System1.
System1, the Creative Effectiveness Platform, has named Aldi's 2022 Feast for Football the most popular FIFA World Cup advertisement of all time.
System1’s Test Your Ad platform measures consumers’ emotional responses to advertising, assigning a score from 1.0 to 5.9 Stars based on long-term brand-building potential.
Ads that generate strong positive emotions, such as happiness and surprise, are more likely to achieve higher scores.
The ranking also highlighted the long-standing World Cup rivalry between Adidas and Nike.
Of the 31 ads evaluated, six were created by Adidas and seven by Nike. While Nike featured more often in the ranking, Adidas emerged as the strongest-performing brand overall, achieving the highest average scores across its campaigns.
The highest-performing ads consistently relied on humour, often delivered through unexpected contrasts and playful storytelling.
Several top-ranked campaigns used disparity for comedic effect, such as Pepsi’s Sumo (2002), which sees sumo wrestlers take on footballers.
Pepsi’s Nutmeg Royale and Adidas’ Jose+10 imagined football superstars appearing in community kickabouts.
Exaggeration also proved effective, placing Visa’s Football Evolution into the rankings, while Aldi’s recreation of Nike’s iconic Airport demonstrated the appeal of familiar creative ideas.
Nike’s Airport also secured a place in the Top 10, outperforming the brand’s more recent World Cup campaign, RIP the Script.
“Creative consistency is one of the most powerful and underused tools in marketing,” said System1 chief growth officer – advertising, Andrew Tindall.
“Five of these ads would have ranked alongside the top-performing World Cup ads of 2026, yet none are currently on air. Brands are sitting on a vault of proven creative gold.
“The winners are often the brands that build on what already works. Aldi's reimagining of Airport is a great example. Adidas' Backyard Legends also echoes many of the ingredients that made Jose+10 so effective years earlier.
“The lesson is simple: great creative ideas do not wear out. Nike may have said RIP the Script, but why have they said RIP to Airport? Some ideas are worth bringing back.”
The Top 10 Greatest World Cup Ads of All Time:
- Aldi (2022) – Feast for Football – 5.0 Stars
- Pepsi (2002) – Sumo – 5.0 Stars
- Pepsi (2006) – Dare for More – 4.6 Stars
- Adidas (2006) – Jose+10 – 4.5 Stars
- Mars (2010) – Singing for England – 4.5 Stars
- Adidas (2002) – Footballitis – 4.1 Stars
- Visa (2010) – Football Evolution – 4.1 Stars
- Adidas (2014) – The House Match – 4.0 Stars
- Nike (1998) – Airport – 3.9 Stars
- Pepsi (2022) - Nutmeg Royale – 3.9 Stars
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