Have you seen that Nike advert? You know, that one on YouTube that’s four minutes long and makes you wish you were a kid pretending to be Ronaldo again? Oh gosh, it’s so good isn’t it?

It goes without saying that the build up to the World Cup is well underway. With little under a month to go, squads are taking shape, office sweepstakes are drawn, and I’ve nearly completed my Panini sticker album - all in time for that exciting moment when the first ball is kicked on June 12.

That ball is the Adidas Brazuka, and it’s been on our screens more than a little already. You see, whilst Brazil don’t get their campaign for glory underway until the Opening Ceremony in São Paulo, the battle of the sportswear brands has already begun.

Rewind back to 2010 and the World Cup saw unprecedented amounts of attention in the media with the tournament in South Africa seeing social media take engagement not only between fans, but brands as well, to a whole new level.

And it’s moved on from there. During the 2011 Women’s World Cup, the final between the USA and Japan set an all-time high of 7,196 tweets per second, and with the tournament likely to exceed South Africa’s television reach of over three billion, records will no doubt tumble again.

So it comes as no surprise that brands like Adidas and Nike have been tweeting more than an angry Joey Barton of late. Since the draw was made for the Group Stage in early December, the brands have been at war with each-other in their bid for World Cup supremacy, even going as far as launching innovative new football boot designs on the very same day.

Both designs were shared via social media, which is perhaps fitting as the future of marketing at the World Cup will have Twitter and Facebook at its very core.

Taking this example alone, it’s pretty clear who is winning. The Swoosh brand received over 1,000 RTs alone on the boot reveal compared to just 81 for the German brand, whilst that video - the one that makes you wish you were a kid pretending to be Ronaldo again – has quickly become the brand’s most viewed online ad and YouTube clip.

Which is perhaps a surprise. Compared to Adidas, Nike are relatively new to the football industry having only introduced themselves in 1994. Signing a major deal with Brazil for the USA tournament, which has since seen the brand become synonymous with samba; this World Cup seems the ideal environment to finally overtake the brand with over 60 years of history and invented the studded boot.

Over the years they’ve backed some of Brazil’s biggest stars, creating the R9 Ronaldo boot, and more recently sponsoring South American’s new poster-boy, Neymar.

With this in mind, Nike are pretty much nailed on for the South American market. The brand is simply too big for Adidas compete with, even with Lionel Messi in the ranks. Although elsewhere, it gets a little more interesting.

In Europe in particular, there will be a huge battle. Brands are already pushing some of Europe’s elite, with the likes of Rooney, Ozil, and Casillas all taking over our commercial breaks and social media feeds to try and get the brands ahead.

Adidas have the market in Europe. Compared to Nike’s 12.4%, Adidas stands at 13.2%, and with their ‘All In Or Nothing’ campaign already in full flow, they’ll hope to extend that gap.

But that’s unlikely. In an industry where children certainly rule the roost, the brand has hardly been inspiring. In fact, ‘All In Or Nothing’ sounds remarkably like ‘Risk Everything’, which Nike are running with this summer, and with less engaging content than its rival – evident by the fact Nike have over double the amount of Facebook Likes, and their marquee video has 65.5 million hits on YouTube – Adidas could find themselves lagging behind.

Like Lionel Messi, who has been toppled from his Ballon d’Or throne this year, Nike could follow in the footsteps of CR7, reliant very much on the man himself, which ultimately will be what it comes down to.

A poor tournament from the Portuguese winger, or a standout performance from Neymar in his bright pink Hypervenom boots could be the difference, whilst according to the Senior Vice President of Global Football Markus Baumann, success for Adidas this year would be, “Germany winning the World Cup.”

Although we’re not so sure…