The ad of God: Five principles to help win advertising's World Cup

The 2026 FIFA World Cup (el Mundial) is on, so how can brands be sure that their ad will resonate and cut through the World Cup clutter? 

To answer this questions, you have to look at the expert of cutting through and demanding attention… Diego Maradona, the man who scored probably the greatest World Cup goal and the most infamous World Cup goal, both in the same match, against England in the 1986 tournament in Mexico.

Ad campaigns probably shouldn’t start with the backdrop of cold, geopolitical vengeance.

When you consider those two goals through an advertising lens, you get five principles (one for each player beaten during the second of his strikes) of winning creativity. 

Above: Argentina's Diego Maradona, one of the world's greatest footballers and a man who made headlines for two astonishing goals against England at the 1986 World Cup. 

1. Don’t start with a message, start with a cause.

In the shadow of the 1986 World Cup was the war for the Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands), and it created an urgency and demand for the Argentinian team to beat England. Post-game, Diego said winning felt like symbolic revenge. 

It transformed a football story into a collective mission for redemption. 

Ad campaigns probably shouldn’t start with the backdrop of cold, geopolitical vengeance, but you should have a cause with the work you put out. A great example of this was Gatorade’s Heart of a Lio, a film that turned Messi’s unfinished dream with Argentina into the shared dream of millions of fans around the world. By making people emotionally carry his burden with him, it transformed a football story into a collective mission for redemption. 

Why now? Why this moment? Why this idea? Know what you are trying to do and how far you will go to achieve it. 

Above: Gatorade's Heart of a Lio. 

2. Make it unmistakably yours

We’ve all seen (or even done!) work for one brand that feels like it’s flying too close to the sun of another (the Gatorade ad that feels like a Nike ad). But to stand out during the World Cup, when everyone is focussed on the themes of history, togetherness, athleticism, power, wills and fandom, it must be undeniably brand-driven. 

Nike’s Joga Bonito didn’t just sponsor Brazilian football culture, it bottled its essence and made it global.

Maradona was known for his dribbling skills and footwork, skills he developed during his days playing youth football to get around larger players. The Hand of God may be infamous, but the goal that came next was unmistakably Maradona. 

Nike’s Joga Bonito didn’t just sponsor Brazilian football culture, it bottled its essence and made it global. The campaign captured everything people romantically associate with Brazil — joy, flair, improvisation, swagger, creativity — and turned it into a football philosophy only Nike could export.

Above: Nike's Joga Bonito campaign, from 2006.

3. The childish ambition

While the legend and personality of Maradona is unmistakably big, the man himself was only 165cm (5’5”). The aforementioned footwork was key to helping Diego punch above his weight from when he started with Argentinos Juniors at only eight-years-old, and he kept that ambition to be the best and beat the bigger players, clubs and countries throughout his career.

The best creative ideas may sound naive at first: “Let’s make horses the face of this beer company!”. “Let’s encourage self-love on Valentine's Day!”. But it’s this ambition that makes it relatable and memorable — even if you’ve never seen a horse in-person or bought yourself flowers. 

“Impossible Is Nothing” wasn’t just the tagline, it was the filmmaking philosophy behind the ad itself.

Look at Adidas José +10, where the film itself chased an impossible dream, bringing together legends from different eras, with the same mentality as the kid in the story. At the time, combining this talent was nearly impossible, technically. But Adidas didn’t treat that impossibility as a limitation — they turned it into the idea. “Impossible Is Nothing” wasn’t just the tagline, it was the filmmaking philosophy behind the ad itself.

As creatives, we often get pulled in different directions. Use the childlike ambition to be the best, be the first, and do the hardest jobs as your north star, and then it’s hard to miss. 

Above: Adidas's José + 10 made the impossible possible. 

4. Controversy sets the stage for greatness

Let’s dive into the so-called Hand of God, the goal that Maradona scored to put Argentina up 1-0 over England. When asked, postgame, if he scored the goal legally, he famously said it was the "head of Maradona" and the "hand of God". Had this been the only goal of the game, Maradona might’ve been 1986’s version of cancelled, or gone the way of Luis Suarez.  

You need your cause, identity and ambition to set the stage, and from there you can use misdirection or a teaser to set the stage for your big win.

But the reason Diego was able to respond like this is because of his second goal of the game, named Goal of the Century by FIFA in 2018, where he took the ball from midfield and beat five England players, including their goalkeeper.

From an ad perspective, you don’t want to manufacture controversy. Maradona didn’t score with his hand to make a statement, he did it to score. You need your cause, identity and ambition to set the stage, and from there you can use misdirection or a teaser to set the stage for your big win.

Delivery app PedidosYa once intentionally created panic by sending all users a notification that their order was on the way. Customers feared they were hacked, but something was truly on its way… the app was tracking delivery of the World Cup trophy to Argentina. That moment of confusion made the final emotional reveal hit exponentially harder, using the collision between fear and warmth to create a punch people couldn’t ignore.