Verizon kicked off its sponsorship of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a massive global tentpole taking place next summer in select cities within the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The telecommunications company will be ramping up activations leading into the event next year, offering free tickets, meet and greets with iconic players, merch drops, fan experiences and more.
Earlier this week the brand launched a 360 campaign surrounding Verizon Ultimate Access, its free, in-app rewards platform for customers, with an assist from soccer legend David Beckham. Customers now have access to ticket drops via the My Access portion of the Verizon app, and in November the brand will launch a sweepstakes that will dole out hundreds of “Golden Tickets,” a special prize that gives attendees “pitchside” access during the games.
We spoke with Justin Toman, Verizon’s Head of Partnerships, about the sponsorship, the brand’s strategic marketing goals for the program and what we can expect from Verizon leading up to next summer.
CM: What are your marketing goals with this campaign? Awareness of My Access? App usage? New customers?
JT: I love that we’re starting with objectives because that’s how we think about strategic planning — what are we trying to accomplish? And then let’s go do great things to go get it done. It’s two things. Number one — and this is true for all of our partnerships, specifically for our sports partnerships — we want to showcase the value in the superiority of our network. At the heart of it, we are a telecommunications and technology company and our stuff — our hardware and our wireless and wire lines and all of our tech — powers the World Cup. And we’re also powering that fan experience so that fans can go to stadiums, can connect and interact with the teams and athletes they love, and interact with themselves and each other as well.
So we want to leverage the World Cup as a platform to showcase the superiority of the Verizon network. And number two, we want to create really unique, ownable experiences for our customers that ultimately translates into brand love and customer loyalty. When it comes down to it, all that we’re going to talk about today is only for Verizon customers. So we feel like leveraging massive platforms and partnerships like FIFA and the World Cup and giving our customers exclusive access and assets that nobody else can give them, is a really great way to reward them and hopefully keep them loyal to our brand.
CM: For the ticket drops, people will go into the app to find those, right?
JT: Correct. As part of the Verizon Ultimate Access platform and program, we’re getting customers closer than anybody else can get to the World Cup. Not only thousands of tickets — that will be hundreds of Golden Tickets, which is on-the-field, pitch-side access, which we can talk about— but there’ll be content, there’ll be merch drops, there’ll be events later on next year. Everything about the program will be available in the My Access section of the app.
For tickets specifically, including the Golden Tickets, we will be letting customers know starting with our launch that they can go into the My Verizon app and the My Access section of that app to engage and to get information to see when the ticket drops are, and ultimately to grab those tickets when they become available.
CM: So what does “pitchside” access actually look like for attendees? Similar to “courtside” in basketball?
JT: It’s such a great experience. Like you said, in basketball sitting courtside is the ultimate, right? That’s where you want to be. That’s where celebrities are, see and be seen, feet on the floor. You’re literally as close as you can get to the action. And that doesn’t really exist in a lot of other sports, specifically soccer, because of the setup … But only Verizon is getting fans literally on the pitch — 78 matches in the U.S., and several pairs of tickets to each match. The exact quantity we’re still working through, but hundreds and hundreds of tickets and Golden Ticket opportunities.
So basically, we’ll have fans in the stadium in their seats. During halftime we will take this group of people down to the sideline. They will literally be “feet on the pitch,” and they’ll be able to watch as the players come back out after halftime and watch the first part of the second half from the best place in the house to watch it, standing on the pitch and getting that once in a lifetime experience. And then we’ll take them back up to their seats and they’ll enjoy the rest of the game. So a really fun experience that doesn’t really happen too often in sports, especially in soccer.
CM: How are you factoring in the stadium connectivity part of it? I’m assuming you are doing some upgrades. How will that change the experience for fans?
JT: Most of the matches that are going to be in the U.S. will be played in NFL stadiums, if not all of them. We already have our technology in the stadiums and we’re working with FIFA and all the stadiums where games will be played to really focus on enhancing that. I’ve been to MetLife Stadium a few times already for football games, and the connectivity there is really good, and it’s our stuff. When it comes to FIFA, we are plussing that up … Our network team is investing a lot of money in technology and enhancements in all these stadiums — and not just in the stadiums, in the surrounding areas and even in the cities where we know large groups of fans will be. We’re installing the technology and the connectivity to make sure that that’s a great fan experience no matter where you are, even if you’re in a large group in the stadium or in a city somewhere, or a watch party.
CM: In terms of the marketing campaign itself, how are you distributing it to consumers? Are there multiple phases? What else are you doing leading up to and during the tournament?
JT: We have a whole calendar that we’re excited about. We start [Sept. 29] with the launch. Global soccer icon Sir David Beckham will be helping us launch the campaign and be one of the initial faces of the campaign. And he ties in really nicely. Celebrities like him are usually the ones that are on the sidelines and getting that pitchside access. The line is, “Only Verizon is getting you as close as David Beckham” can typically get. He’s going to be a great ambassador for the brand and the program. We’ll launch the content digitally and socially early next week with him. He will talk about the thousands of tickets we’re giving away, as well as the Golden Tickets. So that’ll be the big awareness driver for those unique assets.
And then on a regular drumbeat, our first ticket drop in the app actually happens on October 2nd. And then from there, there will be a regular cadence of ticket drops, of Golden Ticket moments, that’ll lead into next year. There’ll be more content early next year with Beckham and other partners. To name a few: Tim Howard, former U.S. goalie; Alyssa and Gisele Thompson who play on Angel City FC in the NWSL; Chucky Lozano, a Mexican national team player and icon; Sergio Agüero from the Premier League in Argentina.
So, a really packed roster … We’ll even have some live events next year that we’ll be putting on. And then we will run into the actual matches in June and July where we’ll be really focused on delivering customers that ultimate access experience on the pitch. In the next nine months, it’s a really busy but consistent drumbeat of activity that will ramp up into the matches themselves.
CM: Any new strategies for different platforms or how you’re reaching people? How are you approaching community engagement?
JT: We will have community engagement — more to come. We’re not quite ready to announce some of that that’ll come out later next year closer to when those events actually happen. We continue to lean heavily in on digital. We know that’s where so many fans — especially younger fans — are and are consuming content and messaging. We want to be speaking to them where they’re consuming and where they’re used to hearing from brands.
There’ll be certainly some linear as well, but a heavy focus on digital, heavy focus on content with partners like David and others. We want to lean in heavily on Verizon My Access … Our customers are already there, it’s already on their phones. We want them to be going there often and to [get an] update on what’s going on and the ticket drops and so forth. So content, digital, social, and certainly a focus on My Access and the app.
CM: In addition to working with mega influencers like David Beckham and the players, are you working with other types of influencers as well?
JT: Yes, we’re going to roll out some of those partnerships as we go into the fall. But it’s athletes, both current and iconic former, and creators and some media partners as well, which we’ll announce on a rolling schedule. So when you put the amplification and reach together of those three things — athletes, creators, influencers — and some media partners, both traditional and nontraditional, we think that’s a really good mix to get the message out there.
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