The 2014 FIFA World Cup is a billion dollar business. The money that goes into staging the sport is phenomenal beginning from the various infrastructure projects and promotions by the host country to the millions spent by each individual participating team in their own preparations leading up to and during the games.

Many more billions of dollars are spent all over the world through syndication of the live coverage rights, public viewings in sports bars and pay per view access in people's private homes. Merchandise sales for official kits and other souvenir items also go through the roof not just in the host country but in many other countries all over the world.

The amount of money that changes hands all in the name of the biggest single-sport spectacle in the world is truly amazing. This is why companies big or small all want a piece of the pie. Multi-national sporting giants have seized the opportunity to use the games as a major marketing platform. The food industry has also come in as well as personal care, automobile, airline, hospitality and many other brand categories who m ay feel that they have a captured audience among the football fans.

The World Cup is surpassed only by the Superbowl and the Olympics as the biggest sporting events in terms of revenue earned per event day. However, the Superbowl happens for only one day and the World Cup is a month-long celebration which gives advertisers far more exposure.

Legendary players and current stars also earn a lot during this period as they are the natural choice to appear in most of the ads. Adidas and Nike as expected are going head to head in their own advertising battle. Adidas gained the upper hand by securing the deal to manufacture the official game ball called the "Brazuca" which features in this ad:

*Video from: Youtube / adidas Football

The ad also features Adidas sponsored stars from sides who will be competing in the games such as Manuel Neuer of Germany, Lionel Messi of Argentina and Xavi of defending champions Spain.

Nike is not far behind coming out with an extended over-5-minute ad that features animated versions of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Zalatan Ibrahimovic and Andres Iniesta entitled "The Last Game."

*Video from: Youtube / Goals

Other Brazilian superstars also join the fold including supermodel Adriana Lima who appears in an ad for Kia Motors:

*Video from: Youtube / FootballFantasy

Financial giants Visa also take the opportunity to advertise this time using Italian legend Fabio Cannavaro and French superstar Zinedine Zidane who both featured prominently in the 2006 edition of the Wolrd Cup.

*Video from: Youtube / Visa

One of the biggest advertisers that has come in is Coca-Cola, with an ad that focuses on the beautiful host country and its people and the different nations that are invited to come together to unite during the games:

*see video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMed07FEDEg

Fast-food giants McDonald's also came out with an ad as well as a contest to fly in fans to enjoy the games:

*see video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r1XMmrRSBE

FIFA research, for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, said 909 million television viewers tuned in to at least one minute of the 2010 final in their own homes. Some 619.7 million people also watched at least 20 consecutive minutes of Spain's 1-0 extra-time win over the Netherlands in Johannesburg. More than 3.2 billion people watched live coverage of the 2010 tournament for a minimum of one minute. The average official rating was 188.4 million for each match.

The Wolrd Cup is indeed a fantastic way for brands to come into people's homes and the ads will only continue to be even more creative and entertaining leading up to the final match.