It has been an intense and unforgettable moment featuring the FIFA World Cup 2026 USA, Mexico, and Canada here on RSF. The world’s biggest soccer show is done, congratulations Spain! But, it’s not yet over, ‘til it’s really over. The team is going to feature the afterthoughts from this breathtaking sporting event.
Among the challenges that labels partnered with the FIFA World Cup 2026 encountered is conquering the huge demand that came in with these games. Thank you to multi-national media and digital marketing communications company Dentsu UK&I, this was resolved.
Dentsu UK&I helped brands capture consumer demand during soccer’s biggest night through a series of real-time media activations that are delivered with Uber Advertising. This way, advertisers were able to reach customers at the most significant moments before and during the matches.
Holly Dewsbury, head of agency development EMEA at Uber Advertising, told RSF, “Major sporting events create unique consumer demand patterns, and retail media is increasingly enabling brands to respond in real time. By combining audience insight, timing, and proximity to purchase, brands can become more relevant when consumers are actively making decisions about what to order and buy.”
With Dentsu UK&I, Uber Advertising’s retail media capabilities were utilized to dynamically activate campaigns around match schedules, aligning media investment with anticipated surges and spikes in demand as soccer fans prepared to watch the games.
This approach was deployed across categories, including snacks, beer, and spirits. This way, brands were able to reach consumers closer to the point of purchase during the world’s biggest soccer show. Supra-amazing!
Heidrun Thrainsdottir-Kelly, retail media lead at dentsu UK&I, stated, “International football tournaments bring together millions of consumers around shared moments, creating significant opportunities for brands. Through Uber Advertising, we’re helping advertisers activate in real time around key fixtures and reach consumers at moments when purchase intent is at its highest. As retail media continues to mature, we’re seeing growing demand from brands looking to connect media investment more directly to commercial outcomes.”
This work also reflects a much broader shift in how brands approach these big cultural and sports moments. Instead of treating them solely as awareness-building breakthroughs and opportunities, advertisers were able to increasingly connect media exposure with immediate commerce outcomes, gratitudes to retail media networks and quick-commerce platforms.
The approach of the multinational media and digital marketing communications company includes activating campaigns around key match times, optimizing activity across the tournament to align with the behavior and purchasing patterns of the audiences.
This builds upon the learnings from past soccer tournaments, wherein real-time retail media campaigns demonstrated the effectiveness of ads around live sporting moments.
For snacks, beer, and convenience purchases, quick-commerce platforms created fresh opportunities to influence consumer decisions in the moments before kick-off, helping brands convert fan engagement into measurable sales outcomes.
Do you think this is a great idea? Share your thoughts with the ridesharing community by creating and opening that account today right here!