel,” said Ann Marie Dumais, Vice President of Marketing, for Nielsen Ventures . “There are a variety of places in and around sports arenas and stadiums where a company’s brand can get exposure. But in fast-moving sports like soccer, appearing on players’ uniforms insures that a brand will be where the action is.”

This information was gathered from Nielsen’s Sponsorship Scorecard service, which measured the number of times a sponsor’s brand was seen or mentioned during the final. Duration of television exposure and household and demographic impressions are also measured as part of the service. Exposures are derived from the amount of sponsorships clearly recognizable on television for one second or longer, and then linked and weighted by duration to Nielsen’s proprietary TV Ratings. Pre-game and overtime coverage are also included.