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20 years have passed since the 2006 World Cup, but for many Italians, who left a little piece of their heart in Germany during those hot few weeks, it still seems like yesterday.
It has been called football’s craziest ever summer – for everyone, but especially for the azzurri – due to its countless twists and turns. One by one, the favourites were slowly eliminated from the competition, and as supporters packed the squares, watched on big screens and paraded through the streets, the Italians defied the odds to make it to the final, a magical night in Berlin on 9 July, where they beat France in a thrilling encounter.
And this spectacular World Cup was also accompanied by some unforgettable advertising campaigns. According to some commentators, the 2006 tournament saw closer ties between marketing and football fans than ever before. And today we’d like to tell you about a campaign linked to the Italian team, which is now considered a marketing masterstroke!
Tifa Italia e Vinci: MediaWorld’s sensational advertising scheme
Even now, people still debate whether or not it was a risky move. But given that it is still remembered 20 years on, there can be no denying its success.
For those who weren’t around at the time, and for fans of other teams following us from all over the world, here’s a quick recap of what happened.
In the May before the football World Cup in Germany, the electrical appliances chain MediaWorld made a bet with Italian supporters through a promotion called Tifa Italia e Vinci (‘Support Italy and Win’), which promised to give away free TVs if Italy won the World Cup. Or rather, to be precise, to refund anyone who bought a plasma or LCD TV the appliance’s value in vouchers if the azzurri emerged victorious.
The campaign was devised by the copywriter Sergio Scalet and the creatives Florio and Charitha Kamburugamuwa, under the creative direction of Giandomenico Puglisi and the strategic management of Lydia Dovera. It was planned by MediaWorld’s in-house communication department, led by Pinuccia Algeri.
By the time the tournament had ended, the promotion had already acquired legendary status, helped by the excitement surrounding Italy’s victory. Over 13,000 Italian supporters took part in the contest… and won!
In the aftermath of that famous night in Berlin, an advert produced by the agency Cayenne was broadcast: a 15-second clip that showed Brazil, Sweden and Japan fans celebrating Italy’s goal instead of cheering on their own sides. Why? Because they’d all bought a MediaWorld TV, of course!
The slogan for the campaign changed too, becoming ‘Who really makes you a winner? The answer is MediaWorld’
Why did ‘Tifa Italia e Vinci’ work so well?
This now iconic marketing operation was successful for many reasons. Italy’s victory was obviously the cherry on the cake, sealing the campaign’s legendary status and ensuring its place in the history books.
But even as the World Cup was progressing, the campaign became increasingly talked about and popular. Part of its appeal was the feeling that this was a gamble for MediaWorld, and this sensation became more and more heightened as the Italian team made it through the final stages of the competition to the ‘magical night in Berlin’.
This all served to endear the brand with fans: both, driven by emotion and their attachment to their team, were seen as capable of becoming carried away by their emotions and doing not entirely rational things. And this was undoubtedly at the heart of the campaign’s success.
But was MediaWorld’s gamble really that risky? Yes and no. The company had prepared for the eventuality of an azzurri victory by taking out an insurance policy, but it was nevertheless a huge campaign for the time, with a budget to match. And it’s worth noting that only the Italian branch of the company (which, as it happens, is German) was brave enough to launch this type of campaign.
Pierluigi Bernasconi, the founder and then CEO of Mediamarket, the consumer electronics retail chain that operates in Italy through the MediaWorld brand, described the events in an interview with Corriere della Sera. In late 2005, during a meeting of all the MediaWorld bosses, representing 558 shops across 12 European countries including Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Poland, ‘there was talk of a promotion tied to the football World Cup, but in the end only we Italians decided to take the plunge and sell plasma TVs and refund the cost in vouchers if Italy won’. Even on the eve of the final, Bernasconi was positive about this brilliant piece of commercial intuition: ‘We’re ok about it: nobody will lose their job if Italy win’, he said in the interview, ‘because the operation was voted on, approved and budgeted for by shareholders, making it the promotion with the largest prize value in history’.
How did it all pan out? The company handed out €18 million in vouchers to the over 13,000 customers who entered the competition. But sales of plasma TVs doubled, and sales of all other products grew by 30%.
This was therefore undoubtedly a win for the business, giving the CEO Bernasconi – an Italian – an extra reason to celebrate his country’s success.
