McDonald's Drops FIFA, Patrón Owns Día de Muertos

McDonald's has walked away from FIFA — and it should make every FMCG brand manager question their sports deals. Plus, what Patrón's Día de Muertos activation gets right about premium marketing. In this episode: UK government emergency preparedness advice triggered an immediate surge in bottled water and tinned food sales at retail, exposing which FMCG brands were structurally positioned to capture unplanned demand — and which lost the sale to private label. Patrón staged a one-night-only live comedy show anchored to Día de Muertos, trading mass-reach paid media for a culturally grounded experience designed to deepen brand affinity with Latino consumers. McDonald's has ended its long-running FIFA sponsorship, walking away from one of the highest-profile global sports marketing platforms and signalling that large FMCG brands are now demanding harder ROI justification for mega-partnership deals. The FMCG Marketing Daily is a concise briefing for FMCG and CPG marketers, brand managers and CMOs, hosted by Marco & Klara. New episode every day. Enjoying the show? A quick rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps other marketers find us. Also from Marco & Klara: The Digital Commerce Daily · The Health Marketing Daily