Let’s Go! Quaker’s World Cup Spot Has the Energy to Score

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Soccer in the US is a game that starts with kids, and World Cup sponsor Quaker is choosing to show that side of the game – the joy, enthusiasm, and energy of boys and girls playing, scoring and having the time of their lives. Where does that energy come from? Quaker cereal, of course.

The ad, “Greatness”, is a rapid-fire collage of images, mostly from a kids’ eye view, and studded with images of Quaker packs and bowls or jars of cereal. It’s a super-high energy ad, though it fits in a bit of nutritional science for parents explaining exactly how oats and fibre help their kids thrive.

The combination of rapid-fire visuals and consumer information makes this an ad that strongly emphasises what we call salesmanship elements over showmanship ones. These are the creative elements in an ad which look to attract the attention of the more goal-oriented left side of the brain and lead to decisive action among those customers in the buying window for a product.

In other words, for Test Your Ad we’d expect to see “Greatness” excelling in the shorter-term measures of Spike Rating and Brand Fluency. Longer-term effectiveness (measured by Star Rating) is also important, but given this is a limited-window World Cup campaign those short-term elements are particularly crucial.

And when we look at the Test Your Ad report that’s exactly what we do see. Quaker get an exceptional Spike Rating predicting major short-term sales boosts, well above the average for the US cereal sector. And their Brand Fluency (rapid and accurate recognition of brand) is also exceptional, in the Top 7% for the sector. The ad celebrates energy, and it also creates sales energy and effectiveness with immediate strong branding.

But despite being an excellent salesmanship ad, the ad holds its own on showmanship too. The two are not mutually exclusive and ads which drive short-term sales often also create positive emotional response. “Greatness” earns a 3.5-Star Rating, predicting good long-term growth potential. Quaker’s ad isn’t all hard sell and rapid-fire imagery – there’s a ton of positive emotion, joy and togetherness too, all of which help build that longer-term emotional response.

There’s also a great soundtrack choice – the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” (aka “Hey Ho! Let’s Go!”) which not only works as a cultural reference, it’s highly relevant to the ad’s content too. Quaker cereals give kids get up and go energy, and the advert’s blast of punk rock brings that memorably to life.

Short, punchy, memorable and highly effective in the short-term – Quaker proves you don’t need an elaborate, star-studded epic to shine as a World Cup sponsor. Energy and strong branding can get the goals too.