Peter Fernandez has some tips for brands advertising during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil

Peter Fernandez, head of branding solutions for Google Latin America, reviewed with PRODU how advertising works during sports events and the need for a multi-platform strategy on such occasions.Every year the world goes crazy over the American professional football championship. The Super Bowl has become a sports event during which the ad industry and the audience wait eagerly to see the commercials at halftime – an audience that this year topped a record 111 million viewers.Nowadays, brands are jumping the gun because they just can’t wait, posting teasers and even entire commercials on the Internet weeks before the Big Game. For that reason, Fernandez has come up with what he considers the four basic lessons to be learned from the Super Bowl that can well be applied to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.Lesson No. 1: Don’t leave it too late. Online searches for Super Bowl spots grew 400 percent in the weeks before the game, and ads linked to the game were seen more than 136 million times before airing during the championship.Lesson No. 2: Approach the ads as content and not just as commercials. Create an entertainment experience and people will come back to watch the ad again and again.Lesson No. 3: The brand may not be an official advertiser, but it can take advantage of interest in the World Cup to gain visibility. Online searches for Newcastle and H&R Block soared 500 percent after its videos were aired.Lesson No. 4: As Fernandez’s final tip, he recommends advertisers to think in terms of different formats for different platforms.