The Rugby World Cup final takes place this weekend, but with all the home nations long gone, how interested do we remain? According to our bespoke sponsorship research tool, SponsorDNA, 80% of British people stated that they are still following the competition, whereas the Fifa World Cup was at 77% at the same stage in 2014.
Our research also found that there were differences in the propensity to bet on each tournament. While 26% of people said that they had placed a bet on the Rugby World Cup, the football equivalent was 19%.
The biggest surprise was the difference in the social dimensions of the tournaments. The Rugby World Cup outperformed the Fifa World Cup in all areas measured, including talking about the event with friends and discussing it on social media.
In light of recent corruption allegations surrounding senior football officials, how do the images of the key rugby and football properties compare against key brand dimensions?
The sad but not unexpected news for Fifa’s event is that the Rugby World Cup is ranked higher on all 14 of our brand dimensions. Significant gaps exist when we compare the brand dimensions of democracy, ethics and trust – with the latter being three times higher with the Rugby World Cup when compared to Fifa’s event.
Football’s turmoil at elite international level is mirrored by plummeting brand scores in our study. However, the Rugby World Cup brand image remains an incredible sponsorship proposition, its perceived brand values having been upheld despite the early exits of the home nations. According to SponsorDNA, there is no debate; the football World Cup is in decline in the eyes of the public and the Rugby World Cup has received a serious image boost from its staging in England. This is something on which the relevant rugby bodies should build.
Liam Hopkins, account director at Leo Burnett
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