Campaign Trail is our analysis of some of the best new creative efforts from the marketing world. View past columns in the archives here.
For months, major marketers have rolled out campaigns in advance of the FIFA World Cup kickoff on June 11. Coca-Cola, the official beverage sponsor of the tournament since 1978, was one of the first brands to take the pitch, launching its World Cup campaign in January with “Bubbling Up” and dropping its “Uncanned Emotions” spot in April.
Coke’s World Cup campaign culminated this week with “No Better Feeling,” a two-minute video that focuses on the emotions that fútbol fans feel during key moments, specifically a goal reviewed by the video assistant referee, or VAR. Together, the three-part “Feel It All” campaign recognizes that the World Cup isn’t a single moment, but a months-long journey.
“'Bubbling Up' ignited that first spark of anticipation in January. 'Uncanned Emotions' went deeper, tapping into the rituals, the nerves, the raw passion that makes football culture so unique. And now 'No Better Feeling' puts us right at the emotional peak with the match-day electricity and critical moments that define the tournament,” Arnab Roy, president of Coca-Cola’s global category, said in emailed comments.
“No Better Feeling” follows sweltering fans as they nervously anticipate a crucial play. When the opposing team scores a goal and seemingly wins the game, there is much gnashing of teeth — before a referee is called to review the play. As the fans wait for the review, time stops long enough to get a Coke from the fridge, and when the goal is reversed, groups of fans explode in excitement, their celebrations caught in slow motion.
The full World Cup campaign was created by WPP Open X, led by Ogilvy and supported by WPP Media and WPP Production.
“The beauty of the [World Cup] is people go really full-on,” said Guillermo Vega, global creative network lead for WPP Open X and chief creative officer for North America at Ogilvy. “It's a really immersive event. People lose their minds, and then Coca-Cola is the trigger of relief during that crazy roller coaster of emotions.”
Coca-Cola this week said it will conduct a global agency review for media, data and technology needs in several markets, but noted that “global creative and PR disciplines are not in scope of this review and will remain with WPP Open X.” The company in Q1 2026 saw net revenue grow 12% to $12.5 billion.
Three-act craft
From an admittedly simple premise — emotional moments go down better with a Coke — the creative team worked to heighten the reality of each of the three acts of “No Better Feeling”: anticipation, tension and release. Each act in the spot is shot differently, playing up the characteristics and qualities of the act: an observational camera gives way to an abstract, surreal moment and then a series of tableaus that capture wide frames in slow motion.
The middle section, where sound and visuals drop out, leaving a man and his fridge in a black void, is the most stylized, resembling moments in arty horror films like “Get Out” and “Under the Skin.” Vega attributes the extremity to director Rich Hall, who pushed the scene further than was written in the script.
“The craft is one of the key elements, because I think a lot of the beauty was in the craft of finding the fans, making it real, making it not look like an ad,” Vega said. “It looks like it could be your friends, your family; it could be the game you watch with your dad. It could be the moments in a bar where everybody goes crazy. It could be massive gatherings when you are playing an important game, where everybody starts getting together in a park or a plaza to watch it.”
While the ad is mostly focused on real fan emotions, “No Better Feeling” includes cameos and voiceovers from familiar folks. Legendary soccer manager José Mourinho watches the action from home, Colombian musical star J Balvin watches from the studio and announcers Peter Drury and Luis Omar Tapia provide the call.
“These voices are all an important part of football and culture for fans around the world, and they all know exactly what it means to feel it all during the tournament,” Coca-Cola’s Roy said. “‘No Better Feeling’ shows these icons among everyday fans, because all of us experience the same emotional journey while watching football.”
These giants of sport and culture also are part of Coke’s larger “Feel It All” campaign. Balvin was one of the artists, alongside Amber Mark, Steve Vai and Travis Barker, that reworked Van Halen’s “Jump” for the campaign’s initial ad. Meanwhile, Mourinho features in the just-announced “José vs. Mourinho,” a real-time social content series powered by artificial intelligence that sees the coach and a digital twin debate soccer topics.
“We wanted to integrate the pieces of the campaign,” Vega said. “A lot of those things are threaded together, and the themes of the ads are all about the emotions: how the emotion started, how the emotion explodes to the product and how the emotion explodes to people are always connected.”
