The World Cup is starting. Most brands still don't know where to find fans.
A new Brand Innovators report shows how AB InBev, Lay's, The Home Depot, and IKEA are all betting on fan communities for this World Cup.
Marguerite Japy, Co-founder & CEO · June 10, 2026
Tomorrow, the World Cup kicks off. For the next month, every brand knows exactly where to find football fans. A report published this week by Brand Innovators confirms it: for this edition, brands are leaning hard into fan communities.
- AB InBev is funding 200,000 watch parties for fan groups.
- Lay's is bringing fans together in a WhatsApp group with Messi and Beckham.
- The Home Depot is running outdoor watch parties across all 16 host cities.
- IKEA is encouraging fans to turn their living rooms into watch-party headquarters.
What these campaigns have in common: they're built on communities, passions, and rituals that already exist. These brands aren't starting from zero — they're joining collective behaviors that consumers already care about. That's the real challenge: identifying the communities that already exist, and that actually matter to a brand. The World Cup is the easy case. It's the biggest fandom on earth — everyone knows where and when football fans gather for a month. The real opportunity is everything else: the thousands of communities that meet every week, all year round, that no brand can identify today.
Source: Brand Innovators, FIFA World Cup Ad Tracker 2026 — https://brand-innovators.com/brand-innovators-fifa-world-cup-ad-tracker-2026/