Major events are not just marketing moments

Major sporting events have a habit of changing the national mood. They create conversation, alter routines and give consumers a reason to gather, celebrate, snack, host and shop differently.

With the 2026 World Cup on the horizon, there will naturally be plenty of attention on the tournament. For UK food and drink brands, however, the bigger opportunity is not simply to talk about football or join a trending conversation. The real opportunity is commercial.

Major sporting and cultural moments change shopper behaviour. They create different missions in store, different expectations around value and availability, and different opportunities across wholesale, convenience, grocery, foodservice and retail.

For FMCG brands, the question should not be “What can we post about this?” The better question is: “Where does our product genuinely fit, and how do we make sure it is available, visible and supported when demand changes?”

At Wholesale Brand Management, this is often where we see the biggest difference between activity and impact. A strong idea only becomes commercially useful when it is connected to the right channels, the right partners and the right route-to-market plan.

Understanding the shopper occasion

The strongest event-led activity starts with the shopper occasion, not the event itself.

Major televised sport often creates two types of shopping mission. The first is planned: households preparing for at-home viewing, family gatherings, social evenings or weekend occasions. The second is more immediate: convenience top-ups, last-minute snacks, chilled drinks, food-to-go and easy meal solutions.

That matters because different categories benefit in different ways. Snacks, confectionery, soft drinks, beer and cider, no/low alcohol drinks, party food, pizzas, sharing formats and quick meal options are all naturally connected to the way people watch major events at home or with others.

Major sports events have consistently created uplift in relevant FMCG categories. NielsenIQ reported that during a summer period shaped by major sporting events and warm weather, soft drinks rose by 21% in value and ice cream and desserts increased by 12%. Kantar data around Euro 2024 also showed beer sales increasing on matchdays, with no/low alcohol beer seeing a particularly strong uplift.

The exact scale of demand will vary by fixture, weather, timing, region and channel. But the underlying point is clear: major events create new buying reasons. Brands that understand those buying reasons can plan around them.

Why channel fit matters

Not every opportunity sits in the same channel.

A supermarket shopper preparing for a gathering may be looking for larger formats, multipacks, meal solutions or cross-category deals. A convenience shopper may be making a last-minute mission for chilled drinks, snacks, confectionery or something quick to take home. A wholesaler may be looking for products that retailers can easily promote, display and replenish during a short trading window.

This is why event-led planning must go beyond a campaign idea. The brand needs to understand which channel is most likely to move the product and what each customer needs in order to sell it well.

For WBM, this is a key part of supporting food and drink brands: helping identify where the commercial opportunity really sits, whether that is through wholesale, convenience, grocery, foodservice, independent retail or a more focused route-to-market approach.

For example, a challenger snack brand may not need a large-scale national campaign to benefit from a major event. It may be more commercially useful to secure the right wholesale listings, create a relevant sharing format, support independent retailers with display guidance, and align promotions with the key dates when shoppers are most likely to buy.

Similarly, a soft drinks brand may need to think about chilled availability, convenience distribution, price-marked packs or multipack value. A confectionery brand may need to think about sharing bags, gifting, impulse display or pairing with “big night in” occasions.

The best activity is not necessarily the loudest. It is the activity that matches the product, the channel and the shopper mission.

Planning early is the commercial advantage

One of the biggest mistakes brands make around major events is leaving the commercial planning too late.

By the time consumer attention peaks, retailers and wholesalers may already have made key decisions around stock, promotional space, display plans and depot activity. If a brand waits until the event is already dominating conversation, it may have missed the window to influence availability.

Early planning gives brands time to answer practical questions. Do we have the right stock levels? Are our best event-relevant SKUs already available through the right routes to market? Do our wholesale and retail partners understand the opportunity? Do we have the sales materials, promotional mechanics and product information they need?

A good event plan should not start with content. It should start with distribution, stock, timing and customer conversations.

That is why early conversations with wholesale and retail partners matter. WBM works with brands to support those conversations, helping turn commercial plans into clear actions that partners can understand, buy into and execute.

