Corporations market at World Cup despite absence of US

Budweiser has a boat on the Moscow River and a disco. Coke set up an interactive sculpture-video installation in Gorky Park and entertained 5,000 guests during the monthlong tournament. Visa built a campaign around former Sweden star Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Business went on at the World Cup without the presence of the United States, although the tournament's visibility decreased across America.

In this July 5, 2018 photo, a helicopter sits atop the Budweiser boat, parked on the Moskva River during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

"The absence of the U.S. team here doesn't change what we're doing," said Ricardo Fort, The Coca-Cola Co.'s head of global sponsorships. "The real value is based on how broad our programs are implemented. We have over 180 countries doing work."

In this July 5, 2018 photo, women wearing traditional head dresses wait to greet Visa cardholders who won trips to the 2018 soccer World Cup, at the Marriott Novy Arbat Hotel, taken over by visa for the duration of the World Cup in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

FIFA said after the group stage that of 2.6 million tickets sold, U.S. residents bought about 97,000 on FIFA's website and from its ticketing centers, second only to host Russia's 1.1 million. The U.S. was second to host Brazil in 2014, but the American total was around 200,000 that year.

In this July 5, 2018 photo, a Bud logo decorates the Budweiser boat, parked on the Moskva River during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

"We were all disappointed when the U.S. team didn't qualify," said Brian Perkins, vice president of global marketing for Budweiser at Anheuser-Busch InBev. "But two-thirds of the sales of Budweiser globally are sold outside of the U.S., so actually the bigger part of the business is international, and that's where all the growth is coming from as well. It really didn't change much at all."

In this July 5, 2018 photo, women wearing traditional head dresses wait to greet Visa cardholders who won trips to the 2018 soccer World Cup, at the Marriott Novy Arbat Hotel, taken over by visa for the duration of the World Cup in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

World Cup advertising increased sharply in the U.S. during the past few tournaments. Nike used a 70½-foot advertising board near New York's Penn Station and its store windows to attract attention.

Plans for U.S. marketing changed last October when the U.S. lost at Trinidad and Tobago, ending a string of seven straight World Cup appearances dating to 1990.

"Since Team USA will not be competing, we don't have much going on," Nike spokesman Ilana Finley said in an email.

In this July 11, 2018 photo, a man holds up a Visa sign in front of a statue of Lenin, as fans arrive for the semifinal match between Croatia and England at Luzhniki Stadium, during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Past World Cups contributed to soccer's growth in the U.S., both at Major League Soccer and at the youth level. The four matches involving the American team in 2014 were seen by 10 million to 18 million viewers on ESPN and generated what then-U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati called "water-cooler talk." That opportunity was lost in this four-year cycle.

Fox, which holds U.S. English-language television rights, had been projecting four of 64 matches involving the American team.

"We had to pivot quickly," Fox Sports senior vice president of ad sales Mike Petruzzi said.

In this July 5, 2018 photo, Budweiser World Cup bottles line a wall in the lobby of the InterContinental Hotel, which has been taken over by Bud for the duration of the 2018 soccer World Cup, in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

While viewers declined from the 2014 tournament in Brazil, the level is up from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa when the U.S. games are factored out.

"You are naturally going to have more people paying attention back home when your country is in the tournament, but there has still been a ton of interest in the World Cup in the United States," current USSF president Carlos Cordeiro said in an email. "That clearly shows how the game has grown over the years."

In this July 11, 2018 photo, a man drinks a beer in a Budweiser pavilion in front of Luzhniki Stadium as fans arrive for the semifinal match between Croatia and England, during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Visa is using the World Cup to expand the use of near field communication contactless payment technology and brought Ibrahimovic, now with MLS's LA Galaxy, to Russia for the tournament's first week for promotion.

"Some of the biggest amounts of spending that we're seeing in Russia is coming from American fans who travel to Russia to see the World Cup in person," said Chris Curtin, Visa's chief brand and innovation marketing officer.

In this July 5, 2018 photo, guests relax at the Marriott Novy Arbat Hotel, taken over by World Cup sponsor Visa for the duration of the 2018 World Cup in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Visa's data backed up an impression the percentage of fans from Europe was lower than at past World Cups. Part of the cause may be tension between Russia and western European nations that followed Russia's invasion of Crimea and military intervention in Ukraine, and accusations by Britain that Russia was behind the poisoning of a former spy living in England.

Through the semifinals, $12 million was charged inside the stadiums to Visa cards issued to cardholders in Russia, followed by those issued in the U.S. ($3 million), Mexico ($1.5 million), China ($1.1 million), Argentina ($700,000), Peru ($560,000), England ($550,000), Brazil ($500,000), Colombia ($420,000) and Australia ($400,000).

In this July 11, 2018 photo, people walk past a Budweiser pavilion in front of the Luzhniki Stadium as fans arrive for the semifinal match between Croatia and England, during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

France was 13th at $230,000 heading into Sunday's final against Croatia.