A one-off campaign that paved the way for a new approach
Although various attempts have been made since to launch a campaign along the same lines as ‘Tifa Italia e Vinci’, nobody has ever pulled it off so successfully. For various reasons, it has proven to be a one-off… at least for now.
MediaWorld Italy itself tried again in 2014 – the last time Italians were able to support their men’s team in a World Cup – with the promotion ‘Italia campione. Ci credi o non ci credi?’ (Italy as champions. Do you believe it or not?’
Unfortunately, too few people believed it: both at the company, which earmarked a smaller budget for the competition, and among Italy fans, who saw their team knocked out in the group stages. That same year, Carrefour Italy also put their own spin on the ‘Tifa Italia e Vinci’ campaign with a potential refund based on a single game during the tournament.
The French supermarket chain didn’t have to pay out much, since Italy only won one game: their opener against England.
It’s clear that MediaWorld’s historic ‘Tifa Italia e Vinci’ campaign during the 2006 World Cup contributed to an increased number of marketing promotions offering cashback in relation to sporting events, although never on quite the same scale.
2006 World Cup advertising campaigns from the rest of the world
But the 2006 World Cup was not just about Italy – fans from all over the world have their own fond memories of historic adverts linked to their teams. Take the competition’s hot favourites, for example: Brazil.
What should have been one of the strongest teams of all time – featuring Kaká and Ronhaldinho and with Ronaldo and Adriano up front – had a disastrous World Cup, but it was nevertheless at the centre of an iconic campaign: Joga Bonito, produced by Nike. The campaign was more of a way of life than an advert, featuring Brazil’s players – and particularly Ronaldinho – having a lot of fun while playing football.
Joga bonito – which means play beautifully – is exactly what was on display in the renowned series of adverts, which also included other teams like Portugal and players including Zlatan Ibrahimović, Thierry Henry and the legendary Eric Cantona as the ‘presenter’.
The other big favourite at the 2006 World Cup was another South American team: Argentina. The Argentinian supporters who followed the tournament will undoubtedly still remember the Todos Juntos campaign created by the Santo agency for Coca-Cola, an advert soundtracked by an arrangement of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire in which people and inanimate objects came to life to cheer on Argentina!
Another gem Coca-Cola dedicated to the Argentinans, which was much loved despite the team’s underachievement in the tournament, was the ‘mini hinchas’… literally ‘mini fans’!
The ‘mini hinchas’, seven small collectible Argentina fans produced by Coca-Cola during the 2006 World Cup. Image: instagram.com
One of the surprise packages of the tournament, Switzerland, came up with a completely different and much more bucolic marketing campaign.
The Swiss unexpectedly reached the last 16 unbeaten and without conceding a goal. On the back of this success, a somewhat unexpected group launched a promotional campaign… Swiss farmers! An advert featuring the TV star Michelle Hunziker, the Swiss team’s coach Köbi Kuhn and other big names piggy-backed on the team’s World Cup glory to draw attention to farmers’ work and to local products.
The Adidas advert for the 2006 World Cup: the match in José’s backyard
As we’re in a global frame of mind, we’d like to end this article with another bit of nostalgia that will probably unite fans from all over the world – a legendary advert that is one of the many images lodged in our minds from that historic World Cup.
We’re talking about Adidas’ ‘José +10’ ad, which was named the best advertisement of the 2006 World Cup.
The full version of Adidas’ award-winning advert for the 2006 World Cup.
The ad depicts a typical street football match, featuring teams captained by two boys from the suburbs, José and his friend, and comprising the era’s star players, along with some all-time football greats like Franz Beckenbauer and Michel Platini.
This campaign was also rooted strongly in the deep-seated emotions an event like the World Cup can still arouse in us. Everyone remembers playing football in the street, from picking teams one at a time to the classic disputes over whether a ball was in or not! In the final moments, José is called home by his mum and has to leave the pitch, taking the ball with him and so marking the end of the game for Kaká, Zidane and co. – another thing to which we can surely all relate!
Adidas’ advert was sealed by the brilliant slogan ‘Impossible is nothing’, which had been invented just a couple of years earlier.
Do you remember this and the other successful marketing campaigns from the 2006 World Cup? Were there any other adverts that made an impression on you during this historic tournament? And have you seen any similarly interesting ads during the 2026 World Cup? Let us know!