Spain Won the World Cup. The Underdogs Won the Media Game.

By Heather Martin, Associate Director, Media, AntiSocial

The World Cup is one of the most expensive events in the world to advertise at. The center of the action belongs to brands like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Adidas, who can afford the goliath media budgets most brands cannot.

But just because you don’t have money to burn doesn’t mean you have to sit the tournament out. Events this big create far more media than anyone can officially buy. Every match produces searches, memes, camera angles, venue mentions and cultural moments. The smartest underdogs did not try to outspend the global sponsors. They found the gaps around them.

One of the most heartwarming examples of this comes from Cape Verde. The country did not need a tourism campaign to suddenly become a tourism campaign. Its tournament run reportedly helped drive a 5,000% increase in vacation interest. Football put the country in front of millions of people, and curiosity did the rest.

Scotland benefited from major brands turning tournament attention into destination marketing. Adidas’ “Choose Scotland” activation in Italy and United Airlines’ “Visit Your Friends in Scotland” campaign kept the country visible beyond the pitch, using football culture to strengthen Scotland’s appeal as a place to visit. The media investment came from global brands, but the tourism halo belonged to Scotland.

Rexona also found a way in without buying the most obvious spot. A distinctive placement repeatedly appeared in broadcast coverage and social content, generating millions of impressions. It was a reminder that the best media space is sometimes the one nobody else thought to value.

Levi’s Stadium pulled off a similar trick. Levi’s is hardly a tiny brand, but next to the World Cup’s biggest sponsors, it was still playing the underdog. Its naming rights generated more coverage than any other stadium sponsor or owner, turning every venue mention into earned exposure.

All of these examples show us something. You do not need to own the event. You do not need to compete with the biggest sponsor budgets. You need to understand where attention is already moving and find a credible way to move with it.

Because the official sponsors may own the signage. But they do not own every search, conversation, camera angle or cultural moment. Spain won the World Cup, but underdogs found the media nobody else thought to buy.