Women’s World Cup sweepstakes

By: Julie Link | In: Sports Sweepstakes, Travel Sweepstakes

The Next Big Marketing Opportunity: Why Brands Should Start Planning for the 2027 Women’s World Cup Now

The 2026 World Cup gave brands a front-row seat to just how powerful a global sporting event can be for consumer engagement. Sweepstakes, giveaways, prediction games, instant wins and soccer-themed promotions seemed to be everywhere.

And marketers shouldn’t put away the playbook just yet.

The one I’m most excited for? The FIFA Women’s World Cup coming to Brazil in 2027! For brands looking for their next major engagement opportunity, now is the time to start thinking about a Women’s World Cup sweepstakes. Not in June 2027. Not a few weeks before kickoff. Now’s the time.

The Momentum Behind Women’s Soccer Is Hard to Ignore

The 2027 tournament will take place in Brazil from June 24 through July 25, featuring 32 teams and 64 matches across eight host cities. It will also be the first FIFA Women’s World Cup held in South America.

But the real marketing story is bigger than the tournament itself: women’s soccer is experiencing tremendous growth.

Nielsen research on the growth of women’s football projects the global women’s soccer fanbase to grow from more than 500 million fans today to 800 million by 2030. Nielsen also projects that women will represent 60% of that global fanbase by 2030.

That represents an enormous audience for brands, and one that continues to expand.

The broader women’s sports market tells a similar story. Deloitte forecasts the global women’s elite sports market to reach at least $3 billion in 2026, with soccer accounting for a significant share of that growth.

In other words, brands shouldn’t look at the 2027 Women’s World Cup as a smaller version of the men’s event. It is its own massive cultural and marketing moment.

Why Sweepstakes and Soccer Work So Well Together

Soccer gives marketers something most campaigns have to manufacture: built-in anticipation.

There are qualifying matches, team announcements, brackets, group stages, individual games, goals, upsets and eliminations. Fans have a reason to come back again and again. That makes the tournament particularly well suited to sweepstakes and contests, which is where Sync comes in!

Instead of asking someone to visit a landing page once, enter their information and disappear, brands can create promotions that encourage repeated interaction throughout the tournament. I have so many ideas already coming to mind, but some possibilities include:

• Match prediction promotions: Pick the winner or score and earn an entry.
• Bracket challenges: Let fans predict which teams will advance.
• Daily or weekly prizes: Give consumers a reason to return throughout the tournament.
• Instant-win promotions: Create frequent winning moments alongside the major matches.
• Fan photo contests: Invite consumers to show their team spirit.
• Referral or bonus-entry campaigns: Reward entrants for bringing friends into the promotion.
• Grand-prize experiences: Build excitement around travel, viewing parties, merchandise or other soccer-inspired experiences. So many of our clients did this for the men’s World Cup and it proved to be VERY successful.

The right mechanic depends on the brand, audience, budget and marketing objective. The important thing is that the promotion feels connected to the excitement of the event rather than simply placing a soccer ball on a generic giveaway, and we can help get you there.

Remember What Worked in 2026

Brands don’t need to reinvent their entire promotional strategy. The men’s tournament provided a useful test case for what happens when millions of highly engaged fans follow a sporting event over several weeks. As we discussed in our previous Sync Marketing article, How to Capitalize on the World Cup Buzz with a High-Impact Sweepstakes, prediction contests, brackets, instant wins and user-generated content can turn tournament excitement into ongoing consumer interaction.

For 2027, brands have an opportunity to take those lessons and improve upon them.

If you ran a World Cup campaign…

Did your 2026 promotion generate a huge spike in entries but very little repeat engagement? Build a mechanic that encourages consumers to return.

Did social content outperform email? Make social sharing a bigger part of the campaign.

Did consumers respond particularly well to certain prizes? Use that information when developing the next prize structure.

And if your brand sat out the 2026 World Cup completely, consider this your second chance – yay!

Start Earlier and Build Something Better

One advantage marketers have with the 2027 tournament is time.

Planning early allows brands to think beyond a basic enter-to-win landing page and develop something more strategic.

A Women’s World Cup sweepstakes could be designed to support lead generation, first-party data collection, product awareness, retailer traffic, loyalty, social engagement or a combination of objectives.

Starting early also gives your team more time to answer important questions.

Who exactly are you trying to reach? What data would be valuable to collect? What would make someone return throughout the tournament? What prize would attract your ideal customer rather than someone who simply enters every giveaway they find?

