Yerba Madre yerba maté is activating for this year’s World Cup
Yerba Madre
As the FIFA World Cup kicks off today, brands around the world work to capitalize on all of the eyes that will be glued to TV screens for the next month for one of the most grand global events we have–and they’re all sure to have a beverage in hand while watching.
With three host nations across North America, there’s a rare opportunity this year to engage with American audiences through in-person activations, media spots and cultural relevance.
These four beverage brands are taking unique approaches to make an impact during this year’s World Cup:
Yerba Madre loose leaf and gourd
yerba madre
Yerba Madre
“The World Cup in North America will easily be the biggest moment for maté in its history in the United States,” AJ Blumenthal, Yerba Madre Head of Marketing, tells me. “The fact that it is in the US, now is the time to double down and not just educate, but in some ways, protect.”
As the brand that introduced yerba maté to the United States 30 years ago and today takes up 85% of its US market share, Yerba Madre is working to make the cultural South American beverage front and center for the World Cup, focusing more on the traditional way of drinking it rather than its famous yellow cans of flavored yerba maté, although the natural source of caffeine from maté gives a boost without the inevitable crash in both formats.
“Maté is going to be pushed into the spotlight,” Blumenthal says. “Our job as a category leader is to bring the story of the ritual and its heritage with the awareness story.”
Especially considering Argentina is the reigning World Cup champion, many eyes are going to be drawn to the team as they walk down the plane with gourds of maté in their hands. Yerba Madre is working to shape the story for this World Cup around maté itself rather than their own brand. That’s why they arranged a gourd circle in New York ahead of the World Cup to educate Americans how the drink is traditionally consumed: as loose leaf with hot water in a gourd, most importantly with community around to feel the energy of coming together. Yerba Madre will also work with Secret Walls in LA for a watch party to bring it to the fans on the West Coast.
Yassine Cheuko, Messi’s bodyguard and Yerba Madre World Cup Ambassador
Photo by author
In addition to filming content with youth football teams and Argentinian Indigenous communities over the next month, the brand is also hosting what they’re calling, “The Gourd Cup,” of which the winner will receive two tickets to the World Cup finals. Anyone who wants to participate will take a video of them packing a gourd with maté and encourage others to join, filming videos of it in the most unexpected of places. “They’re not just introduced to maté,” Blumenthal explains. “But now showing us that they are partaking in this beautiful ritual.”
Brazilian World Cup Champ Roberto Carlos and Yassine Cheuko, longtime bodyguard of Lionel Messi, are both official partners of Yerba Madre for the World Cup. “I saw [Messi] drinking maté, so I said, ‘why is the greatest athlete of all time drinking this,’” Cheuko tells me about how he was introduced to it several years ago. “I tried it and felt like it gave me a boost, more focus on my work, and I loved it, so I started to drink it myself.”
“People in America are going to see a lot of players from South America drinking maté, and they’re going to ask themselves the same question I asked myself five years ago,” he adds. “I think in the next few months we’re going to see a lot of Americans drinking maté.”
FIFA World Cup 2026 Limited Edition Tequila Don Julio 1942
Don Julio
Tequila Don Julio 1942
Premium tequila brand Don Julio enters the 2026 World Cup with its ‘Made to Be Raised’ campaign, focusing its energy on the feeling of a champion raising a trophy. That’s why its Limited-Edition FIFA World Cup 2026 bottle of Don Julio 1942, while maintaining its classic tall shape, resembles the World Cup trophy itself with its luminous gold-toned body and malachite closure, also likely sitting for generations on a memorabilia shelf.
“We wanted to create something that felt authentic both to the tournament and to Tequila Don Julio’s longstanding role within milestone celebrations across sports and culture,” Julian Garcia, Vice President of Tequila Don Julio, Diageo NA, tells me. “This campaign builds on existing cultural equity and underscores the bottle itself as a modern symbol of celebration.”
The Made to be Raised campaign was developed in partnership with FIFA. “It’s rooted in a universal insight…,” Garcia says, “…the instinctive act of raising something as a symbol of celebration…That emotional connection to achievement.”
