Is it the brands who plough thousands into official sponsorship deals who benefit the most? Or is a well-placed promo, or swanky bit of limited edition packaging, enough to reap the rewards that the World Cup brings?

We asked 500 people across the UK if they could name a brand sponsoring the Fifa World Cup to see if sponsorship really pays off when it comes to awareness.

Which brands have already started to whip up excitement around the World Cup, and garner unprompted brand awareness in the process.

Impressively, a lot of people are on the ball. Most of the brands named were in fact official sponsors: Coca-Cola (the official soft drink) was the winning brand; Adidas (the official sportswear provider) came third; and McDonald’s, Budweiser, and Visa (the official food, beer, and payment provider) came in fifth, sixth, and seventh. Qatar Airways (the official airline) has also caught enough people’s attention to rank in the top 10.

That said, there are several non-sponsoring brands getting in on the action. Nike, who has nothing to do with the World Cup, came 4th and Pepsi, Mastercard and Barclays also featured.

Perhaps the most important metric, however, is that second place was taken by people who confessed they were unable to name even one brand who they thought might be a World Cup sponsor. There’s definitely room for improvement, then, as the competition kicks off, to nab that hitherto uncaptured attention.

What’s more, 49 brands were named overall, showing that there’s plenty of smaller competitors who are managing to associate themselves with the world cup.

When we asked people which brands they’ve noticed with world cup promos, packaging, or special offers, while a lot of sponsoring brands were named, there were also plenty of others. Lidl’s ‘Dream Big’ advert hasn’t gone unnoticed; Fred Perry’s shirt collection; Tesco’s and Panini sticker packs; hidden stickers in Kellogg’s cereal; Pringles and Heinz’s ketchup packaging; World Cup mugs at Sainsbury’s; Curry’s promotions on TVs to watch the games; and a new clothing range at Primark.

People also associate TV providers, and betting outlets with the competition.

It’s a rosy picture for both official and unofficial associates of the Fifa World Cup. People largely see the brands putting themselves in the football frame positively.

And even something as simple as packaging could sway 48% of people over to buying a product they might not normally buy.

Brand involvement in something as harmless and as feel-good as an international sports tournament that we all wait four years for, seems like an all-round good idea. Since negative sentiment is scarce, even if targeting doesn’t swing everyone, it’s unlikely to isolate people. It could be an excellent way to win your brand attention, which might be a harder stunt to pull off during the rest of the year.

If you’d like to run a tailored World Cup (or other event) survey on your industry’s niche, or do some creative testing on a potential event-centric campaign, please get in touch with Attest - we’d be happy to help!