7 Football Fans Buyer Personas: Score Your World Cup Goal
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Qatar Football World Cup is a unique event. At least because it’s the first time in history when an Arab country hosts the World Cup. As an affiliate marketer, you can’t miss a thing with so much hype around it!
But let’s not rush into creating random campaigns and do things wisely instead, okay?
Have you heard of a buyer persona? Basically, it’s a detailed representation of your customer. You imagine who they are, what they love, or how they behave in different situations.
Creating buyer personas will help you target your users more precisely — and even go beyond sports verticals in your ads. The big event will create enormous traffic volumes, and you can successfully run non-sports-related offers, too!
So, what types of football fans will we see this year, and how can you use what you know about them?
#1 Arab Family Guy
Let’s start with the most obvious and probably the most exciting part of the audience: a typical fan from the Arab world. What do we know about them?
First, you were pretty right if you immediately thought about how they respect traditions. They usually arrive at soccer matches with their whole family. And, they are not really into booing at the fan zone, drinking beer (in fact, nobody will drink beer at Qatar matches), let alone fighting with the other fans.
It is a different thing here: Arab families are the ones we call the ‘premium segment’. They love expensive high-quality clothes, accessories, and luxury services. You won’t find them in the economy-class seats — they prefer VIP zones with premium service.
What else? Qatar Family Guy will barely watch games on TV at home. Still, not everyone from the Arab world will visit the games in person. So, they will definitely use PCs, tablets, and smartphones to enjoy the championship. And yes, they have the latest gadgets — mind it when targeting the OS versions.
Another curious thing: such fans will most likely visit or watch the games even if their country is eliminated. Shonuff! Such an event! And yes, they truly love football — especially when there are Arab countries on the field, not necessarily their homeland.
How to target?
Wealthy and successful people can willingly click an ad offering something pricey, and this is a hint! You can try offers from the premium segment of eCommerce or Finance vertical.
And don’t forget about the Arab Family Guy’s wife — they love wellness products and self-treatment goods. Obviously, avoid iGaming and dating — we are speaking about the law-abiding and family-loyal people!
By the way, affiliate marketers say that the best traffic format for Arab GEOs is OnClick.
What creatives to use?
Nothing too extravagant — but attractive, eye-catching, and minimalist. A simple image of a product will perfectly do, but Arab people also love facts and figures. By the way, if you show people in your creatives, use images with Arabs — it’s just a matter of trust.
#2 Classical MENA-Asian Fan
We were not actually going to divide all fans by GEOs — but MENA-Asian fans are really a special category. Why so? Mainly because of the legendary USA-Iran match — the one that will unite conflicting states at least for a couple of hours.
There is also a story of how Iran entered the competition, after all — it was not that smooth and is still surrounded by many rumors and scandals.
So, anyway, it is a really big deal for the whole Middle East and North Africa world. We suppose that almost everyone will stick to their screens, or visit the stadium personally!
What is more, some Arab fans may not be really keen on soccer — but they will still support their national team as well as the other Arab teams. And, what is also important, the rest of the MENA region can be the same excited, too — for example, Indians will be engaged almost the same way!
Although Iran might not be the best GEO to target here, and many pro-affiliates avoid it, you can always try users from the other MENA and Asian countries that will also want to watch it all!
How to target?
First, you can choose several GEOs, including Qatar. For example, many local Pakistani employees will most likely purchase the most cost-effective tickets to the stadium, while the rest of MENA will definitely watch live broadcasts in their countries.
This viewer type mainly uses smartphones – and pretty economical ones, so mean it. Overall, you can target Qatar and other MENA GEOs, excluding Tier-4.
And what to offer to them? Try Dating, Finance, and Sweepstakes. You can also find something relevant in eCommerce, but remember that such types of fans are more into earning, not spending money.
What creatives to use?
The basic rules are almost the same as for the previous personas — you just have more options in verticals. Here are some examples:
#3 Football is My Religion
You definitely know who we are speaking about — people who not just love football, but associate themselves with their national team.
As soon as the match is on, they stop caring about anything but the game — and if their team loses, it’s like a small death for them. They won’t continue watching a championship with the other teams — and that’s the best thing they can do!
Sometimes, such fans really tend to show destructive behavior, like fights and crashing stadiums — no matter who actually won, by the way! They can behave perfectly ordinary in real life — but may become a disaster when it comes to football.
For example, almost 100% of Czech ultras admit they can verbally offend referees during the match and see nothing too bad in it.
Of course, you’ll meet many of them at the stadium — but some will still watch games at home.
