By Jack Larson
Rising Stars is a series of thoughts, reflections and perspectives by the interns at Devine + Partners. Jack Larson recently graduated from Temple University with a degree in advertising and a minor in art.
I remember casually watching the women’s Team USA soccer team with my former college soccer-playing Mom growing up. The women’s team has always been internationally successful, and even for someone who doesn’t care much for the world of soccer, it was thrilling to watch Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan dominate the field.
Now that the men’s World Cup tournament is beginning, with Philadelphia as a host city, the rumblings of the greatest soccer event in history are beginning.
These days, I see the impact of the World Cup in Emma, the coffee shop regular who works with FIFA, updating me on her work while I make her vanilla oat milk latte, and my recent Uber driver telling me how excited he is to go to the Philadelphia Croatia v. Ghana match with his son.
However, FIFA has an ambitious marketing and PR challenge this summer, and Philadelphians will have a firsthand seat.
There is no doubt that the City of Brotherly Love has one of the most passionate and intense fanbases for its local sports teams. But, for this World Cup, Philadelphians have no natural allegiance on home turf without a scheduled match for Team USA at Philadelphia Stadium.
Additionally, Team USA lacks real fanbase presence and loyalty for the men’s team. Historically, the men’s national team hasn’t produced household name players like the Eagles and the Phillies do.
So, what I will be looking for throughout this summer is how FIFA appeals to Philly sports fans in alternative ways to keep them engaged.
FIFA’s challenge will be to take its global brand, and target it to local audiences, including Philadelphia, while maintaining international appeal. In order to be successful, FIFA needs to elevate the hype so that even Philadelphians who aren’t catching a game or tuning in on TV will feel the excitement for soccer.
The stakes are even greater than usual. The 2026 World Cup is the largest FIFA tournament yet. The co-hosting countries of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, are involving 16 host cities throughout North America. Additionally, the tournament expanded from 32 to 48 teams meaning the number of matches have nearly doubled to 104.
FIFA has already individualized its own branding for each host city. Brand variations conceptually create personable connections toward a larger unifying brand. Having recently graduated with an art direction concentration in advertising, I can appreciate a visual that gives me a reason to feel connected to a brand on a personal level.
An example of effective brand variations are the visuals for the upcoming 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. Various LA28 logos feature unique designs of the letter “A,” sponsored by companies and people of interest like Delta or Billie Eilish in order to unite different audiences.
FIFA united this year’s World Cup under the tag #WeAre26 and a bold FIFA26 logo. Then, each host city is using a logo variation containing unique and notable brand elements.
The Philadelphia FIFA branding features lines and parallelogram motion graphics that make you feel like you are Rocky Balboa running up the steps to the Museum of Art. These shapes are split by a lightning bolt representing the crack in the liberty bell. The Philadelphia colors are blue, representing the U.S. origins to the city, and green, nodding to the Eagles.
The Philadelphia FIFA branding can be seen on marketing materials around the city, online, and on merchandise right next to the Phillies jerseys in Rally House.
After taking note of the individualized attention to design, I was curious if form followed function. I spoke with my roommate, Amanda Morelli, a FIFA Volunteer Team Support here in Philadelphia, about how she feels FIFA has handled preparing the city for the World Cup. Her role involves serving as a liaison between volunteers and the volunteer management team in order to assist onsite.
Amanda believes that FIFA has been carefully and effectively planned for the World Cup to come to Philadelphia. One of FIFA’s main focuses was to make Philadelphia more hospitable for fans and volunteers. This included creating a pleasant volunteer center on Market Street and collaborating with IKEA to create public lounge areas throughout the city.
Additionally, FIFA is hosting a Fan Festival in Fairmount Park throughout the entirety of the tournament. The 39-day affair will consist of performances, food trucks, activations, and more, free and open to the public.
But as the games begin, FIFA’s brand needs to continue to engage with the energy and passion of residents within each city. I will be watching for FIFA to find creative ways to bring soccer from the sports complex up to our doorsteps.
Pulling on the heartstrings of the memories and personal connections we all have through soccer and will increase local attraction. The hype and engagement for great international soccer has to be almost unavoidable for Philadelphians and other host cities alike so that it translates worldwide.
Then will the largest ever World Cup be perceived as a success.
Devine + Partners is a Philadelphia public relations agency. We offer a full range of communications services– from message and content development and media relations to issues management and employee and community engagement.
