A powerful message from Women's Aid, the best World Cup job and Lewis Hamilton helps you chill out
Weekly Sports Marketing Creative Showcase 19th June
Welcome to the second weekly sports marketing creative showcase, where I’ll be highlighting the activity that’s caught my eye over the past week in sports from brand adverts, social media content, OOH, activations and more.
This week the build up to Wimbledon kicks off, creators and fans get to experience brand houses at the World Cup, while Lewis Hamilton is here to help us all chill out with 8 hours of YouTube LoFi content…
Campaigns / Platforms
Women’s Aid - The Other Kick Off
Women’s Aid have created another powerful campaign to draw attention to the correlation between major football tournaments and domestic abuse. The ‘Other Kick Off’, created by the agency Elvis (formerly House 337) comes after the 2022 World Cup campaign, ‘He’s Coming Home’ and follows the same focus: raising awareness of how domestic abuse against women spikes significantly in the hours after England games, regardless of the result.
For this campaign, Women’s Aid and Elvis reframe a common match day question ‘what time is kick off?’ to highlight the rise in domestic abuse linked to major football tournaments. This is a powerful campaign that you wish didn’t need creating, but for many women and children, the final whistle doesn’t mean post match reflection, it signals the beginning of something frightening. When England lose, domestic abuse increases by 38%. When they win, it increases by 26%. The OOH displays, online and social will feature the kick-off time 11:37pm - the time Elvis landed on as when abuse would likely take place.
Women’s Aid Ambassador Charlie Webster said: “The World Cup is one of those rare moments when the whole country holds its breath together – united, hopeful, alive! That joy is real, and it’s precious. But for women and children living with domestic abuse, tournament time brings something very different: heightened fear, and heightened danger. That is a reality we cannot look away from. Football is our game. It belongs to all of us, and it should be a place of safety. I am proud to be raising awareness to change that, and make sure that when England plays, every woman at home is safe.”
adidas Football & Lionel Messi - The Last Dance
The Midnight Club’s work with adidas always hits and they’ve done it again with a last dance angle ahead of the GOATs (yeah I said it) Lionel Messi’s last World Cup. Adrenaline pumping.
Wimbledon - ‘Where beauty meets the battle’
Wimbledon launched a new global platform last year ‘There Is Only One Wimbledon’ with VCCP and as the 2026 edition nears, the film ‘Where beauty meets the battle’, captures the essence of the event through the eyes of a Holly Blue butterfly, inspired by a unique moment at Wimbledon in 1986 with Henri Leconte.
La Colombe - Must be the Coffee
Philadelphia based coffee brand, La Colombe is the Official Coffee Partner of U.S. Soccer and their ‘Must be the Coffee’ is a lovely portrait of the city of brotherly love as we see everyday people and everyday life in a documentary style film. There’s more authenticity here in how fans and people’s support is shown than in most of the World Cup ads I previously wrote about.
Apple – Dança
Vini Jr. highlights the AirPods Pro 3 Active Noise Cancellation with some impressive dance moves like he’s flying down the wing for Real Madrid and Brazil.
Oura - Ready?
Oura’s global brand ambassadors, Harry Kane and Declan Rice, feature in a tongue-in-cheek ad about their readiness for the world cup, as the public ask the question ‘Are you ready?’.
Social Media / Content
New York Knicks NBA Championship Brand Round Up
The scenes in New York were wild as the Knicks won their first NBA championship, the merch has been fire and the reactive brand creative has nailed the moment.
Nike & Wieden + Kennedy - ‘Sleep Well, NY’
Lifelong fan and director Josh Safdie, who was at game 5 in San Antonio sat next to the star of his Marty Supreme movie, Timothée Chalamet, captures the emotion of the win in his high octane, intense creative signature. Soundtracked to Billy Joel’s 'New York State of Mind’, a fan in a Jalen Brunson jersey runs through the streets of Manhattan after the win, until he arrives at Madison Square Garden in what could easily be a scene from a Safdie film.
Michelob ULTRA – Pass for the Ages
NBA sponsor Michelob’s ode to the win sees Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier and Jalen Brunson exchange passes to link the last era of championship winning Knicks to the latest.
ESPN Social
Nice acknowledgement of some famous Knicks fans…
Michelob Ultra - World Cup Legends Man of the Match
File this under ‘wow, that’s really surprised me’ as at the World Cups prior to 2002, there was no Player of the Match award so in a lovely bit of nostalgic storytelling, education and acknowledgement Copa90 and Michelob Ultra have launched an investigation to finally recognise 580 players for their endeavours. Michelob is the sponsor of the 2026 player accolades and the Superior Player of the Match award will be extended to every game from 1930 to 1998 That’s over 15,000 players and over 870 hours of football analysed so every single game has a winner. So far Ronaldo Nazario, Roberto Baggio, Jay-Jay Okocha and Lothar Matthäus are some of the players receiving their awards.
Axe / Lynx - Wiener Man
The Axe / Lynx brand (and associated country relevant brand names) ‘Smell your best when you’re at your worst’ campaign connects product to moments of support across a series of fan vignettes in a classic ad format. Now they’ve revealed they were behind a stunt that featured a man in a full wiener costume and famous fitness influencer Cheyenne Moles, spotted all over Mexico City during the World Cup Opening Ceremony week. The stunt by LOLA, also saw the wiener man and fitness influencer appear at celebrity rooftop restaurants and five-star hotels to create mystery and conversation on social.
F1 - Lewis Hamilton Watch Along
The world of LoFi YouTube content provides a calming backdrop to work, homework, chores or whatever you might be doing when focus or calm is needed. For F1 fans you can now enjoy 8 hours of uninterrupted 4K ambience featuring Lewis Hamilton taking in the stunning views of Monaco.
Ikea - Assemble the World
IKEA Canada and Dentsu Creative have launched 'Assemble the World', a clever and charming way of showing familiar IKEA products and repurposing them into a series of country flags for the World Cup.
Cass - ‘Wide Cup’
South Korea’s best-selling beer brand Cass are running a competition to see who opens their mouth the widest while watching the team in the World Cup.
Experiential / Stunts
The House of…
The House of (insert brand or passion point) has been the default naming device for any fan experiential activations around sport in recent years that combines the sport with cultural crossover activity, games, creators and talent. During the World Cup USA Soccer is hosting a US Soccer House in Los Angles and New York with associated sponsors Michelob, Bank of America and more.
The House of Fresh is Uniliver’s creator hubs across Mexico City, New York and Miami. where they can design custom jerseys, pose for pictures to be turned into collectible Panini trading cards, put charms on trendy phone slings and play foosball.
‘The Beautiful Dome’
One of the Vancouver’s most iconic landmarks, Science World has been rechristened ‘The Beautiful Dome’ a huge, 360-degree, 40-metre-diameter re-creation of the Adidas official match ball, Trionda and will include an exhibition showing how innovation has shaped football’s continuing evolution.
Getting paid to watch football all day - the dream job
Austin Franklin and Kevin Akoto have officially been selected as the luckiest football fans going as FOX crowns them their Chief World Cup Watchers where each will be paid $50,000 to watch every match of World Cup live from a custom-built viewing cube in the heart of Times Square.
