The Taste of Victory: Lotte Wellfood and Son Heung-min Lead the 2026 World Cup Marketing Surge

As the countdown to the 2026 FIFA World Cup enters its final stretch, the battle for fan attention has moved beyond the pitch and into the grocery aisles. With the tournament set to ignite across North America next month, the food and beverage industry is deploying a high-stakes playbook to capture the global gaze. Leading this charge is Lotte Wellfood, which has strategically aligned its flagship dessert brand with one of the most recognizable faces in global football: Son Heung-min.

For sports fans and marketing analysts alike, the synergy is clear. The 2026 World Cup represents an unprecedented scale of viewership, spanning three host nations—the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In this environment, brands aren’t just looking for visibility; they are looking for “world-class” associations. By tapping Son Heung-min, Lotte Wellfood is not merely selling ice cream; it is leveraging the emotional equity of a national hero to anchor its 2026 World Cup sports marketing strategy.

The Power Play: Son Heung-min and the World Cone

On February 10, 2026, Lotte Wellfood officially announced that South Korean superstar Son Heung-min would serve as the brand model for “World Cone,” the company’s premier ice cream product [2]. The partnership is a calculated move to align the “tireless energy” and global influence of the Tottenham Hotspur captain with a brand that has long dominated the Korean market [4].

The campaign’s visual identity is a masterclass in brand cohesion. Campaign imagery features Son in a red soccer uniform—a direct nod to the signature red coloring of the World Cone packaging. This visual alignment serves a dual purpose: it reinforces the sporting context of the upcoming World Cup while keeping the product central to the narrative. A digital advertisement campaign accompanying the launch debuted on February 23, 2026, across platforms like YouTube and Instagram, targeting a digitally native, global audience [4].

From an editorial perspective, this move is about more than just a celebrity endorsement. Son Heung-min is a rare asset who commands respect in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. For a company like Lotte Corporation, a multinational conglomerate with interests ranging from chemicals to hotels, this partnership allows them to project a modern, athletic, and globally competitive image just as the world’s eyes turn toward North America [3].

A Legacy of Dominance: Why World Cone?

To understand why Lotte Wellfood chose World Cone as the vehicle for this campaign, one must look at the product’s track record. Launched in 1986, World Cone has evolved into what is described as a “national ice cream” in South Korea [4]. Its market trajectory is a study in consistency:

• Market Leadership: World Cone has maintained the No. 1 position in the ice cream cone market since 1988, just three years after its debut [4].
• Overall Sales: As of 2025, the product ranked No. 1 in sales across the entire ice cream market [4].
• Brand Longevity: With a 40-year history, the product possesses the “legacy” status required to stand alongside a legendary athlete like Son.

By pairing a market-leading product with a world-leading athlete, Lotte is attempting to create a “synergy of excellence.” When a consumer sees Son Heung-min—a player defined by precision and peak performance—associated with World Cone, the brand inherits a layer of prestige that traditional advertising cannot buy.

The Broader Trend: Sports-Linked Marketing in 2026

While the World Cup is the primary catalyst, the current trend of “sports-linked marketing” is expanding across multiple disciplines. We are seeing a broader movement where food and beverage companies are aggressively targeting sports fans to create habitual consumption patterns. Whether it is the surge of interest in baseball or the global obsession with football, the goal is the same: associate the product with the dopamine hit of a live sporting event.

This represents particularly evident in the lead-up to the 2026 tournament. Because the World Cup is hosted across three countries, the geographical reach is massive. Brands are no longer focusing on a single city or nation but are designing campaigns that translate across different time zones and cultures. Lotte’s use of Son Heung-min is a perfect example of this “borderless” strategy; he is as recognizable in Mexico City or New York as he is in Seoul.

Editor’s Note: For those unfamiliar with the scale of the 2026 tournament, this is the first World Cup to feature 48 teams, meaning more matches, more fans, and a significantly larger window for corporate activations than any previous iteration of the event.

Strategic Breakdown: Why This Works

The effectiveness of the Lotte Wellfood campaign can be broken down into three strategic pillars:

1. The “Halo Effect” of Athleticism

By associating an ice cream product with a high-performance athlete, Lotte bypasses the “junk food” stigma and replaces it with a feeling of reward and energy. Son’s “refreshing charm” and “tireless energy” are the specific traits Lotte is borrowing to revitalize the brand’s image for a younger generation of fans [4].

2. Timing and Anticipation

Launching the campaign in February for a June/July tournament allows the brand to build a “slow burn” of awareness. By the time the first whistle blows in North America, the association between Son, the World Cup, and World Cone will already be cemented in the consumer’s mind.

3. Global-Local Hybridization

Lotte is a South Korean company, but it operates globally. Using a Korean icon to market a product during a global event hosted in North America allows them to maintain their cultural identity while appealing to a worldwide demographic. It is a “glocal” approach that maximizes reach without losing brand authenticity.

What to Watch For Next

As we move closer to the tournament, expect Lotte Wellfood to expand this campaign from digital ads to physical activations. This could include limited-edition World Cup packaging, fan-engagement events in host cities, or integrated promotions within retail spaces like Lotte Plaza Market [1].

The success of this campaign will likely be measured not just in ice cream sales, but in “brand sentiment.” In the modern sports economy, the win isn’t just selling a unit; it’s becoming part of the fan’s ritual. If Lotte can make a World Cone the “official snack” of the South Korean viewing experience (and beyond), they will have secured a victory far more lasting than a single tournament result.

The next major checkpoint for this partnership will be the official team announcements and the final squad selections for the tournament. As Son Heung-min prepares to lead his team on the world stage, Lotte Wellfood will be watching—and selling—every move.

Do you think celebrity athlete partnerships still drive sales, or is the market oversaturated? Let us know in the comments below.