FIFA has seven top-level partners in Adidas, Coca-Cola, Gazprom, Hyundai, Qatar Airways, Visa and Wanda Group, plus five second-level sponsors: Anheuser-Busch, Hisense, McDonald's, Mengniu Dairy and Vivo.

Hisense, Mengniu, Vivo and Wanda are all Chinese companies, a sign of that nation's increasing influence in soccer despite the lack of success of its national team.

Among the official FIFA group, Adidas, Anheuser-Busch, Coke and McDonald's purchased about 20 percent of Fox's advertising inventory and sponsorships, and Hisense sponsored clock wraps, billboards and graphics, according to Petruzzi. They were joined by tech companies Amazon, Apple and Google.

Coke, Sprint and Volkswagen advertised on U.S. Spanish-language coverage on NBC Universal's Telemundo network.

Four years from now, the World Cup will be in Qatar, which like Moscow will also be seven hours ahead of Eastern time. The change will be the timing, Nov. 21-Dec. 18, a tournament shortened from 32 days to 28.

"Fourth quarter has got a lot of rating points already with college football, NFL, so it's going to be very interesting how we approach it," Petruzzi said. "The holiday stuff will be great, but I also get cautious about the fourth quarter because there's so many rating points out there."

BEIJING (AP) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Beijing Monday to display the strength of ties with close diplomatic partner China amid Moscow’s grinding war against Ukraine and an ongoing effort to align their foreign policies against the U.S. and its allies.

The two continent-sized authoritarian states, increasingly in dispute with democracies and NATO, seek to gain influence in Africa, the Middle East and South America. China has backed Russia’s claim that President Vladimir Putin launched his assault in 2022 because of Western provocations, without producing any solid evidence.

Russian state news agency Tass said the ministers would “discuss the situation in Ukraine and the Asia-Pacific region, issues of bilateral cooperation and interaction in the international arena,” quoting Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

Zakharova posted a photo on social media site Telegram showing Lavrov meeting with counterpart Wang Yi but gave no information of the content of their discussions. China's Foreign Ministry and state media had no immediate reports about the talks.

Lavrov arrived in China on Monday on an official visit that will last until Tuesday. Wang has visited Russia during the conflict in Ukraine and maintained China's line of not dubbing the Russian war in Ukraine an invasion.

China has at times taken an equally combative tone against the U.S. and its allies. China and Russia have held joint military drills, and are seen as seeking to supplant democracies with dictatorships in areas where they wield influence.

Despite its clear backing of Russia in the Ukraine war, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters Monday that “China has an objective and fair position on the Ukraine issue.”

“We have been actively promoting peace talks and political solutions. China is not a creator or party to the Ukraine crisis, and we have not and will not do anything to profit from it,” Mao told reporters at a daily briefing.

China has also said it wasn't providing Russia with arms or military assistance, although it has maintained robust economic connections with Moscow, alongside India and other countries.

Just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin visited Beijing for the opening of the 2022 Winter Olympics and the sides signed a pact pledging a “no limits” relationship that has China supporting Russia's line, even while formally urging peace talks.

“We have always controlled the export of dual-use items in accordance with the law,” Mao said, referring to industrial items that can be used for both industrial or military purposes, such as drones.

“The relevant country should not smear or attack the normal relations between China and Russia,” Mao said. “The relevant country” was a reference to the U.S., Russia and China’s chief geopolitical rival.

In a phone call last week with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, U.S. President Joseph Biden pressed China over its defense relationship with Russia, which is seeking to rebuild its industrial base as it continues its invasion of Ukraine. And he called on Beijing to wield its influence over North Korea to rein in the isolated and erratic nuclear power.

Adding to the tension between the two countries, U.S. lawmakers generated new legislation that would ban TikTok, the popular social media application, if its China-based owner ByteDance doesn’t sell its stakes in the platform within six months of the bill’s enactment.

Lawmakers are concerned Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over data on the 170 million Americans who use TikTok.

All Chinese firms, especially those in the social media sphere, are obligated to hand over user data to the government.

Lavrov's visit also coincides with the U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who on Monday wrapped up four days of talks with Chinese officials and said in Beijing they had “difficult conversations” about national security, including American concerns that Chinese companies are supporting Russia in its war in Ukraine.

Yellen also said the Biden administration will push China to change an industrial policy that poses a threat to U.S. jobs.

In this photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service on Monday, April 8, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting in Beijing, China. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is visiting Beijing to display the strength of ties with close diplomatic ally China amid Moscow's grinding war against Ukraine. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service on Monday, April 8, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, center, walks from the plane upon his arrival in Beijing, China. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is visiting Beijing to display the strength of ties with close diplomatic ally China amid Moscow's grinding war against Ukraine. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP)