How the US and UK are selling the World Cup to two different audiences

We’re into the last handful of the 104 matches and 208 hydration breaks, so now let’s look into 6 marketing campaigns from the UK & US before the final whistle.

We’ve got a whole host of brands and businesses competing for our attention. And while we’re watching the same World Cup, the way it’s being marketed to UK and US audiences is very different.

In America, brands are attempting to turn football into a spectacle to entice casual and new viewers to a growing sport, but in the UK, they don’t need to do that. Instead, they can tap into a culture that already exists, from office sweepstakes to packed pubs and game day rituals, football already feels like home. 

The challenge for brands isn’t creating the culture, it’s becoming a part of it.

While it’s not unfamiliar for America to be throwing every celebrity possible into their World Cup advertising just like they did in 1994, it does make sense that they still need to lean into what works for them: pop culture spectacles crammed full of big budgets, celebrity cameos, and over-the-top set pieces. 

Both Nike and Adidas have popped up with their usual big-budget World Cup ads, both weaving in big Hollywood names and cramming them full of football references from throughout the years.

Nike’s ad pushes the players who decide the game in their own way, whereas Adidas’ ad shows the next generation taking on a longstanding undefeated cage football team with a lot of chat around the usage of AI to recreate younger versions of David Beckham, Del Piero, and Zidane.

Weaving in past & current football with American culture to resonate with the audience more. 

Nike’s ad is an American spectacle, with LeBron James, Travis Scott, Kim Kardashian, Jason Sudeikis and Channing Tatum all appearing in this commercial, with countless other references and player cameos, including Cristiano Ronaldo getting blown up before walking out of the fire (very American), but it is a cool advert with an unfortunate slightly awkward cameo from Cole Palmer who didn’t make the England World Cup squad. 

Adidas is the main sponsor for the World Cup, so Nike went all-in on the entertainment factor to get as much attention as possible.

The Nike ad has over 70 million views* on YouTube, whereas Adidas has just 7 million views*. Nike appears to have won the battle of attention. 

(*At the time of writing)

Getting American audiences’ attention is half the battle, with data showing that consumers are 52% more likely to recall an ad if it features a celebrity. American audiences might not know who these players are, but they know who LeBron James is, and they know who Kim Kardashian is.

Weaving in past & current football with American culture to resonate with the audience more. 

Adidas leans more into the history of the sport, but in a Hollywood style, with Timothée Chalamet starring and narrating. This advert feels a lot more UK than any of the American adverts. The setting is a more contained 5-a-side-esque pitch, and the kind of story you get from a friend of a friend. This could explain why it hasn’t resonated with American audiences as well as the Nike advert.

Whilst being a bit more British in its style/setting, Adidas’ ad still utilises the American star power of Timothée Chalamet, Bad Bunny, who played at the Super Bowl half-time show, and USMWT’s Trinity Rodman, with a cameo from the current face of the MLS, Lionel Messi. The visual effects for recreating younger players do let the ad down slightly and give it a bit of an uncanny valley feeling.

Positioning Michelob Ultra as a more premium beer for the World Cup, moving well away from the gritty Adidas cage football advert. Placing the game in a more luxurious hotel with the players in suits and ties rather than their kits. 

Michelob places itself in a high-end hotel with American, Argentinian, and Mexican players playing an impromptu match, with cameos again from a few ex-players and American actor Billy Bob Thornton. His inclusion in the ad develops as time goes on as the sceptical casual fan, but by the end of the game, he’s bought in to not just the beers but the occasion as well.

With Michelob being one of the main sponsors for the World Cup, this ad cements that Michelob Ultra is a luxury beer. It also feels like, whilst it’s positioning itself in this way, it’s also a metaphor of American casual sports fans’ initial attitudes towards football before the tournament, and hoping that by the end, there will be a lot more Americans sitting down watching football matches with a Michelob Ultra.

Over in the UK, the advertising has opted against the American spectacle for a more down-to-earth and personal experience. The UK doesn’t need to bring on board huge swathes of casual viewers like the US. You’d find it hard to find someone in the UK who doesn’t understand the cultural significance of football in the country, so the UK has the luxury of creating more relatable ads, things like Sunday League pitches and dingy pubs that you can’t move an inch in without barging into someone.

Sports Direct used popular UK online personality Steve Bracknall, the satirical online Sunday League manager, for their “When Football Was Football” campaign, pushing sales of their shirts through a community-led, nostalgic ad. 

Set in a more grounded UK street and going for the community, friends/family, and the memories you make during big sporting events – leaning into all of the wonderful (and not so wonderful) kits over the years. It’s less about educating the public about football and more about reminding them how much it already means to them. 

In a time where a replica England football top costs upwards of £90, increasing from £45 at the 2010 World Cup under Umbro. Prices are rising, but there is an estimated 30-40% of fake replica kits in circulation. These rising costs are pricing out the average fan, causing them to look for cheaper alternatives. Sports Direct replica shirts sell for around £35-£50. This blog isn’t a hidden ad for Sports Direct, but in a time where pretty much everyone is struggling with money, it’s a good option and a feel-good bit of advertising at the same time. 

If you’re a football fan, you’re well aware of the discourse between UK football and American soccer. Paddy Power leaned fully into that with this ad, using Rob Lowe and Danny Dyer as opposing fans trying to one up the others’ footballing culture.

By leaning into everything a UK football fan has gone through, like molten pastries burning your mouth, desperately trying to down a drink at half-time, all the daft chanting, and accidentally booking life events during big games (very guilty of that), it connects with the target audience straight away. 

UK footballing culture is essentially built on taking the mick out of each other, which is essentially all this ad is; it loudly validates UK fans’ feelings about American sports culture and strengthens Paddy Power’s brand positioning.

Quite a fitting advert for the current issues young boys are facing growing up, and quite topical with the recent social media ban.

Aimed at the parents with young children who will be watching the World Cup, to build trust and push EE’s brand tools and guidance to deal with the problem of toxic manosphere content that can be quite prevalent in sports. It’s also projecting a positive message of community and togetherness that football can bring.

The ad visually shows the difference between toxic online doom scrolling and a supportive group of teammates/friends. Compared to the American adverts, this uses the grounded reality of UK football pitches, no glitz and glamour, but it frames healthy social interaction as the cure to online toxicity. 

EE doesn’t need to explain how football works; it already assumes the audience knows and understands the role in people’s lives.

In the UK, football is one of the biggest players in the mental health campaign game. Whilst this ad is about EE’s brand tools and it focuses on the toxic online content aimed at younger lads, it also shows a much bigger, usually unspoken topic about sports, for so many people that one or two sessions is what gets them through the week.

Over in the UK, our broadcasters (BBC/ITV) have decided not to show advertisements but instead keep the commentary and insights going whilst these breaks are going on. 

The hydration breaks are in every game, no matter the weather, with some of these games being played in air-conditioned stadiums, but the FIFA head Gianni Infantino said the ‘main reasons for having breaks in every match are to create ‘equal conditions’ for all competing nations.’ Fans who are watching the games can see that marketing is actually having a direct effect on the games, while teams that are under pressure can find that a 3-minute break is beneficial to them. How many games and results could have been completely different if not for these hydration breaks? 

There is a strong argument from Amar Singh of MKTG that fans can be accepting of advertising as long as it’s providing value to the consumer, i.e. Hisense sponsors VAR, Lenovo sponsors the ref cam. These provide something for the watcher (whether VAR is used correctly or not is a different question). Hydration breaks interrupt the fan experience; they don’t improve it.

Whilst FIFA has leaned into the hydration breaks and likely won’t look back, UEFA has said they will not be implementing mandatory hydration breaks for every game, and the FA has always treated hydration breaks as welfare breaks for players, not mandatory stoppages every game. As well as having differences in advertising in the US and UK, FIFA and UEFA seem to be more at odds now than they have recently regarding the governance of the game.

America is leaning fully towards its Hollywood-style action to try and pull in more casual viewers, with the UK being able to take a more creative, storytelling approach and strengthen its brand position. 

With FIFA seemingly leaning more towards the American-style advertising model with hydration breaks that disrupt the flow of the game and half-time shows taken straight out of the Super Bowl, how much are they willing to change the sport in chase of extra advertising revenue?

After this World Cup, football in America could boom in popularity, and we could see their footballing culture develop rapidly (will never be as good as ours, though).