In roughly three weeks, the largest sporting event in human history kicks off across North America. Forty-eight teams. Sixteen cities. A month and a half of competition. An estimated five billion cumulative viewers. And based on the brand activations I have seen previewed so far, I would say approximately seven percent of sponsors have any idea what they are doing.
Here is the problem: most American brands have never marketed around a World Cup that matters to them. The last time the US hosted was 1994. Most CMOs currently in their roles were in grade school. The institutional muscle memory does not exist.
Here is the problem: most American brands have never marketed around a World Cup that matters to them.
When Casper launched in 2014 with a single mattress model and a 100-night trial, they didn't just sell mattresses differently. They made the entire category's complexity feel like a scam. One product. One price. Revolutionary simplicity.
So you have brands applying Super Bowl strategy to a World Cup. One big moment. One hero spot. Blast it everywhere. Done. And that fundamentally misunderstands what the World Cup is as a cultural event.
The Super Bowl is a night. The World Cup is a month. The Super Bowl is American monoculture. The World Cup is global polyculture. The Super Bowl audience wants entertainment. The World Cup audience wants belonging.
The brands that will win this summer understand three things:
Sustained narrative beats single moments. You cannot win the World Cup with one ad. You need a story that unfolds across weeks. You need content that responds to what actually happens in the tournament. You need a team, no pun intended, that can be culturally responsive in near-real-time across multiple markets and languages.
Local is everything. Portland is not a host city, but Seattle is. The energy in the Pacific Northwest right now around this tournament is something I have never seen for soccer in this country. The brands activating locally, building experiences in host cities, partnering with local culture rather than parachuting in, those are the ones creating genuine connection. A mural in Kansas City will outperform a national TV spot for the people who actually see it.
The diaspora audiences are your secret weapon. This is the strategic insight that I think most American brands are completely missing. The US has massive diaspora communities for whom the World Cup is not a sporting event. It is identity. It is home. It is the one time every four years their country is visible on the global stage. Brands that authentically connect with Mexican-Americans during El Tri matches, or Nigerian-Americans during Super Eagles matches, are not just reaching an audience. They are participating in something sacred.
I have seen exactly two brands that seem to fully understand this. Adidas, obviously, because they have done this before. And surprisingly, a mid-size DTC brand I will not spoil because their activation is going to be genuinely brilliant and they deserve the surprise.
Everyone else: you have three weeks. It is not too late to throw out your Super Bowl playbook and build something that actually matches the moment. A moment this big, this global, this emotionally charged? You do not get a do-over. Not for another four years.