Marketing treats culture as a perpetual growth engine. Shared meaning, stories, symbols and emotion create an experience around a brand that extends far beyond product or function. Cultural relevance, participating in shared narratives, remains aspirational because it connects organisations to communities and wider audiences.

The World Cup’s stage and cultural connectivity are undeniable. It offers a temporary moment of global togetherness. Flashes of national pride. Ninety minutes that absorb entire nations.

Yet this year feels different.

In a landscape shaped by xenophobia, economic strain and geopolitical conflict (particularly in the US), it is no longer sufficient to treat the tournament as a neutral cultural platform. The surrounding conditions shape what this event now represents and how brand involvement will be interpreted.

So what should brands do differently?

Begin with a clear understanding of your audience, your position and what engaging with the World Cup means for your organisation. Treating culture as a backdrop and assuming you can remain apolitical while sponsoring to accrue capital is unlikely to read as such. Your involvement sits within a cultural landscape under scrutiny.

Audiences are more conscious of institutional behaviour than they were a decade ago. Living through Covid sharpened attention to how organisations act under pressure. That scrutiny is more instinctive and less forgiving.

This demands a shift in mindset from thinking about viability to the consequences of it. Before asking how many people you will reach, ask what your presence represents. What are you aligning yourself with? Does it sit comfortably with your stated and perceived values?

Organisations that navigate this complex environment transparently and collaboratively, with cultural awareness, can retain credibility. What will not be accepted is contradiction. If you take whatever stand or discuss inclusion or fairness, your commercial decisions need to reflect it. It needs to make sense.

With clarity and planning, you can set the terms of participation.

We have seen this tension play out in our work with major pub and hospitality brands around tournament moments. For operators, events like the World Cup are undeniably significant commercial drivers. But they also sit within a highly scrutinised social environment. The opportunity is not simply about maximising footfall; it is about understanding the role these spaces play in people’s lives. Pubs are not just venues to watch sport. They are communal spaces where identity, belonging and shared emotion are expressed in real time. That demands a market approach that balances commercial ambition with cultural intelligence. Participation needs to feel considered and consistent with brand positioning, not reactive or extractive. When that balance is struck, brands can unlock growth without compromising credibility.

Industry leaders share more lessons from the WTF World Cup here.