And so it ends…. In a slightly fudgey final that was both frustratingly sterile and viciously chaotic, but that eventually ended with the right victor before penalties (phew!), thanks to Inesta’s awesome strike in the 106^th minute.

Besides the mid-week boozing, one of the things that I enjoy most about the World Cup is all the creative activity and marketing that surrounds the event. Our office sweepstake for example was hugely entertaining, especially the bit where I pocketed €50. On the contrary I lost woefully in my fantasy football league – apparently choosing players with the most intriguing names isn’t a great strategy. But the number of related links flying around the office was truly magnificent and must have reduced our output by at least 10% (the Eurovision link to live matches being the biggest culprit). So until next year’s sticker collection comes out, here’s a list of my creative favourites:

5. The infamous ‘write the future’ Nike ad was an immense spectacle that is now posited as a curse on featured players who may or may not have gone home to bushy beans and baked beards. Oh sorry, that should be the other way around. Yet no one can deny the epic proportions of the ad which flew across cyber space faster than Howard Webb’s pocket whipping yellow cards. Another favourite ad of mine is the similarly mega-budget Pepsi ad which captures the Africa theme quite nicely.

4. Whilst we’re on the ‘ambush marketing’ (i.e. Nike is not an official sponsor so this is apparently called an ‘ambush’) you can’t avoid mentioning the orange clad Dutch ladies dancing their way to jail in the FIFA sponsored coup on fun. Despite what my colleague tells me about the ‘horrors’ of unrestrained ambush marketing (“do you want a stadium full of Ronald MacDonalds?”), I can’t help but like the idea. It’s like a slightly more sinister version of the flash mob and everyone loves the flash mob. Perhaps next year these ladies should take a leaf out of Paraguayan streaker Larissa Riquelme’s book and ditch the dresses altogether. Would FIFA be able to prosecute people on the basis of branded tattoos?

3. I’m a mega fan of the Adidas ‘Oliver Kahn bridge’ in Munich airport. It’s just so darn big!

2. My almost favourite is the BBC food’s clever feature on Facebook, which pitched national dish against national dish, winners being the dish with the most ‘like’s. I tried out the ‘crispy Greek style pie with much success, although it was pipped online by Mexico’s ‘Chicken Chilli Fijitas’ which went on the claim the grand prize.

1. Although not exactly a marketing stunt (even if his Sea Life Centre is now frequented a lot more often), Paul the Octopus has to win the World Cup hall of fun stuff fame for me. The odds of him getting all those predictions right was put at 3,000-1 by book-makers William Hill, yet he repeatedly dolloped himself into the correct country box, wrapping his tentacles around the hearts of people all over the world. If anything can console the Dutch to their loss (other than making Howard Webb into calamari) surely it’s that the defeat vindicated a mussel loving psychic hero (who’ll be dead before 2014 – sob!).