THE WORLD CUP IN BERLIN!

Lu-Lu-Lu-Luca Podolski! That was only one of the many chants that were sung during the world cup game against Germany and Australia. The World Cup to Europeans is like the NFL to Americans. Literally, everything in the city was decorated in the team colors- black, red, and yellow. Every store, restaurant, bar, and bar that I walked by had the World Cup game on the television. Throughout the city, they had public viewings for the people to crowd together in huge areas and cheer for their favorite team. I went to a public viewing at the main train station called the Haufbanof. There were hundreds of people dressed in their team colors and had the German flag, horns, necklaces, everything you can think of! As you see in the picture below, these people do not hold back when it comes to German pride!
While I was at the World Cup public viewing made me feel like I was back in college. I went to the University of Florida and football is a huge staple in your college years-especially at a well-known university. Anytime the university had a football or basketball the town would shut down and everyone would be at the stadium to watch the public viewing. Everyone would be dressed in our orange and blue team colors and cheer all day long. Even after the game was over we would all crowd into the streets and cheer together. It was exactly the same at the German public viewing. Although I am not from Germany, everyone in the crowd made me feel like I was a part of their team! As long as you had their team colors and cheered along with them they were very inviting and we were all as one.
As I mentioned above, the World Cup is a huge deal for the European countries. In Berlin, many companies and advertising agencies are taking the World Cup as an opportunity to market their products. For example, Adidas is using a great guerilla marketing tactic by saturating the subway with advertisements featuring their products and associating them to the World Cup. The walls are filled with posters, stickers on the floors, and the stair cases are decorated with the Adidas symbols. Local businesses are taking advantage of the World Cup games by hosting special events and offers during the game. One establishment we went to offered free shots for every goal the Germans scored.
In conclusion, I never watched the World Cup games or knew much about them. I wanted to drench myself in German culture and I knew the World Cup would be a great way to do so. It was an amazing experience and it reminded me of being back at home. I really enjoyed being a part of the crowd and cheering with everyone. From a marketing stand point, it is beneficial for companies to take advantage of a big event such as the World Cup and advertise as much as they can. Overall it was a wonderful experience- Go Deutchland!