Challenge
Tournament-only fans are hard to win and hard to keep. Once their team is out, they're gone, and a UK pub and brewer needed to be the reason people came back to the pub regardless of how far the national team got.
That meant moving away from the standard football playbook pub chains run during a major tournament and finding a genuinely different way to show up: not just a screen to watch the match on, but the place people want to be before, during and after it.
The brief was to build a campaign around the real reasons people go to the pub, from food and community to escape, tribal belonging and even a break from the football itself, in a way that could flex across the whole brand portfolio.
Approach
Platforms + Ideas
Build the foundation
We fused the client’s existing insight and strategy with curated data from Sammi’s 360° scan of brand, consumer, cultural and expert sources, building a rich understanding of World Cup viewing and tournament-time socialising — and revealing the deeper social and emotional role pubs can play during major sporting moments.
Find distinctive spaces
That depth of insight unlocked 18 differentiated World Cup opportunities across the portfolio. Together with the client, we narrowed these to eight high-potential territories — spanning core, stretch and provocative territory.
Shape and test
Eight platforms became five campaign territories, supported by activation ideas across food and drink, experience, loyalty and digital, all devised by our creative model, Finn. Three progressed to quant testing; all performed strongly, and one emerged as the clear campaign platform.
Impact
More than a campaign platform
A SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN WITH IMPACT FAR BEYOND THE BRIEF
Our pioneering way of working was a game changer for our client — delivering speed to impact in a way they hadn’t previously experienced, uniting siloed teams in a highly collaborative and effective way, and creating a successful World Cup campaign with activation ideas that continue to fuel the business beyond the original brief.
Activation ideas now informing broader brand planning
- Food & drink innovation
- Loyalty mechanics
- Immersive experiences
- Digital engagement
"The team saw first-hand how AI, guided by experienced strategists, could deliver deeper, broader insight in a fraction of the time"
UK Pub & Brewer