This is Contagious

Goosebumps, group chats & the World Cup: how to win the aftermath economy

Episode Summary

Budgets will be wasted. Brands will be ruthlessly filtered out. The real game starts after full time. James Kirkham, founder of Iconic and ex-head of Copa90, joins Contagious to unpack why the 2026 World Cup is fundamentally different to previous tournaments - and what brands need to do about it.

Episode Notes

Budgets will be wasted. Brands will be ruthlessly filtered out. The real game starts after full time.

James Kirkham, founder of Iconic and ex-head of Copa90, joins Contagious to unpack why the 2026 World Cup is fundamentally different to previous tournaments - and what brands need to do about it.

This episode explores the new playbook for World Cup marketing, where winning isn’t about owning the biggest moment, but creating the conversations, emotions and cultural ripples that keep spreading long after the final whistle. .

We’ll explain:

• Why the best metric right now is goosebumps
• The reason creators are better value than athletes
• How Gen Z are different to previous generations of football fans
• Why group chats are the new stadiums
• The power of conversations that happen after the game
• Why the Village People were the canary in the cultural coalmine