Office sweepstakes have been drawn and team shirts have been dusted off, which can only mean one thing: football fever is in full swing as the FIFA World Cup sweeps North America, with fixtures taking place in the USA, Mexico, and Canada.
With it has come a (Mexican) wave of top-tier PR stunts and campaigns, as brands look to capitalise on the media frenzy, join the global conversation, and score valuable coverage.
From clever reactive moments to headline-grabbing activations, here are some back-of-the-net World Cup campaigns that have scored highly with us so far. And if you’re looking for creative PR stunts, let’s chat.
Tesco Iceburg Lettuce Footballs
Supermarket giant Tesco has repackaged iceberg lettuces as footballs in a footie-inspired makeover, turning a salad staple into an eye-catching World Cup activation. The simple stunt cleverly connects a healthy product with one of the year’s biggest sporting events, creating standout appeal at the shelf edge.
See the big Tesco’s not confident in Englands football prospects ⚽️ 🥬 #WorldCup90 pic.twitter.com/7Duv7h1pN3
— Mick ☕️🍉 (@MickCoffey2) June 11, 2026
Welcome to [redacted] Stadium
Levi’s turned FIFA’s strict World Cup stadium branding rules into a PR win, sparking online attention with a smart response that kept the brand firmly in the conversation.
Because non-sponsor brands cannot be promoted inside host stadiums, the 68,500-capacity Levi’s Stadium was officially renamed San Francisco Bay Area Stadium for the tournament.
But by redacting the name while leaving the unmistakable shape of the Levi’s logo visible on the arena’s facade, the brand created a simple visual stunt that reinforced recognition, generated talkability and showed how clever PR can work around even the tightest restrictions.
It Still Has To Be…
Like Levi’s, Heinz also fell victim to FIFA’s strict non-sponsor branding after bottles of the condiments were seen to have logos taped over inside stadium areas. In repsonse, Heinz cleverly turned FIFA’s attempt at brand protection into a chance to grab some free attention, and launched ‘the unofficial stadium ketchup’ with content poking fun at the taped-bottles.
The stunt also sparked a viral exchange with Levi’s, who engaged with the content in solidarity, gaining attention from audiences on social media.
🚨 Heinz have pulled off a marketing masterclass. 🤯
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Footballtweet) June 23, 2026
FIFA World Cup stadiums are serving Heinz condiments, but because Heinz aren't an official tournament sponsor, every bottle has been covered up with black tape.
Instead of hiding from it, Heinz turned it into a campaign. The… pic.twitter.com/W9EKk5fhEE
Rule #1: It’s Football, not Soccer.
Launched as part of Pepsi’s Football Nation platform, which is described as “a multi-year global platform designed to bring football culture to every day life”, the brand introduced a free brower extension that reinforces Rule#1 of Football Nation: It’s called football, not soccer.
The extension works to automatically replaces every mention of the word ‘soccer’ with ‘football’ – whether scrolling through searches or catching up with the latest footie news, it’s assured that the beautiful game is described correctly.
The platform as a whole has been launched to encourage and kick off conversations between fans across the globe, and allow them to ‘define their own rules and rituals, empowering the communtiy to dictate how the game is celebrated worldwide.’
What time is kick off?
Domestic abuse charity, Women’s Aid, says that it’s actually another time deserves your attention – the other kick off.
In a powerful and thought-provoking campaign, backed by longstanding research showing that incidents of domestic abuse rise during major sporting events, Women’s Aid has installed digital billboards near pubs and fan zones – signalling the charity’s aims to intervene at a critical moment, prompting bystanders, friends and family members to recognise the signs of abuse and seek support before incidents escalate.
These billboards display the average time abusers are expected to arrive home following the final whistle, alongside a QR code directing the public to the Women’s Aid website, where they can access support, advice and resources.
Bidding AIdieu
And just to prove that you shouldn’t believe every PR stunt you see on social media, a widely shared video purportedly showing a dramatic drone display of Cristiano Ronaldo saying a farewell ‘thank you’ on the island of Madeira – birthplace of CR7 – after Portugal were knocked out by Spain has been proved to be a fake AI video, albeit a very good one.
The post has racked up 30m+ views and 2m+ likes, generating a lot of coverage for the content creator Seihan AI films.
