Nimble Brands Beat Sponsors in World Cup Marketing Battle

Several brands gaining attention around the World Cup are not sponsors of the event, CNBC reported Friday (May 26).

Levi Strauss & Co., Taco Bell and McDonald’s are among the brands that have gained engagement on social media through creative marketing strategies, according to the report.

For example, McDonald’s offered limited-time menu items and cups related to the tournament, Taco Bell launched a campaign tailored to the results of each match, and Levi’s gained attention on social media when its logo at the host stadium was covered by the event organizers but remained recognizable under the shroud, the report said.

Before the World Cup began, non-sponsor brands generated 61 million engagements related to the event, while official sponsors generated 33 million, the report said, citing data from market research firm Meltwater.

Meltwater attributed the non-sponsor brands’ success to distribution and creative quality and said most of the social media engagement came from TikTok, per the report.

“The brands that will win the next tournament aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest budget, but instead the ones who are set up to see what’s trending in real time, the creativity to connect it back to your brand, and the speed to act before the moment passes,” Meltwater CEO John Box said in the report.

PYMNTS reported in March that the World Cup is a monthlong global festival and, for merchants, banks, payments players and anyone who sells to traveling fans, a roaming economic weather system.

The 2026 World Cup runs from June 11 to July 19; spans 16 host cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico; and is expected to welcome 6.5 million fans into stadiums and a vastly larger audience outside stadiums. The event’s organizer, FIFA, said the 2022 event generated 5 billion engagements.

FIFA and the World Trade Organization said in a 2025 study that this year’s World Cup could add $40.9 billionto global gross domestic product (GDP).

PYMNTS reported in March that FIFA was working with global partners like Visa and Bank of America to ensure merchants would be ready to accept payments related to the event seamlessly, securely and at scale.