Best brand campaigns ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026

With football being the world’s most popular sport, the FIFA World Cup is one of the most awaited and most followed tournaments around the globe.

Consequently, the tournament makes for a great opportunity for companies to indulge in brand activations and create innovative ad campaigns focused on the wider football audience to increase their reach and connect with billions of football fans worldwide. 

Here, we present our pick of the eight best brand campaigns ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

8. Powerade | “Power Your Fate” 

Owned by The Coca-Cola Company, energy drink brand Powerade’s World Cup campaign has been making the rounds. Featuring Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Real Madrid’s Rodrygo, the ad showcases the preparation of top athletes, as well as their discipline and positive mindset. It also shows important moments while playing football, such as saving a goal, dribbling past opposition players, and scoring goals.

What makes the ad particularly interesting is its depiction of the players in those moments, presented artistically in the form of beautiful murals, statues and paintings, ending in a bronze façade on the stadium for maximum impact. The background narration also lends a powerful impact to the whole commercial.

7. Fernet Branca | “We are Unbearable”

Fernet Branca has hit it out of the park with its FIFA World Cup 2026 brand campaign titled “We Are Unbearable”.

The brand campaign shows alternative opinions, where Argentinian fans are seeing the complaints from other nations through a song about how the Argentinian fans have been insufferable after their World Cup win in 2022 and how no one wants Argentina to win the World Cup again. Then the situation changes, as the Argentinian fans take over the song, wanting the Albiceleste to win the World Cup to celebrate another four years of being world champions.

Created by Zurda Agency, the ad also includes references to local memes and appearances from Latin American content creators, lending an authentic cultural feel to the narrative and giving an emotional touch to the ad.

It’s a very creative and funny song that instantly starts to get into your head. The Argentinian fans have liked it so much that it has become the unofficial anthem of the Argentina national team.

6. Lay’s | “Most Epic Watch Party”

PepsiCo-owned chips brand Lay’s has brought us another interesting brand campaign. It features football’s top stars such as Lionel Messi, David Beckham, Alexia Putellas, and Thierry Henry alongside actor Steve Carell, all of whom are being invited to a World Cup watch party alongside several shoppers. However, the condition for the invite is that they must all have Lay’s with them for snacking. Additionally, the ad also shows a WhatsApp group featuring live reactions and voice notes from the stars. 

The brand campaign has gone viral, showcasing once again how successful Lay’s has been in fan engagement with its innovative and funny football-focused brand campaigns.

5. Budweiser | “Let it Pour”

Budweiser, the official beer of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, launched its campaign for the tournament titled “Let It Pour”, featuring Norwegian striker Erling Haaland and legendary German coach Jürgen Klopp. The ad features the myriad emotions fans go through when watching their favourite football team.

Created in association with Grey Global, the campaign leans into the idea of “letting it all out”, featuring fans watching World Cup games in the stadium, in pubs, and in front of their TV with friends, compatriots, and colleagues. Budweiser has incorporated intense cinematic moments to capture the emotions of elation and misery in the fans and players alike.

It’s a brilliantly conceptualised ad campaign ahead of the World Cup, and with popular football celebrities involved, it will surely pull people to watch the coveted competition.

4. Brahma Beer | “Let Yourself Believe”

Created in collaboration with Africa Creative, Brahma Beer’s “Tá Liberado Acreditar” (“Let Yourself Believe”) is another fabulous ad campaign ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Featuring the legendary Brazilian striker Ronaldo “O Fenômeno” Nazário and current Brazil head coach Carlo Ancelotti, the ad invokes nostalgia, belief, and positivity surrounding the Seleção in the lead-up to the World Cup.

Brazil has a rich history of football. Being the country with the most World Cup trophies (five), expectations from the national team remain sky high. With the World Cup fever gripping countries around the world, this ad has been created to encourage fans to support their country in big numbers.

The campaign starts with the narrative that Brazil aren’t favourites for the first time in years, reminding the viewer that it has been more than two decades since Brazil’s last World Cup triumph, and that only 23% of fans believe that they will win their sixth title this year. The ad also shows a dramatic recreation and comparison of clutch goals from Brazil’s past World Cup wins.

It also highlights the street football culture, the passion and love for football among the people in the country, and urges them to believe and have faith in the team. It’s a brilliant ad campaign trying to rouse the fans to support the Brazil national team at the upcoming World Cup.

3. Pepsi | “Football Nation”

Global non-alcoholic beverage giant Pepsi has been known for some iconic World Cup brand campaigns, and this year it’s no different. Pepsi has come out with a brand campaign for the 2026 FIFA World Cup titled “Football Nation”, which is immensely funny and innovative.

The campaign brings together several popular footballers of past and present in David Beckham, Mohamed Salah, Vinícius Júnior, Alexia Putellas, and Florian Wirtz. The brand campaign has been designed to highlight fan banter, rivalry, and the overall football culture.

The campaign starts with the idea of creating a fictional nation of football where the fans decide the rules. It begins with the age-old argument of calling it “football” or “soccer” and goes into all kinds of rules being created by fans. The ad ends on the premise of settling everything on the pitch. The choice of music is exceptional too, with “Freed from Desire” blaring in the background and passionate fans bantering and discussing the different rules in football.

This is an incredible brand campaign that will attract a huge audience, especially the youth. Pepsi’s creative team have simply outdone themselves yet again.

2. LEGO | “Everyone wants a piece”

Danish global brand LEGO has finally achieved what a lot of brands have failed to manage before — bringing the two footballing legends and fierce rivals Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi together in a brand campaign. 

LEGO’s latest brand campaign for the upcoming World Cup is titled “Everyone wants a piece” and features superstars Ronaldo and Messi alongside Vinícius Júnior and Kylian Mbappé. LEGO has created World Cup player-themed exclusive sets as well as a LEGO World Cup trophy.

The ad shows the four players sitting on a round table, trying to build the World Cup trophy from LEGO building bricks. As they try to complete it with their own miniature figure, the table keeps turning and, in the end, a young boy comes, opens a part of the trophy, brings out his miniature figure, and completes it, leaving the players in surprise.

The LEGO Group has started collaborating with major sports like football and F1 to reach a wider young audience, and it may have just struck gold by bringing together fans of the two most followed athletes in the world ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

1. Adidas | “Backyard Legends”

Adidas has just blown every other brand away with this pre-World Cup advert. Titled “Backyard Legends”, the ad features star footballers Leo Messi, David Beckham, Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal, and Trinity Rodman. One frame also shows Vinícius Júnior, Pedri, Raphinha, and Florian Wirtz.

Actor Timothée Chalamet leads the campaign, trying to pit his 3v3 team against a street crew who play on a patch of concrete in between apartments and haven’t lost in 20 years. He narrates the story with all the right kind of emotions, excitement, and focus on street culture, preparing his crew to compete against them. Adidas have also used non-intrusive AI work to give Beckham a mohawk and show a younger Zinedine Zidane and Alessandro Del Piero, who also lose to the said street crew.

The ending is even more incredible, with Messi and Bad Bunny showing up to see if Chalamet’s team win. The whole 90s and street football vibe gives the advert an amazing feel. This is hands down the best World Cup advert this year, with people calling for it to be made into a movie or show.