And what if their team is eliminated? Well, it’s very unlikely that they remain the same interest in the event. Probably, they will watch the final on TV, though — as millions will do.
How to target?
First, such fans are pretty impulsive and can easily be triggered with something bright and screaming, ‘Click me!’ They are usually interested in various verticals — and they mainly include iGaming (especially for Germans) and Finance.
What creatives to use?
Impulsive people – impulsive creatives. Vivid CTAs, probably a bit provocative things – they care about soccer really much and can easily miss all the rest.
Try using their main trigger: soccer-related images. And, when you target various GEOs, use creatives with their teams’ colors — even if they are not about sports.
#4 I-Love-You-and-Soccer Girl
She is not a football fan — but she willingly shares the interests of her family or partner. She joins the club to be sociable — and can really get involved! Or not, though.
Often, she would honestly prefer something more exciting than a football game night (but she won’t confess).
You will barely see her staring at a smartphone and screaming ‘Go it!’ to support Messi. But she will come to a stadium with her boyfriend — or watch it on TV, again, for company’s sake.
How to target?
You can use most devices — and most GEOs. You are also not really limited in verticals — so choose the most profitable combinations for particular countries.
You can succeed with this buyer persona if you try running Utilities (especially for Brazil) or some eCommerce goods.
What creatives to use?
Bright and outstanding, not related to soccer much. It can be anything inspiring or even saying
Distract from football for a while!
Be a breath of fresh air among all these soccer ads.
#5 All Buttoned-Up
They really love football. But what they don’t love is to show their emotions too vividly. Such fans willingly visit matches and really commiserate with their team, but they won’t show any aggressive behavior.
And yeah, they won’t do anything inappropriate, leaving the cleanest breachers and the best impression.
How to target?
In fact, such fans are not rare birds. You can often find them among Asian and Arab people — and remember, they will all gather in the same place! So, choose the Qatar GEO but try experimenting with languages.
If we are speaking about live spectators here, we mean that many of them are tourists in Qatar. So, the best option is to target smartphones and tablet users. Remember, such fans are pretty well-off and use modern devices with the latest OS versions.
However, it might be even a better idea to target those who will stay in their home countries and watch live broadcasts.
And what do they like? Consider iGaming, or try Utilities. These people love to keep everything in order so that they might like cleaners and antiviruses. And they don’t mind using iGaming apps — in a very responsible way, of course.
What creatives to use?
They can be pretty traditional and still related to soccer somehow. Use various teams’ colors and engaging copy that might trigger football fans.
For example, this one for advertising a VPN service reminds us of the UAE national team colors:
#6 Following the Crowd
They would prefer anything to football – but a great event, especially in your own country is a must-see. That’s why many people in Qatar will watch live streams on TV and sports sites, doing household chores at the same time.
Actually, it’s also true for many spectators in other GEOs. They can watch football just to go ahead with the trends and keep small talks on the most spectacular goals — but they are really keen on the other things first.
How to target?
Don’t limit yourself — you can offer various kinds of verticals for them. Probably, the best idea is to suggest something unrelated to football – depending on GEO – and it will work!
However, some of the Following-the-Crowd guys don’t mind iGaming just for fun or to give it a try — use it, too.
What creatives to use?
Depending on the vertical, you can use various ad types, images, and copy. Don’t try to attract this persona by the national team colors or famous players — they might not even recognize them.
Just be as creative as you usually are — and add something spicy to break through the banner blindness!
#7 Avid Bettor
This type knows everything about soccer — no wonder, mistakes cost them money! You can be sure that an Avid Bettor won’t watch a game without placing at least a couple of wagers.
What is important is that iGaming is strictly prohibited in Qatar and other Arab countries. Who’s left? The most betting countries — if we trust statistics, they are India, Brazil, Nigeria, South Africa, and some more.
In fact, people in this group can be very different — so we show you one of several iGaming-type fans here. This one might love football pretty much but will willingly skip a couple of games for the sake of family, work, or other hobbies.
It’s not a problem for them to check a score after the match is over. If they still watch games live, they usually place bets simultaneously — so they use iGaming apps and sites with live broadcasts.
How to target?
Of course, Avid Bettors will long for the most profitable iGaming offers with sky-high odds. So give it to them — but mind the GEOs. For example, not all Indian states allow wagers on sports — exclude them from your campaigns.
What creatives to use?
Oh, there are plenty of options. They include Interstitials offering huge bonuses, lovely girls in sportswear, favorite athletes, and engaging pre-landers.
To Sum Up
Hope you got some fresh ideas — and will score your targeting goals! You’ll easily do it with PropellerAds traffic — so it’s time to start!
