Lay’s continues to expand its “No Lay’s, No Game” platform ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a tournament of which it is an official sponsor, with a new campaign focused on the collective experience of watching football. Under the concept “The Epic Watch Party”, the brand has brought together figures such as David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi, Alexia Putellas and actor Steve Carell alongside real fans in a celebration designed to reinforce the emotional link between football, entertainment and shared consumption.
The campaign, developed together with Slap Global and the production companies Hungryman and Washington Square Films, is based on the idea that those who have a bag of Lay’s can access an unexpected experience. In the audiovisual piece, several fans are intercepted in the parking lot of a supermarket and taken to a house in Miami where they end up watching the game with the starring celebrities.
The campaign is an evolution of “No Lay’s, No Game”, a platform originally launched during the 2023-2024 UEFA Champions League and which became especially popular due to an activation in which Beckham and Henry walked around a stadium looking for someone with a bag of Lay’s so they could watch the game with them.
Beyond the announcement, Lay’s is building a broader engagement strategy around the World Cup. The brand had previously promoted initiatives such as “Fan of the Match”, focused on offering exclusive access to fans, but is now expanding the approach towards continuous interaction formats.
Sponsoring brands seek to integrate into consumption and conversation rituals
A WhatsApp group with 4 million fans
One of the axes of the campaign is a WhatsApp group called “Epic Watch Party”, where, according to the brand, more than 4 million fans interact with football figures and receive content in real time during matches. Chat includes memes, voice notes, live commentary, goal reactions, exclusive content and pre-match reminders, bringing some of the tournament’s social conversation into a private, persistent environment.
The initiative responds to a transformation in sports marketing, where brands are no longer limited to sponsoring events: they seek to integrate themselves into the consumption and conversation rituals that surround competitions. In this case, Lay’s turns the act of watching football, traditionally domestic and social, into its own brand territory.
“The ‘No Lay’s, No Game’ campaign has always sought to bring sports fans, the players and the personalities they admire closer together in an authentic, memorable and attractive way”explained Alexis Porter, Global Vice President of Lay’s. “The ‘Epic Watch Party’ seeks to bring together some of the biggest figures in world football with real fans who share a fundamental truth: watching football is always better with Lay’s.”
The strategy also highlights how the 2026 FIFA World Cup is already emerging as a great stage for cultural and entertainment activation for global brands. Instead of focusing solely on advertising visibility, Lay’s builds an ecosystem of experiences and participation around viewing moments, where the product is naturally integrated into the social dynamics of the tournament. With this, the brand seeks to strengthen its position within one of the few territories capable of generating massive global conversation in real time.
