Multiplier Intern Strategy Project · 2026
Turning soccer’s biggest moment into lasting momentum.
As part of Multiplier’s summer intern team, I contributed across a multi-stage strategy exploring how the 2026 FIFA World Cup could reshape U.S. soccer fandom and create new partnership opportunities for agency clients. My work spanned market and fan research, audience insights, brand strategy, and activation development — turning a cultural moment into actionable partnership thinking.
The World Cup brings the attention. The challenge is turning it into something that lasts.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup bringing unprecedented attention to soccer in the U.S., our intern team explored what could happen beyond the tournament itself. The project examined how brands, leagues, host cities, and soccer organizations could turn a massive cultural moment into sustained fan growth, deeper participation, and meaningful partnership opportunities.
Rather than looking at the World Cup as a standalone event, we approached it as the starting point of a larger U.S. soccer ecosystem.
From research to recommendations.
Across each phase of the project, I contributed to the research, strategic thinking, and development that shaped the final recommendation. My work moved from understanding the forces shaping U.S. soccer to identifying the audiences, partnership opportunities, and activation ideas brands could use to capitalize on the moment.
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01
Landscape & Cultural Research
Explored the forces shaping soccer’s growth in the U.S., including globalization, grassroots participation, host city ecosystems, and the challenge of converting World Cup attention into lasting fandom.
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02
Audience & Fan Insights
Helped build the audience profile by identifying who U.S. soccer fans are, what they care about, and where their interests intersect with categories like travel, fitness, food, fashion, and community experiences.
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03
Partnership Opportunity
Translated those insights into strategic considerations for brands, looking beyond traditional sponsorship visibility toward ways brands could participate meaningfully in soccer culture.
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04
Activation Development
Helped develop concepts that brought the strategy to life, including work for Primo Brands that connected hydration, fan behavior, and soccer through digital and experiential touchpoints.
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05
Storytelling & Presentation
Contributed across the final presentation, helping refine the narrative, organize information, and create a cohesive visual system that carried the research through to the recommendations.
Research → Insight → Strategy → Activation → Storytelling
Understanding what could make the moment stick.
The research pointed to a central challenge: major soccer moments can create enormous attention without guaranteeing long-term fandom. From there, we looked deeper at the U.S. soccer audience — who they are, what they value, and how their interests extend beyond the game itself.
Those insights helped shift the conversation from simply reaching soccer fans to identifying where brands could authentically become part of their lives.
Ecosystem → Audience → Opportunity
Turning fan insight into a brand idea.
The final phase challenged us to apply the research to real brand opportunities. For Primo Brands, hydration became the natural connection point — creating a platform that could participate in soccer culture while extending beyond what happens on the field.
From that strategy, we developed activation concepts exploring how a simple brand truth could translate across fan behaviors and touchpoints.
Hydration Break
A digital-first concept designed around a behavior already familiar to fans: taking a break. Hydration reminders interrupt soccer content on social media, encouraging fans to pause the scroll, hydrate, and then get back into the action. The concept turned Primo’s everyday product benefit into a natural fan touchpoint that could live beyond match day.
Everyone Deserves a Hydration Break
The broader platform extended soccer’s familiar hydration break beyond the players on the field, positioning Primo around moments of pause, refreshment, and continued participation throughout the fan experience.
Fan Insight → Brand Platform → Activation
The best ideas start with understanding the audience.
This project reinforced the value of building partnership ideas from the insight up. Understanding the cultural landscape, the audience, and the behaviors shaping U.S. soccer gave us a stronger foundation for identifying where brands could credibly participate — and what those partnerships could actually look like.
For me, the project brought together the parts of strategy I enjoy most: finding the insight, understanding why it matters, and turning it into an idea people can experience.