Yandex did not want to look like traditional advertising, so it decided to enter the marketing noise around the 2026 FIFA World Cup through content people would genuinely want to watch. The brand chose local creators and their natural communication style.
Problem
During the World Cup, audiences were overloaded with sports content, making traditional advertising easy to scroll past. The challenge was to make people not only notice Yandex, but also react to and share the content.
Solution
15 creators integrated the Yandex idea into their own content, turning the ad into part of the wider World Cup conversation. Instead of interrupting the audience’s feed, Yandex became part of it.
Results
The campaign generated 3.6M+ views and a 6.5% engagement rate, compared with a 1–3% industry benchmark. The content generated 31,175 sends and shares, showing that the audience actively spread it rather than simply watching it.
