Marcelo Calbucci

I was at a Fred Meyer this morning buying some pool toys for my kids and I saw something that absolutely shocked me. Actually, it was something I didn’t see. I didn’t see a single reference to the World Cup. Jut to be clear, the World Cup is the biggest event in the world. Bigger than anything you can ever imagine. Bigger than the Summer Olympics, bigger than the Superbowl, bigger then Christimas. It’s that big! Yet, Fred Meyer (and QFC, Safeway, Target, Wal-mart, etc.) are refusing to acknowledge it.


Well, to be honest I don’t think they are refusing anything, I just think they are ignorant about World Cup parties, gatherings, etc. See, I’m a consumer. If I enter one of these stores and I saw a cap, a t-shirt, a commemorative soccer ball, or fruit-juice for kids celebrating the World Cup, I would buy it.

My only guess as to why these organizations completely miss these opportunities is probably the fact their heads (executives) and the people in charge of marketing don’t get it. They don’t watch the games, they don’t like soccer, or they believe the US population is mostly not interested in the World Cup.

That’s the mistake. If there are really 30 million immigrants in the US, you can bet every single one of them loves the World Cup. In addition to that, there are tens of millions of first generation Americans, born of parents not born in the US. Add to that the tens of millions of American-born citizens who also love soccer, and you are probably talking about 20-30% of the US population. That’s a lot of people to ignore.

Anyway, enjoy the World Cup and expect a huge drop in productivity from anyone who’ll be watching the games!