With the World Cup just a few weeks away, tournament and team sponsors are rolling out activation plans across the United States, Canada and Mexico. A trio of senior brand executives sat down with David Cushnan, on the sidelines of Sports Business Journal and Leaders’ Business of Soccer event in Atlanta last week, to run through their activation plans, hopes and targets for the upcoming tournament, and consider what happens afterwards. Allison Kolber is VP Integrated Marketing at The Home Depot, which is an official tournament supporter amongst several soccer sponsorships, and is engaging David Beckham to help promote its World Cup sweepstakes. Lauren Flanigan, Head of Global Brands, Refreshment Categories at Mondelēz International, looking after brands like Halls and Trident, discusses how she&#x27;s planning to engage Gen Z consumers during the World Cup. And Kim Tunick, Head of Brand Experiences and Partnerships at Walmart - a more recent entrant to soccer sponsorship, with deals signed last year to partner Major League Soccer and LaLiga - explains how the retail giant will celebrate the tournament in its stores throughout the country.

Big brands at the big tournament: How Walmart, The Home Depot and Mondelēz are planning their World Cup summer

Leaders Worth Knowing Podcast

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Leaders Worth Knowing Podcast

## Participants

- **David Cushnan** (Leaders)
- **Alison Kolber** (The Home Depot)
- **Lauren Flanigan** (Mondelēz International)
- **Kim Tunick** (Walmart)

## Transcript

Welcome along to another episode of Leaders Worth Knowing, the podcast where we speak to people worth knowing in the global business of sport. I'm David Cushnan, Content Director round here at Leaders. Just me today, I am just back from Atlanta, where I was at the Business of Soccer last week, our event with Sports Business Journal, Major League Soccer, CONCACAF and US Soccer, examining all aspects of football, soccer in the US before, during, and during the pandemic.

And after this summer's World Cup. A great few days, amazing guest list. And one thing that really hit me listening in to the conversations on stage, talking to people across the event is just the size and scale of this tournament geographically, but also as a revenue generating opportunity. It is frankly, massive. And although a costly and complex exercise, the World Cup is clearly going to be a golden opportunity for US brands of all shapes,

and sizes from all sorts of sectors to activate during the tournament. They might be directly involved as tournament partners or more tangentially associated to soccer in America. On the show today, you're going to hear three conversations I had with three US-based brand side executives from storied US brands recorded on the sidelines of the event in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium last week. We're going to hear about their plans for the summer ahead and the future.

Beyond as they look at the opportunities for soccer in the United States. First up will be Alison Kolber, VP of Integrated Marketing at the Home Depot. Home Depot are an official tournament supporter of the World Cup, but also sponsor the US and Mexican national teams. They've also called on David Beckham to help activate their World Cup sweepstakes initiative.

After that, you will hear from Lauren Flanagan, head of global brands in the refreshment categories division at Mondelez International. She looks after brands like Halls and Trident. And then we will hear my chat with Kim Tunick, head of brand experiences and partnerships at Walmart, retail giant, of course, and a more recent entrance to soccer sponsorship with deals signed in the last year or so to partner Major League Soccer and La Liga.

Three interesting conversations, three big brands, three great executives. Let's start with Alison Kolber, VP of Integrated Marketing at the Home Depot. Alison Kolber, Vice President of Integrated Marketing at Home Depot. Well, I suppose I should thank you for welcoming me to Atlanta. How are you doing? Welcome. We're so glad you're here. Thrilled to have you. It's great to be here. And this is very much Home Depot country, isn't it? It is. It is.

Tell us a little bit about, for those who don't know, we've got an international audience, but probably ...

Big brands at the big tournament: How Walmart, The Home Depot and Mondelēz are planning their World Cup summer

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

Big brands at the big tournament: How Walmart, The Home Depot and Mondelēz are planning their World Cup summer

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.