For the second straight week, Nike appears to be the most successful brand advertiser without actually being a sponsor of the event, according to researcher YouGov.

However, in the United States, where Nike had previously been the biggest Buzz improver, it seems as if it has pulled back on its "Write the Future" advertising efforts over the last week, and its Buzz scores have fallen off a bit, allowing Hyundai to take the top spot.

The biggest Buzz improvements since the start of the tournament have been in the U.K. and Germany, compared to the U.S. Those differences may become even more pronounced over the next week since the American team was eliminated last Saturday, a strong catalyst for viewer engagement in the U.S.

While Adidas, an official sponsor of the tournament, does rank among the top five brands for improved Buzz in both the U.S. and Germany, Nike has clearly overshadowed its rival thus far.

Sony has been the beneficiary of maximum Buzz score boosts across all three countries, making it the most successful official sponsor of the World Cup at this point, while Visa has done well to stay within the top three in both the U.S. and the U.K.

Emirates, whose logo can be seen clearly and frequently near the sidelines of World Cup soccer fields on TV broadcasts, has sustained moderate Buzz gains abroad, landing in the top five in the U.K. and being the largest Buzz improver in Germany.



YouGov's BrandIndex is the only daily consumer perception research service of brands, interviewing 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample, more than 1.2 million interviews per year.
 
Respondents are drawn from an online panel of 1.5 million individuals. Margin of error is an accurate +/- 2 percent.  A score can range from 100 to -100 and is compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.
 
METHODOLOGY FOR WORLD CUP CHART: The average Buzz scores for each brand are calculated over the course of the first two weeks and compared to the baseline to get a sense for top five Buzz improvers through the first two weeks of the World Cup in each of the countries.
 
ALL CHARTS AND SCORES ARE FOR ADULTS 18+ unless stated otherwise.
 
BUZZ: "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, was it positive or negative?"

See also: "U.S.-Ghana World Cup Match One for the History Books"