Visibility turns demand into sales

Even when shopper demand exists, brands still need to be found.

During major events, stores can become crowded with promotions, seasonal activity and competing claims for attention. A product that is technically available but hard to see may not benefit from the increased demand around the occasion.

That is why visibility matters. Secondary displays, chilled placement, depot visibility, clear pricing, bundle mechanics, retailer-facing sell sheets, POS materials and simple merchandising guidance can all help turn an event-led opportunity into sales.

This is also where wholesale and retail partners become critical. A brand may understand the consumer opportunity, but if the wholesaler has not been briefed or the retailer has not been given a reason to prioritise the product, the activity can fall flat.

The strongest event-led plans make the opportunity easy for partners to understand and easy for them to execute. That might mean a simple “big night in” bundle, a sharing-focused case deal, a display recommendation, or a short selling story that explains why the product fits the occasion.

Avoid shallow trend-jumping

There is a clear difference between relevant event-led activity and shallow trend-jumping.

A generic post about a major tournament is unlikely to create meaningful commercial value unless it connects to a genuine shopper occasion, product role or sales objective. For many FMCG brands, especially smaller and challenger brands, trying to mimic the campaigns of major sponsors can be expensive, distracting and commercially weak.

The better approach is to focus on where the brand naturally belongs.

If the product is a snack, how does it fit a sharing occasion? If it is a drink, how does it fit at-home viewing, moderation or chilled convenience? If it is a meal solution, how does it help shoppers prepare quickly before an evening fixture? If it is confectionery, does it work as an impulse treat, a sharing format or a giftable product?

Brands should also be careful around protected tournament marks, logos and official language. Unless a brand has the appropriate rights, it should avoid implying any association, sponsorship or partnership. In most cases, neutral language around big sporting moments, at-home viewing, gatherings or match-night occasions will be both safer and more commercially useful.

Using data to decide what is worth pursuing

Not every brand should activate around every event. The opportunity needs to be commercially assessed.

That assessment should combine several inputs: historic sales performance, category trends, retailer feedback, wholesale insight, promotional performance, stock capacity and channel fit. If a brand has performed well in convenience during previous seasonal peaks, that may suggest an opportunity. If a product only works in a narrow premium occasion, the plan may need to be more selective.

Data can also help brands avoid overcommitting. For example, if uplift is likely to be highly fixture-dependent or weather-dependent, a brand may choose a flexible plan rather than a large fixed investment. If performance varies by region or account type, the opportunity may be stronger in certain channels than others.

The aim is not to chase the event at all costs. The aim is to identify where the event creates a real route-to-market opportunity.

Questions FMCG brands should ask before a major event

Before committing to event-led activity, brands should ask:

  • Does this event create a natural occasion for our product?
  • Which shopper mission are we serving: planned shop, top-up, impulse, sharing, food-to-go or gifting?
  • Which channels are most relevant: convenience, wholesale, grocery, foodservice, online or independent retail?
  • Do we have the right pack format, price point and stock position?
  • Are our wholesale and retail partners prepared early enough?
  • What promotional, display or sales support can we provide?
  • How will we make the product visible at the right time?
  • Are we using safe, neutral language that avoids implying official association?
  • What data will we use to measure whether the activity worked?
  • How will we use the learnings for the next major event?

Turning attention into measurable growth

Major sporting and cultural moments can create valuable opportunities for food and drink brands. But the benefit rarely comes from attention alone. It comes from understanding the occasion, choosing the right channels, preparing early, supporting partners properly and reviewing what happened afterwards.

For FMCG brands, the commercial opportunity is not just to be part of the conversation. It is to be in the right place, in the right format, with the right support, when shoppers are ready to buy.

The brands that benefit most from major events will not be the ones that simply react to the noise. They will be the ones that plan, prepare and execute commercially.

At WBM, we help food and drink brands focus on the opportunities that can genuinely support growth, from route-to-market planning and wholesale relationships to retail visibility, sales support and performance insight. If your brand is looking ahead to upcoming seasonal, sporting or cultural moments, the right planning now can help turn attention into measurable commercial action.