World Cup comms: the good, the bad, and the ugly
There’s something in the air this week. Blame it on the sunshine, the flutter of England flags on railings, or the faint strains of Wonderwall echoing from car radios, but even the most cynical of football supporters is starting to feel cautiously optimistic.
Could it really be coming home?
Disclaimer: at the time of writing this blog, England have yet to play Argentina. It’s quite possible that we’ll crash out of the World Cup on Wednesday night.
Whatever the outcome, few will forget the drama of the games played, or the pride felt in the players. For the first time in a long time, people from across the political spectrum are rallying together behind a shared cause. It’s really quite something.
With so much of the national conversation dominated by talk of the beautiful game, it’s not surprising to see brands joining the conversation. Many are doing it well. Some are doing it clumsily. But the biggest losers in the PR game seem to be host nation America and FIFA itself.
The good
With heroes and villains, heartbreaks and highlights, many of the matches have proven to be positively Shakespearean.
Some of the best World Cup campaigns have mirrored this sense of epic storytelling. The common dominator seems to be an embrace of ‘positive nationalism’. Brands are celebrating the things that really make their team – and country – stand out.
The English have got brit-pop classics, the Mexicans have got mascot Merlin the duck, the Norwegians have got the Viking row. Likewise, Scotland have got Irn-Bru. The company released a Scottish World Cup anthem which sits just the right side of silly.
Nike’s star-studded Rip the Script advert riffed on some of the biggest names in the tournament, like meme-in-human-form Erling Haaland, without taking itself too seriously. Cleverly, it featured a roster of non-footballing stars to make it feel more like entertainment than advertising. Viewers approved, christening it the “Avengers Endgame of sports”.
But Adidas’ Hey Jude campaign from 2024 has proved its longevity, as fans continue to serenade Jude Bellingham with the Beatles anthem after every game. The team working on this piece of content were right to seize the cultural moment and immortalize it in advert form.
The bad
While many brands have successfully used storytelling to tap into the emotional rollercoaster fans experience during the tournament, a few have inevitably fallen short. Just look at Coke and Pepsi’s ongoing AI wars.
But there’s one that’s caught our eye in particular. Despite trading under the name Lays across the pond, the ‘No Walkers, No Game’ campaign seems to stress that everyone in America really does eat their crisps, too. Phew!
Unlike the campaigns we’ve already covered, this one misses a trick by laser-focusing on the product itself rather than how it makes the consumer feel. The crisps, repeatedly named aloud and held quite unnaturally, appear in nearly every shot. US comedy actor Steve Carrell is inexplicably there, and worse, is criminally under-used.
Consumers want something more sophisticated – as SuperBowl ad-maker Tom Berendsen point out in the Rip The Script article above: “Selling products is dead… And I think brands have quickly realised that in order to make anyone [care], you have to entertain them, which is easier said than done.”
While Walkers’ campaign aims for authenticity by using real shoppers and surprise viewing parties, a noticeable section of viewers have found the execution too polished or artificial to believe. There’s even a Reddit thread called “I find the new Walkers crisps adverts disproportionately infuriating”.
And the final nail in the coffin – David Beckham has been roped in as the campaign’s dead-eyed party host. We can’t put it better than Matt Boffey for Creative Bloq:
“A celebrity gives you fame, not distinction. Everyone knows David Beckham, but whose face is he? Pepsi? Stella? Adidas? Hugo Boss? Uber Eats? He’s fronted all of them, which is exactly why he’s the face of none of them. Sign him, and you’re subsidising every other brand Golden Balls plays for.”
The ugly
It was all going so well. Despite concerns about the World Cup taking place in Trump’s America, the tournament seemed to be reshaping perceptions of the host nation.
Much of the positive PR was entirely organic. Fans from all over the world posted videos on social media about their experience in the States. Football chants were shared. Local cuisines were sampled. Everyone fell a little bit in love with Cape Verde.
Americans seemed to be embracing their role as hosts and learning more about the cultures of their guests. It was a refreshing change from the division and intolerance of recent years.
Sadly, the sense of optimism didn’t last long. America has been mired in a corruption scandal entirely of its own making. Trump’s interference in US striker Folarin Balogun’s one-match ban, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s fawning acquiesce, has left a bad taste.
A lack of process and clarity corrodes trust in institutions, and undermines the idea of fair play. This debacle felt like the ultimate PR red card.
When the US team lost in a stinging defeat against Belgium, there was a real sense of schadenfreude. What a wasted opportunity for some much-needed image rehabilitation.
Good vibes, and even better PR
Maybe we’re just feeling swept away by the momentum at Distinctive, but – as we’ve previously argued – positivity has a power of its own. There’s no telling how long the good vibes will last, but it’s hard to blame organisations for making hay while the sun shines.
The same goes for politicians. Kier Starmer’s authentic love of football is well documented, and the PM’s football-themed social content performs better than his usual output. He’s clearly embracing his role as the figurehead of a country people are rooting for – if only temporarily. There’s even talk of a Bank Holiday if England lift the trophy.
At a time when overt displays of patriotism feel complicated (and politicised), the World Cup has felt like a unifying force. Perhaps the best PR has been around England itself. The tournament has showcased some of our best national traits; the diversity, the music, the humour, the passion.
And who knows? 60 years on from England’s last World Cup win, maybe it really is coming home.
Header photo by Fauzan Saari on Unsplash.
Written by Katie Howick and Heather McKay
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