Takeaways From the 2026 FIFA World Cup for Marketers

By Omri Argaman, CMO/CGO, Zoomd

Yesterday, with great excitement, the 2026 FIFA World Cup came to an end.

The 39 days of soccer delivered record ratings and undoubtedly a new appreciation for soccer among Americans.

Here’s what I learned from watching and engaging with the content across screens, channels, and platforms during the 2026 FIFA World Cup:

It’s official… creators are the new marketing

Newly appointed Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez made waves last year when he said that Unilever would increase media spending on social channels from 30 to 50% and would work with 20 times as many influencers.

The consumer packaged goods marketer put this strategy to the test at the FIFA World Cup by engaging with 50,000 creators across 35 brands in 120 markets. The company established ‘House of Fresh’ content hubs in New York City, Miami, and Mexico City, inviting thousands of creators to meet athletes, to play on a small indoor soccer pitch, to make FIFA-related personalized merchandise, and to create and distribute content on their mobile phones. The company also created ‘The Locker Room’, a social media hub staffed by creators, soccer strategists, and community experts who will share, respond, and amplify experiences in real-time.

Though I didn’t see any stand-out social media campaigns, like Oreo’s dunking in the dark, Unilever’s creator strategy is focused on the long tail. And supporting Unilever’s belief in creator marketing, Kathryn Fernandez, head of purpose and engagement on Dove, noted that over the last several years, Dove’s creator strategy has contributed about 10% of the brand’s growth across all categories.

Unilever invested a lot of money to support the company’s creator-first marketing strategy. Given the size and scale of its investment, once the company analyzes creator performance, I look forward to seeing how Unilever evolves the company’s creator marketing efforts.

To sponsor or not?

FIFA sponsorship has three main categories: FIFA partners, a multi-year partnership priced at $150-$200 million (Adidas, Coca-Cola, Hyundai-Kia, Visa, etc.); FIFA World Cup 2026 sponsors, a partnership only for 2026 priced $80-$100 million (AB InBev, Bank of America, Frito-Lay, McDonald’s, Unilever, Verizon, etc.); and Regional supporters and supplier partnerships priced at $35-$50 million (Home Depot, American Airlines, Airbnb, Diageo, etc.). For their investment, sponsors can include the FIFA World Cup in their marketing and have access to in-stadium marketing opportunities.
In research conducted by YouGov, when respondents were asked, ‘Which of the following companies are sponsors?’ 39% cited Adidas vs. 32% who cited Nike, and 34% cited Visa vs. 29% who cited Mastercard. Both Adidas (a sponsor since 1970) and Visa are top-tier sponsors of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, while Nike and Mastercard are not sponsors.
According to data from YouTube, non-sponsor Nike achieved more than 70 million views for the company’s ‘Rip the Script’ World Cup marketing campaign, whereas Adidas earned more than 7 million views of the company’s ‘Backyard Legends: The Greatest Football Story Ever Told’, starring Timothée Chalamet.
After the stadiums’ hosting World Cup matches covered the logos of sponsoring companies that aren’t FIFA sponsors, Levi’s, sponsor of Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco, changed the company’s profiles on social media to mimic the covered logo in the stadium. According to data from online and social intelligence provider Meltwater, this resulted in the most-commented and shared social media post in the company’s history, and a 44% increase in mentions and 4x growth in engagement.
To take advantage of the complaints regarding the relatively high prices of tickets to 2026 FIFA World Cup matches, non-sponsor Canadian airline Air Transat ran billboards comparing the price of a ticket to matches played by England, France, Portugal, or Mexico, and a flight to those countries, which is about 20% of the cost of a ticket to the matches.

Messaging is having its moment

To increase engagement around the company’s “Epic Watch Party” ad campaign, FIFA sponsor Lay’s turned to mobile messaging application WhatsApp to create groups of fans with whom the company could engage by sending messages and videos from the soccer players in the marketing campaign, including Lionel Messi, Alexia Outrellas, David Beckham, and actor/comedian Steve Carell. Because the program is via a WhatsApp Channel, participants can react, share, and engage with the content, but can’t engage in an open dialogue as would be possible in a messaging channel.

With 5 million signed up for the US WhatsApp channel, this is a masterstroke in first-party data acquisition. With Lay’s now having access to 5 million consumers, it can engage with them directly without paying Google, Meta, or anyone else. I believe we’ll see growth in mobile messaging campaigns from marketers as a result of Lay’s success with this program.

Think small

An effective campaign that highlights what I think is the biggest takeaway from the 2026 FIFA World Cup is one where Unilever’s deodorant brand Rexona placed logos under the armpits of match officials. The logo is hidden during most of the match, but when the match official raises their hand to indicate a substitution or added time, the logo is the focal point for those watching the match at that time. Whether it’s a video in an individual creator’s feed or a WhatsApp message from Lay’s, the winning marketing ideas from this World Cup were small ideas that delivered big and personalized engagement.