Erling Haaland is likely to score a tap in goal in Norway's first appearance in the World Cup since 1998. But Visa wants fans to tap in, too.
The credit card company continues its longstanding partnership with FIFA and is the official Worldwide Payment Technology Partner of the tournament. They announced the "Tap In" campaign on Monday, May 18 to create a parallel between the tap-in goal, known as the easiest form of scoring, and how fans seamlessly tap their cards to pay for everything they need to enjoy the World Cup.
Jason Sudeikis is the star of a series of ads that shows how speed, security and fun are key elements of the tournament.The "Ted Lasso" actoris shown in various scenarios using his Visa card with his signature positivity and wittiness.
Frank Cooper, Visa's CMO, spoke on how the company was intentional about highlighting the speed of the World Cup and the security of the credit card while not sacrificing storytelling and the human element.
"That is exactly what we saw as our core challenge about a year ago," Cooper told USA TODAY Sports. "We can do something that is highly entertaining and inspirational, and there's a lot of value in that, because reigniting consumer passion around your brand is always a good thing.
"Our goal was a bit different. We did want to communicate the idea of trust and what underlies trust, and because we think that is going to be core. It's always been core to anything that involves money, by the way, but it's certainly increasingly core as you move into new forms of transaction, as fraud increases, as you know people want to make sure that they have zero liability, and so we want to communicate that.
"The question was, our challenge was: communicate that message, but put it in an entertaining wrapper. That was the goal.... A key unlock for us was Jason Sudeikis, and for us, Jason represented not just the character Ted Lasso, but he represented optimism, that anything is possible, that you can fulfill your dreams."
While Visa has its headquarters in Foster City, California outside of San Francisco, executives are careful to present it as a global company just like the World Cup is a global tournament. One of the ads makes this clear in a fun, lighthearted way.
Sudeikis asks to have a hot dog for every country where Visa is accepted (it's more than 200). He starts listing several nations: Australia, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, the United States, Ivory Coast and South Africa. A worker behind the counter hands him a hot dog for each country and the actor is about to keep rattling off countries, but the hot dogs run out.
Even though Cooper emphasizes that Visa is a global brand, he still has hopes that the United States hosting the World Cup will grow the love of the beautiful game in the country where American football is king. He points to the opportunity this tournament has through digital and social media as a potential means of helping Americans get involved in soccer.
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"I think this could be an inflection point because of the excitement around this particular game," he said. "We may not have as many die-hard fans in the U.S., although that's increased a lot. We have more social fans, but in this one we're gonna have FOMO fans. People who feel like, 'I'm missing out on something. It's like a phenomenon descending upon three countries. I gotta be a part of it.' And once you kind of sense, feel the excitement, I think you get drawn into the sport."
Lamine Yamal, Jorge Campos, Andrés Cantor and, of course, Haaland are also involved in the campaign.
The ads are meant to lead to deeper fan engagement. Fans will be able to register online to win prizes throughout the tournament, including tickets to matches andJeff Hamilton jackets, which Cooper calls "beautiful" and "collectors items." When a tap-in goal is scored throughout the tournament, more prizes and features will be unlocked. There will also be collaborations with artists and immersive pop-ups at stadiums during the World Cup.
In 2024, Visa made its first global sports partnership in 15 years when it joined forces with Cash App tobecome a title sponsor of the Racing Bulls Formula 1 team.In February,Visa renewed and expanded the partnership, which also includes support for the Max Verstappen-led Red Bull Racing.
Cooper said that the motorsport series shares similar traits with the World Cup like speed and the pursuit of excellence that make both important partnerships for Visa. The Racing Bulls team is known for having some of the most exciting, thoughtful liveries in the sport, including when theycollaborated with Nigerian-British artist Slawn for the 2025 British Grand Prix.
"Whether they're winning at the moment or not matters less, even though I like winning more than I like losing. What matters is the values that they have, the pursuit of excellence that they all take, the constant state of improvement," Cooper said.
"One of the things that is core to our brand positioning is that we try to champion everyday progress, the people moving forward, and we think that happens in small steps. I don't think it happens in big leaps. It happens in small steps. One transaction at a time is kind of a representation of that.
"What we see in F1 is that. It's constantly tweaking, improving, trying to get better. You see it in all sports, honestly, but in Formula 1, and with Visa Cash App Red Bulls racing team, you see it every single day. They're just constantly trying to make small improvements to get toward excellence, and so for us that kind of reflects who we are as a brand."
Even with the success of the Formula 1 partnership, the World Cup is special for Visa. There are 104 matches in 16 cities across three countries and an expanded field of 48 teams for the 2026 competition. Cooper is looking forward to the opportunity of facilitating the "pop-up economy" around the tournament.
"This is our extravaganza, too, right?" he said. "It’s like the game itself, but it's also the World Cup of payments at the same time."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Visa enlists Jason Sudeikis for World Cup 'Tap In' campaign
