I Spy with my BrandsEye – South Africa’s Vuvuzelas

Nicholas Anelka and the French football team, the Jabulani ball and Kaka’s red card have all been at the center of controversy during the 2010 Football World Cup, but none of these come close to the controversy that surrounds the instrument that has come to represent that spirit of this year’s event: the Vuvuzela.

As South Africans everywhere celebrate playing host to the “beautiful game”, loud blasts from vuvuzelas convey the country’s excitement. However, complaints from those watching the game live at the stadiums and international audiences hoping to enjoy the game on TV focus on the vuvuzela’s invasiveness.

After tracking the mentions of Vuvuzelas online, it appears these plastic horns are making a noise in the online space as well with 5066 mentions reaching an audience of 15 491 185 in 24 hours. Vuvuzela.com, the self-proclaimed inventors of the horn, have effectively secured themselves R3 525 581 worth of online advertising.

Love them or hate them, Vuvuzelas have become a global phenomenon and with the World Cup broadcast to 213 countries it’s little wonder that mentions of our favourite new national instrument are found around the globe. The United States accounts for 46% of Vuvuzela mentions and the rest of the conversation is shared between:

•  The United Kingdom 9%
• South Africa 3%
• Germany 8%
• Brazil 6%
• Canada 4%
• Netherlands, Italy, India and Australia 2% each

The BrandsEye team isn’t sure how the word Vuvuzela translates, but with mentions being divided up over a number of languages it does appear the term transcends the language barrier.

Vuvuzela mentions were picked up in the following languages:

• English 73%
• Portuguese 8%
• Spanish 5%
• German 4%
• Dutch 3 %
• Italian 2%

Football fans have led the conversation with 90% of all mentions, the press accounted for the other 10%, and once again Twitter is the medium of choice with 64% of all the conversation.

The World Cup has made this R19 plastic horn a global household name – let’s hope it does the same for our incredible country and the call of the vuvuzela brings even more visitors to our shores.