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Brands Want More From Their Hollywood Partnerships

A celebrity in a commercial is nothing new. But increasingly, brands aren’t just putting famous faces in ads to sell products. They’re finding new ways to make entertainment part of the ad itself.The reason appears to be fairly simple: attention has become harder to buy. Brands are looking for ways to create campaigns that feel less like interruptions and more like something audiences actually want to watch.Take Gap, which just launched a campaign with scream queen actress Inde Navarrette, recognized for her role in Obsession, and emerging musician Malcolm Todd. Navarrette is a relatively new face on the scene but has quickly expanded her profile across entertainment and fashion, while Todd brings his own music audience to the campaign, titled, “Denim On Your Own.”“With this campaign, Gap continues to serve as a platform for the next generation of creative voices, championing emerging artists who are shaping culture through music, art, and self-expression,” said the campaign announcement.The ambassador choices reinforce the idea that it’s no longer just about who appears in an ad, but what the entertainment itself can do for a brand that an ad alone can’t. The campaign features Todd’s rendition of Robyn’s hit “Dancing On My Own,” turning the partnership into a piece of music and entertainment.Patrón is going a step further, bringing Hollywood’s creative talent directly into the making of the advertising itself. The tequila brand tapped the Oscar-winning director of Frankenstein and Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro to direct and star in its 2026 campaign, “The Perfect Pour.” The campaign puts del Toro’s distinctive visual style at the center of the brand’s storytelling. “Both born in Jalisco. Both obsessed with Mexican craftsmanship. Experience The Perfect Pour,” the campaign reads. These campaigns illustrate a broader shift in how brands can think about entertainment. A celebrity can bring an existing fan base, but the more valuable proposition may be the ability to create something people encounter as culture first and advertising second. The result isn’t necessarily that brands are becoming Hollywood studios. It’s that they are increasingly trying to borrow Hollywood’s ability to create attention and cultural relevance, and make it work for the brand.Erin Behrens is an associate editor at From Day One(Photo by AscentXmedia/iStock)

News BY Erin Behrens | August 03, 2026

The Marketing Lessons Worth Taking From the 2026 World Cup

Now that the 2026 FIFA World Cup has wrapped up, marketers are taking a closer look at the brands that won the battle for attention, and what their success says about today’s marketing landscape. While official sponsors enjoyed unmatched visibility, some of the brands that generated the most conversation weren’t necessarily the ones that paid for the most prominent logos. Instead, they won by tapping into fan culture and creating content people actually engaged with. On Fox networks, World Cup advertisers averaged an attention index of 121, according to iSpot, meaning their ads performed 21% better than the average ad. The metric was based on the percentage of viewers who completed watching the full ad message.Here are three lessons from the brands that captured attention across the screens of viewers, the arenas where players competed, and the billboards that turned the tournament into a global marketing stage. Opportunities Exist Beyond the Main EventThis year’s tournament highlighted the power of shared experiences, as fans traveled across continents, explored new cultures, celebrated victories, and shared in the heartbreak of losses together. The cities hosting matches became part of the story, with fan experiences and local moments filling social media feeds throughout the tournament, like in the case of the Boston beer-shortage.The brands that stood out recognized that fans weren’t just watching the games, they were traveling, discovering new cultures, and becoming part of the global experience surrounding the tournament.Airbnb brought this idea to life through its “The World Is Meant to Meet” campaign, which centered on the connections and cultural exchanges that happen when people travel. Rather than focusing only on the competition itself, the campaign highlighted the people, places, and experiences that bring a global event like the World Cup to life. The company even offered rewards for those who signed up to host during the event. By celebrating the communities and connections formed around travel, Airbnb showed how brands can create relevance by becoming part of the cultural moments happening beyond the stadium.Marketing That Feels Interactive, Not DistractingMichelob ULTRA, a brand that calls itself “a superior light beer brewed for the social athlete,” built its World Cup marketing around fan participation. The brand introduced the Superior Player of the Match award, selected through fan engagement, giving viewers a role in recognizing standout performances. It also created fan-focused experiences designed to bring the tournament atmosphere beyond the stadium.“For more than twenty years, Michelob ULTRA has connected with its fans during the occasions they love. The brand’s playbook has been simple and relentless: invest, learn, and execute as the Official Beer Sponsor of America’s most prominent sports and active-lifestyle moments from Team USA to the NBA to the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026™ and LA 2028 games to a 30+ year partnership with the PGA Tour. This approach has turned Michelob ULTRA into an absolute rocket ship, and we’ve got tremendous opportunity ahead of us,” said Kyle Norrington, chief commercial officer at Anheuser-Busch. Strong marketing doesn’t interrupt the moments people care about; it becomes part of them and invites them further into it. The success shows in the sales, as the beer continues to be the best-selling beer by volume, in America. Becoming Part of the CultureThe brands that make a lasting impression find ways to become woven into the event itself, creating products or experiences that fans recognize and remember. Adidas demonstrated the power of turning a sponsorship into a cultural asset that everyone recognizes. As the official match ball provider, the brand had a presence in every game, but it went beyond simple visibility by making the ball itself a centerpiece of the tournament experience. The design and storytelling created around the ball helped transform a piece of equipment into a symbol of the competition. The lesson: brands can earn lasting attention when they create something audiences naturally associate with a cultural moment, not just something they see during it.Erin Behrens is an associate editor at From Day One(Photo by peterschreiber.media/iStock)