The FIFA World Cup is nearly over, and godspeed to the two countries battling it out in the Big Final.
This newsletter, however, is more about the brands that have been battling it out to win the attention of football fans, whether that was through big, flashy advertising (we’re looking at you, Adidas, McDonalds and Nike), or more social media-led viral moments.
Like, for example, is the real winner of the World Cup the heartfelt bromance between rivals slash BFFs Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham? #cleatedrivalry? Or is my FYP built a little different...
Okay, back to brand. I came across a stat from Meltwater which claimed that in the ramp-up to the World Cup, non-sponsor brand collaborations generated nearly double the engagement of official sponsors (61 million engagements versus 33 million).
Take Nike, for example – their World Cup film, Rip the Script, has 79M views on YouTube, vs Adidas’s 8M for their ‘Backyard Legends’ ad. Nike’s football universe storytelling has paid off, too, with spots like this one featuring one-half of #cleatedrivalry duo, Erling Haaland.
So while we think sponsorship is obviously an effective tool in the marketer’s kit – does it really work if you’re being beaten by the creative from other brands?
Happy reading,
Jean from Tracksuit 💜
In this week:
Levi’s turned their covered up logo into a real marketing moment and increased their mentions by 44% from the beginning of the World Cup.
Of the sponsors we tracked, Coca-Cola, Adidas, and McDonalds are the only brands to hold top-three positions across awareness, consideration and preference. They all have long sponsorship histories with the World Cup.
Hydration Break sponsor Powerade may need all that repeated exposure – only 19% of people aware of the brand think “It’s like no other”, on the bottom of brands tracked.
It’s no surprise that Levi’s was our personal favorite marketing moment of the tournament…
Listen, we like a heartfelt five-minute ad/short film as much as the next guy, but we love a genuine social media moment where it feels like we’re on the same wavelength as everyone we know, plus the guy we’re sitting next to on the bus, plus maybe some strangers from Brazil or Norway. Enter, Levi’s.
Levi’s has had a truly stellar year. One of its ads has just been nominated for an Emmy (the SuperBowl one with Doechii), and sales have been up, too, having recently risen 8%. So when this World Cup thing landed on their desk (that is, when everyone became obsessed with its covered up logo), they took it and ran.
“What started as a naming rights sponsorship restriction at the Levi’s Stadium became the most commented and shared post in Levi’s history,” Kenneth Mitchell, Levi’s chief marketing officer, wrote last week. “Leaning fully into it with a profile change on our social channels sealed the deal.”
We created a whole new category to track a selection of the FIFA sponsors and here are some stand-out stats…
Adidas leads the category of sponsors when it comes to the statement, “Is a brand whose FIFA World Cup makes sense to me”, with 51% of people aware of the brand associating Adidas with that statement. As a sportswear brand, this definitely makes sense.
Of all the sponsors, Coca-Cola, Adidas, and McDonalds are the only brands to hold top-three positions across awareness, consideration and preference – a powerful alignment that points to the compounding effect of long-term brand investment. Coca-Cola’s been a sponsor since 1978, Adidas since 1970 and McDonalds since 1994.
Also, did anyone else find the Hydration Breaks lowkey frustrating?
Another big topic of contention on our feeds were the numerous Hydration Breaks that the World Cup instated this year – something that fans were very vocal about hating, since it was clearly just a ploy to sell more ads.
Powerade was this year’s sponsor, and according to our data, it’s a brand that needs a real boost when it comes to differentiation from its competitors. Only 19% of people aware of the brand think “it’s like no other”, on the bottom of brands tracked; and only 21% of the people aware think it “Really stands for something”. So will the Hydration Breaks help or hinder that, we wonder?
April ‘26 to June ‘26, Sports Beverages and Powders, USA
Beautiful, affordable and always-on brand tracking
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