For your global World Cup campaign to be a success, you need to balance consistency with responsiveness to regional audiences in your creative and content.
To do this well, you need to build your campaigns around adaptive messaging, the right cultural references and imagery that reflects the local culture.
Cultural references and humor
Cultural references and humor are some of the most important aspects to get right when refining your campaign for local audiences. The nuance of great culturally-sensitive content and creative is often reflected in humor and nods to cultural expressions, from soccer slang to iconic players and historic wins.
"Humour is not only contextual, it’s cultural too. Mexicans laugh at death, while the French enjoy a good chuckle watching the world go by."
- Laura Engstrøm, Imagine 5
Different cultures often use humor in different ways — using it to express emotions, criticize authority or strengthen social ties. Humor requires nuance and sensitivity, and it requires a deep understanding of your audience. Take this TikTok series for example.
Puns and wordplay can easily be misinterpreted from one culture to the next, while what is taboo in one culture is fair game in another.
Some cultures, like Japan, value hierarchy and are respectful of power structures. Other cultures, like the U.K., are cynical of them and base much of their humor around mocking or undermining them.
Language and messaging adaptation
Adjusting tone and phrasing is another key aspect of adapting your campaign for local audiences. Each culture often has their own slang and technical terms. For example, Americans often call the grass players play on “the field,” while people in the U.K. call it “the pitch.”
Beyond shifting language, tone is equally important. As a general rule, people in the West, like North America and specific parts of Europe, value individualism and assertiveness in their messaging and communication style. While in Eastern cultures, like East Asia and the Middle East, people often value subtlety, communalism and high-context communication.
In the West, people often value sharing opinions — and even when they clash, people in Eastern cultures often prioritize social cohesiveness and peace.
Region-specific creative executions
Different creative variations need to reflect local soccer culture, like local expressions of soccer pride, fan identities and experiences, from how local communities celebrate to how they welcome fans to the stadium.
"In Argentina, going to a big match isn’t just 90 minutes of soccer, it’s a 10- to 12-hour experience. Drums, chants, flares, the smell of choripán (Argentinian chorizo sandwich) in the air. I’d waited half a year for that moment and when I stepped inside the stadium, I genuinely cried. Just overwhelming joy, disbelief and pure soccering passion."
- Christopher Hylland, Sports Author
Visual elements need to reflect how soccer is experienced and played in your local audience’s culture. For example, in South America what fans refer to as "the beautiful game" is experienced as a passionate, high-energy and often rawly chaotic celebration — lasting hours. The visual footprint: bold celebrations, street games, embraces with friends and family and a buzzy atmosphere.
Sports author Christopher Hylland, on his "soccer pilgrimage" across South America, says: "It’s tempting to just say the passion, but while that’s true, it barely scratches the surface. In the UK and much of Europe, soccer has become increasingly sanitised, with VIP lounges, theatre-style seating and dynamic pricing. But in South America — especially in Argentina and Brazil — it’s different. The game still belongs to the people; it’s accessible, chaotic and cheap.”
He continues:
“I was overwhelmed by the intensity of the first Superclásico I attended: the thick blizzard of confetti, the jumping fans who make La Bombonera shake, and the vibrations you feel through your body as 50,000 fans scream “Goooal!” I couldn’t hold back a couple of tears. That intensity is what makes it so unforgettable."
In contrast, in the Middle East, sleek modernity reflected in high-end, state of the art stadiums and the inclusive and welcoming feel of the match is the focus.
