GoKawiilThis story appears in the July 2026 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
As the World Cup approached in 2022, Duolingo sent out a press release. It read, in part:
“Unless you’re an official sponsor, you can’t talk about the [REDACTED] or [REDACTED] … But with a bit of clever language, there’s always a way to [REDACTED] the rules.”
Back then, the games were being held in Qatar. Duolingo wasn’t an official World Cup sponsor, so it needed to be careful about its language — but it did pay to become the official sponsor of Qatar FC, an amateur soccer team from Brazil. That allowed Duolingo to declare itself the official sponsor of what it called “the other Qatar.” The company’s mascot, Duo the owl, became the team’s official mascot too. Duolingo launched a tool for translating soccer chants and trash talk into other languages, and released that press release full of redactions. The whole thing cost far less than an official World Cup sponsorship, but earned lots of media coverage and generated goodwill worldwide.
The World Cup was held in 11 U.S. cities this summer, and brands all over the world took their shot at joining the conversation. Now that the games are over, it’s worth thinking about how you’ll capitalize on the next big sports event.
People often call it “newsjacking,” and you have two primary options: You can create a moment or just create content. Either way, it requires preparation and patience.
How to create a moment
First, make two lists. On the left, write down the specific things your customers will actually experience — not “they’ll watch games,” but the granular stuff. Googling the offside rule five minutes before kickoff? Pretending they’ve always been a Christian Pulisic fan?
On the right, write down what your brand is already known for. Are you the bar that actually knows soccer? The restaurant where the neighborhood goes to celebrate?
Your angle lives where something on the left intersects with something on the right in a way that produces recognition or surprise. Can your bar start handing out booklets with all the World Cup rules? Can you promote free drinks if the U.S. wins?
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