Brands typically have to pay for the distribution and consumption of ‘branded content’ connected to the World Cup. Since Google was not a FIFA World Cup official partner, any paid advertising would be considered an infringement of the rules during the tournament. Our solution was to purely create content from an editorial view and gain exposure through the value that FIFA, brands, players and media placed on the content created by Google.

Throughout the entire tournament, we set up a team of translators, data analysts, writers, designers, strategists, producers, developers, and social managers to uncover fascinating search trends, offering insightful and entertaining search stories in 12 different languages. From custom-designed search tools, we pulled real-time search data, transforming it into beautifully designed and highly shareable stories we called ‘Trends’. We pitched these to influencers, brands, and media and then published them to a responsive website alongside features like sentiment analysis and real-time match data for fans around the globe to enjoy, giving Google a unique role in the 2014 World Cup.

- After only one month, our film saw 32 Million views

- We attracted over 2.6 Billion social impressions.

- A 26% increase in positive sentiment year over year

- Over 40,000 #tag mentions (up 15% year over year)

- Over 400,000 social interactions (4 x higher than previous year)

- Our content performed 20% higher than the Google handle average

- Over 200 influencers posted through the campaign (2.5 times higher than 2013)

- We saw posts from some of the world’s biggest names: Jared Leto, Iggy Azalea, Game of Thrones, US Soccer, Justin Timberlake, AS Roma, Sia, Meghan Trainor, Conchita Wurst, Lego, Miami Heat and Tim Howard.