Savvy app marketers are always on the lookout for ways to use holidays and events to increase the number of downloads of their apps. The biggest event going on right now is the World Cup.

So let’s take a look at three companies that are not soccer related and how they are using the World Cup to increase public awareness of their apps. Hopefully, this post will give you some ideas for your next promotion.

McDonald’s GOL!

McDonald’s is one of the sponsors of the World Cup. But they did not rely on their sponsorship alone to increase awareness of their brand. They created a separate app, just for the World Cup.

The game allows players to perfect soccer tricks and even upload their gameplay to YouTube. Creating a new game for a tournament that will only last about a month may not be worthwhile for every company.

But for McDonlad’s, it seems like the app has been a success. It has given McDonald’s a fun way to connect with soccer fans, promote their fries and promote their brand. Their app ranks well for the keywords “gol,” “fry,” “copa,” and even “fifa.”

Instavoice Messenger

Instavoice Messenger publisher Kirusa focuses on emerging markets, primarily in Africa. In order to increase the number of downloads of their app during the World Cup, they partnered with Goal.com to provide exclusive World Cup updates to their users.

This is a great example of an app that is not sports related, but the publisher saw an opportunity to capitalize on the World Cup. It appears to have worked. We see a big jump in the rank of the app on the Top Free iPhone Apps – Social Media chart in Ghana.