A general view of the exterior of San Francisco Bay Area Stadium ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Group B match between Qatar and Switzerland on June 13, 2026 in Santa Clara, California.
Fran Santiago | Getty Images
As people around the world tune in to this summer’s World Cup, some of the hottest brands aren’t even official sponsors of the tournament.
The list of official sponsors for this year’s World Cup, which will be held in cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico, includes world-renowned companies such as: adidas, coca cola and Qatar Airways.
But even before the tournament began, the following companies were in the spotlight: Levi Strauss & Company, taco bell and Texas-based convenience store chain Buc-ee’s. Some companies have gained attention on social media with creative marketing strategies, while others have benefited from the natural customer response from the influx of international players and fans.
mcdonalds We celebrated the tournament with limited time menus and cups. Taco Bell has launched a new campaign to help fans celebrate and cheer depending on the outcome of the game.
Advertising spending for this year’s World Cup is expected to reach $10.5 billion, according to marketing research firm WARC Media. This is slightly less than the roughly $12.6 billion spent on the 2018 World Cup, hosted by Russia.
Market intelligence firm Sensor Tower told CNBC that World Cup ad spending rose 42% from the previous week in the days leading up to Game 1. The company tracked that both Taco Bell and Duracell have increased their ad spend in the past few weeks, but the top 10 companies spending the past three months on World Cup ads were sponsors or broadcast partners of the tournament.
According to market research firm Meltwater, in the run-up to the World Cup, non-sponsored brand collaborations generated nearly twice as much engagement as official sponsors, reaching around 61 million engagements compared to just 33 million.
The company told CNBC that while sponsored ads led in volume, the quality of distribution and creative helped drive non-sponsored engagement, with the most social media engagement coming from TikTok.
The company said since the tournament began, non-sponsor brands have received over 57,000 mentions on social media, compared to just over 43,000 mentions of official sponsor brands.
“The big lesson from this World Cup is that you no longer need an official sponsor to own a cultural moment,” Meltwater CEO John Box told CNBC. “The brands that will win the next tournament will not necessarily be the ones with the biggest budgets; rather, they will be the ones with the creativity to understand trends in real time, connect them to their brands, and the speed to act before the moment passes.”
world cup results
Kylian Mbappé’s Nike soccer cleats during the France national team’s training session at Bentley University on June 20, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. The number 58 on the spikes represents the goals Mbappé has scored for his national team.
Johnny Fidellin | Icon Sports | Getty Images
According to Meltwater, Coca-Cola and Adidas accounted for half of all sponsors mentioned for the tournament. However, in the final 11 days leading up to the first game on June 11th, McDonald’s was the clear winner, increasing its engagement share from 2.6% to 23%.
Among non-sponsored posts, Lego accounted for 82% of the top 50 most engaging non-sponsored posts across social media platforms, according to Meltwater. The construction toy company’s World Cup campaign generated 12 times more revenue than the average sponsor in the days leading up to the tournament.
nikeThe company, which is not an official sponsor of the tournament, has had more than 70 million views on YouTube of its World Cup ad, which features celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Travis Scott and LeBron James, as well as a number of World Cup stars including Norway breakout Erling Haaland and Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo.
Sneaker rival Adidas has had about 7 million views on ads featuring actors such as actor Timothée Chalamet and Argentina national team captain Lionel Messi.
Andrew Rome, a marketing professor at Loyola Marymount University, said the difference points to winners and losers in the off-field advertising battle during the tournament.
“It was interesting to see these two brands take very different approaches to four- to five-minute content. I liked Nike’s approach because it was completely on-brand, irreverent, and unexpected,” Rohm told CNBC. “You don’t need to be an official sponsor to connect with the cultural and social significance of a global global event like the World Cup, especially when you have assets like Nike that can be deployed towards it.”
Regarding this year’s World Cup advertising winner, Rohm said it was a battle of “the expected and the unexpected.” He said companies that are not official sponsors and are therefore not restricted by FIFA can enjoy the marketing the most.
One brand that is taking full advantage of its non-sponsor status is denim brand Levi’s.
Because the company is not an official sponsor of the tournament, its branding at the host stadium in Santa Clara, California, had to be removed before the game.
The Levi’s logo was loosely shaped like a jeans pants pocket and covered with a white cover, a counterintuitive move that got the company buzzing on social media from amused fans. In a similar move, razor brand Gillette made light of the situation by mimicking shaving cream foam on the cover of the Massachusetts stadium logo.
“What started as a naming rights sponsorship restriction at Levi’s Stadium has become the most commented and shared post in Levi’s history,” Levi’s Chief Marketing Officer Kenneth Mitchell said last week. “After a full effort, including changing our profiles on our social channels, we were able to close the deal.”
Mitchell added that “strong brand iconography” worked in the company’s favor, as the distinctive logo was recognizable even under the covers.
According to Meltwater, Levi’s leads the way in increasing awareness beyond sponsors the most through marketing, with mentions increasing by 44% since the start of the World Cup. According to the research firm, engagement with the company has nearly quadrupled since it focused on stadium marketing.
Changing advertising strategies
Jared Watson, assistant professor of marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business, said he saw brands having more fun with marketing during this year’s tournament.
“I think what you’re seeing, especially this year, are brands that are taking kind of a subversive or cheeky approach to places that aren’t officially aligned with FIFA. So a lot of consumers are supporting these marketing efforts, in part because they feel somewhat hostile to what’s going on,” Watson told CNBC. “It’s like stripping FIFA of its capitalist intentions.”
Watson said the brand’s success did not come from marketing alone, with some companies tapping into the frustration consumers feel about the commercialization of global football.
FIFA introduced mandatory hydration breaks during matches, for example increasing advertising time without interrupting the match. The break has drawn criticism from fans who say it’s unnecessary and a money grab.
“We have a bit of a sticky mindset where we like to see brands rebel and push back, because it’s in keeping with the World Cup ethos of unity and meritocracy,” Watson said.
FIFA said in December that the three-minute break prioritized “player welfare” and was “part of an intensive effort to ensure the best possible conditions for players.”
Some brands have also had more organic successes, with fans around the world experiencing the culture of World Cup host cities and posting newfound affinity for American general store chain Buc-ee’s and salad dressing company Hidden Valley Ranch.
“One of the things we’ve seen so far, and I think it’s helped a lot of brands who probably hadn’t decided to get into the advertising battle aggressively, is that there’s a sense of joy in some kind of fundamentally American thing,” Watson said. “That allowed a lot of these brands to kind of slipstream or somewhat reactively jump on these trends and get some earned media.”
Kelly Cutler, an associate professor of marketing at Northwestern University, says marketing that creates an emotional connection and has a human appeal stands out in the age of artificial intelligence.
“I think this is especially timely because I think people are a little more sensitive right now to all the media about AI and all the discussions about AI,” Cutler said. “So understanding on a human level how important it is for your team to win or lose is something so basic and foundational that it creates that kind of connection.”
Cutler also said marketing is generational, noting that younger consumers are more aware of when they’re being marketed to and often resist. Companies that can build a deeper connection with Gen Z will find their “marketing golden goose,” she said.
He added that the World Cup could have far-reaching implications for future brand partnerships for sponsoring companies, which are constrained by FIFA rules.
“Organizations obviously want sponsorship money, and they don’t want to go through a situation like this where a brand that’s not paying anything gets a lot of attention and gets all the headlines and has very interesting results,” Cutler said. “So I think it’s going to be interesting to see how this impacts future sponsorship programs.”
