Any year featuring a mega-event is a big year for the sponsorship industry and 2026 has two of them. The Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup will put deals in the spotlight and big money will be spent chasing the right (and sometimes the wrong) results.

Since GSIQ works with brands and rightsholders around the world, we’re in a good position to see how campaigns are changing, so here are five things I think we’ll see more of in 2026.

1) Sponsorship as a platform, rather than a channel

Sponsorship Effectiveness Forum research in 2025 re-iterated what most of us know – that campaigns work best when the sponsorship is used as a platform for activation across multiple channels, not just as a channel of its own.

Olympic and World Cup sponsors typically have deep pockets so in 2026 I hope we will see some interesting innovation in activating sponsorships that are based on this principle. A good example to follow is Lidl’s 2024 multi-channel UEFA Euros campaign, which saw the supermarket brand become the tournament’s most-recognised sponsor. Think campaigns that blend influencers, athletes, OOH and linear TV with physical assets, for example.

2) CMOs coming under pressure to measure better

Digital sucks up about three in every five marketing dollars and a big reason for that is because it’s easy to measure. Of the whole offline budget, event marketing and sponsorship spend is staying solid but the industry can’t afford to be complacent and must respond when CMOs ask for more sophisticated measurement in 2026.

3) Brands seeking sales, not just awareness

Brand awareness is the traditional rationale for a sponsorship deal but there are brands who have demonstrated that genuine ROI can be achieved.  By weaving their rugby sponsorships into their long term ‘Made of More’ advertising campaign, Guinness drove incremental sales of £1bn over an eight-year period.  Rights holders have the tools needed for brands to achieve a wide range of results, and to go further than achieving ‘just’ brand awareness and fame.

4) Buying silence

Some deep-pocketed sponsors want to buy silence around the space they acquire. A few good examples here are:

• The Rolex Hour at the Masters – which sees US viewers benefit from an hour of uninterrupted TV coverage courtesy of Rolex
• NBCUniversal’s ad-free coverage of the opening ceremony at the Paris Games, courtesy of sponsorship.
• Louis Vuitton maxing out on signage in F1 (while also using its iconic trunk to connect with HNWIs).

Sponsors know that dampening the noise that other sponsors create maximises impact. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of this in 2026 – and certainly in time for LA28.

5) Trans-Atlantic culture clash

According to European Sponsorship Association research this winter, the environmental and social parts of ESG continue to be significant drivers of deals this side of the Atlantic. But with these objectives more controversial in the States, it will be interesting to see how World Cup sponsors pivot in 2026. Might there be some contortions on show to deal with the political sensitivities? We’ll see.

If you want to know more about GSIQ and how its insight and research services can help your brand or property, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

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