If there’s one thing that has been different at this FIFA World Cup, besides the on-field success, it’s the role the internet & social media have played. The games are more intensely discussed on social networking sites like Twitter, while streaming of games online (a popular happening anyway) has been widely legalised. Many brands & companies have taken advantage of the biggest footballing tournament, with their own little marketing campaigns.
Google too had joined in the World Cup bandwagon and has remained a part of it throughout the tournament. Their search algorithm was altered which allowed users to get information of results, fixtures, players etc far more conveniently. To make matters more interesting, Google have also dedicated a doodle almost daily for the day’s matches; some more special than others.
Their doodle for the final of the FIFA World Cup between Germany & Argentina has taken a further special route with an immensely interactive feature. This is how the doodle appears at first sight.
The screen in the middle, the flags in the stands, the statue on the right and the clouds on the left are all clickable, making this one fantastic interactive feature.
Clicking on each flag would change the image on the screen from those of the players to the fans in the stands of what is supposed to be the Maracana stadium (another brilliant tribute). Clicking on Bosnia’s flag for example throws up this image:
The statue throws up a simple image of Brazil in the morning and at night, but it’s the clouds on the left that carry an even more special message. This is what you’d get:
A tribute to the famous Paul the Octopus that rightly predicted Spain as champions in 2010 and set a trend going for the subsequent years. You now have turtles, camels, parrots and everything else picking their winners for the 2014 World Cup following on from the success of Paul.
More interestingly, Google’s doodle for the final seems to carry a hidden message in support of Germany. Clicking on the German flag throws up an image that is significantly different to the rest:
Germany’s doodle, as seen, carries a “Finale Oho!” message unlike any of the others, and significantly that of their opponents, Argentina, which looks as normal as the others.
Do Google have a soft spot for the Germans? Are they predicting a German World Cup victory? May be so.
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