Don Julio ‘Made to be Raised’ Activation at Chelsea Piers
don julio
Don Julio is also using its tequila as a tool to elevate Mexican culture to emphasize the attention the country will receive as one of this year’s World Cup host nations.“It’s an exciting moment not only for Tequila Don Julio, but for the broader tequila industry and Mexican culture,” Garcia says. “The tournament will bring millions of fans from around the world into the culture, energy, food, music, and hospitality that make Mexico so special.”
Tequila Don Julio 1942 will also be activating in New York City ahead of the World Cup finals in mid-July hosted across the river at MetLife stadium. Its Port of Champions immersive event is a week-long celebration on a luxury megayacht docked at Chelsea Piers, hosting watch parties, celebrations and of course, tequila tastings.
Clase Azul Spirit of Champions Limited Edition Decanter
clase azul
Clase Azul
No tequila brand is more known for its bottles than Clase Azul with its hand-painted sculptural ceramic decanters. And as a 100% Mexican independent-owned spirits company, the brand decided to honor this moment with so many eyes on Mexico with a Limited Edition decanter it’s calling ‘Spirit of Champions.’ Only 10,000 were made.
“A champion could be the player, the fan, the coach…very in line with who we are as a company, which is rooted in the essence of transformation,” Olivia Kragen, Clase Azul’s VP of Brand & Communications,” tells me. “We care a lot about what it means to bring Mexico to the world, but also about individuals and how they continue to transform.”
For its very first campaign around any sporting event, largely to honor Mexico as a host nation, Clase Azul’s story of the Spirit of Champions campaign transcends into the juice inside too. This Limited Edition tequila is a Joven blend aged 28 months in French oak vats. “The whole theme of the decanter is around unity and what it means to have this moment of togetherness,” Kragen says. “It was a very conscientious choice in terms of blending spirits.”
Personalized Clase Azul Decanter with Mexican Flag
clase azul
With 24k gold ribbons hugging the ivory finish on the ceramic decanter with metallic accents and the logo centered in green and gold malachite, the luxurious design of the decanter itself takes a less literal approach to football. “The initial intention was about that moment where you’re suspended in time before action…” Kragen says, “…reminding yourself of the energy that comes from within, reminding us that the transformation is the achievement. We are quite deep in how we think about these decanters.”
Clase Azul has a global community of 5,000 private client collectors, which has been at the forefront of many of Clase Azul’s Limited Edition decanters. Their most common request for decanters is customization, so for the first time in Clase Azul’s history, it has been popping up in cities around North America that are hosting World Cup games, like New York, Dallas, Miami and Mexico City, to fly its decanter artisans out for custom bottles with the flags of the country that they’re rooting for on the bottom.
OIKOS ‘The Big Hill’ ad to air on Telemundo and YouTube during the World Cup
OIKOS
OIKOS Protein Shakes
OIKOS is going big on sports this year. Starting with the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics, and eventually the Big Ten Conference, OIKOS is specifically targeting ads on streaming platforms for this year’s World Cup. “The campaign is all about how the protein from OIKOS makes you feel unstoppable when you’re strong,” Victoria Badiola, Senior Vice President of OIKOS, Danone US, tells me. “We’re trying to show what strength and protein can mean for you at every different level and moment of the game. Obviously, the World Cup is the pinnacle of that.”
The majority of World Cup games will be streamed on Telemundo, where OIKOS will have brand visibility during games and tournament highlights. Simultaneously, OIKOS will be seen throughout many corners of YouTube, including its AI-powered YouTube Lineups across YouTube Live TV and YouTube Selects. Select YouTube Creators will also be featuring OIKOS in World Cup content. Expect to see OIKOS on YouTube’s entry points across screens too.
“The target audience is people that are using protein shakes to feel stronger in their everyday lives,” Badiola says. “It has 30 grams of protein, but it’s not necessarily for elite performance, just for people that want to build muscle mass and get more protein.”
Kathryn Hahn for OIKOS
OIKOS
One of the OIKOS ads that will play on both platforms during the World Cup features an unlikely duo, actress Kathryn Hahn and NFL Running Back Derrick Henry in a spot called “The Big Hill,” taking place in San Francisco as the two try to fix a broken-down cable car, with a surprise on who actually gets the job done.
“Aligning ourselves with these big sports moments is something that we’ve seen makes more and more sense,” Badiola says. “The World Cup is such a place to drive cultural relevance and hit a really diverse target of viewers.”