Those decisions can have a major impact on campaign performance.

Don’t Forget the Legal Side of Sports Promotions

There is another reason to start planning early: major sporting events can create additional legal and compliance considerations.

Brands need to think carefully about how tournament names, logos, team names, player likenesses and other intellectual property are used, particularly if they are not official sponsors.

Then there are the usual sweepstakes considerations: official rules, eligibility requirements, prize descriptions, winner selection, required disclosures, registration and bonding where applicable, platform requirements and potentially international laws if the campaign extends beyond the United States.

The goal is to capture the excitement surrounding the event without creating unnecessary risk for the brand.

That is where working with an experienced sweepstakes agency can make a major difference. hint hint 🙂

The Audience Is Growing. Brands Should Be Ready.

Women’s sports aren’t waiting for marketers to catch up.

Fans are watching, sharing, buying merchandise, following athletes and engaging with brands that participate in the space. The 2027 tournament gives companies a defined moment to turn that enthusiasm into measurable consumer engagement.

And because the tournament runs for more than a month, marketers aren’t limited to a single promotional moment. A smart campaign can build before kickoff, evolve throughout group play and create even more urgency as the tournament reaches the knockout rounds and final.

According to FIFA’s official 2027 tournament information, the competition will run from June 24 through July 25, 2027, across eight Brazilian host cities.

That might sound far away.

From a promotional planning perspective, it isn’t.

Ready to Put Your Brand in the Game?

If the 2026 World Cup taught marketers anything, it’s that major soccer events create an incredible opportunity to turn fan excitement into brand engagement.

The 2027 Women’s World Cup could be an even more interesting opportunity for brands that get there early, understand the audience and build a promotion specifically for the moment.

Sync Marketing specializes in developing and managing sweepstakes and contests from concept through completion, including strategy, creative development, programming, official rules, legal compliance, winner administration and prize fulfillment and we’re here to help.

Whether you’re considering a simple giveaway or an interactive, tournament-long Women’s World Cup sweepstakes, we can help you build a campaign designed to engage fans and deliver measurable results.

Contact Sync Marketing today to start planning your 2027 promotion.

Pet Brand Sweepstakes

By: Jennifer French | In: Ask Sync, Ask Sync Marketing, Sweepstakes, sweepstakes company, sweepstakes management, sweepstakes marketing

Pet Brand Sweepstakes: A Smart Way to Engage Pet Parents and Build Loyalty

The old saying goes that there are two things you can always count on happening, even during a recession: weddings and funerals. As a parent to three fur babies, I’d argue there’s a third category to add to that list: pet care.

Pet parents love their animals—and they continue spending on them even when household budgets get tighter. In fact, the American Pet Products Association reports that U.S. pet industry expenditures reached $158 billion in 2025 and are projected to grow to $165 billion in 2026.

That means there is a huge audience of devoted pet parents out there. It also means there is a tremendous amount of competition for their attention.

Maybe I notice it more because I’m personally invested, but lately I’ve seen pet brand sweepstakes, giveaways and contests everywhere. My pet health insurance company, dog food brands, groomers, veterinarians, pet retailers, and even dog fashion and accessory brands are getting in on the action.

Yes, I said dog fashion. It’s a thing.

Why Sweepstakes Work for Pet Brands

The pet industry may be resilient, but brands still have to compete for customers. Pet owners have countless choices when it comes to food, treats, insurance, grooming, veterinary care, toys, accessories and just about everything else their pets could possibly need, or, let’s face it, not need at all.

That’s where a well-planned pet brand sweepstakes or contest can help.

Sweepstakes give brands an opportunity to create excitement and engagement without requiring an enormous marketing budget. More importantly, the promotion can be designed around a specific business goal.

A pet giveaway can help your brand:

• Build your email and CRM database
• Increase brand awareness
• Drive traffic to your website
• Grow social engagement
• Generate user-generated content (UGC)
• Introduce a new pet product
• Reward existing customers
• Attract new customers
• Create buzz around a seasonal campaign or product launch

And because people generally love sharing photos and stories about their pets, pet brands have a natural advantage when it comes to creating promotions people actually want to participate in.

What Type of Pet Sweepstakes Should You Run?

One of the first questions we ask clients at Sync Marketing is simple: What do you want the promotion to accomplish?

The answer should help determine the type of sweepstakes or contest you create.

Want to Build Your Email List?

Run a straightforward enter-to-win pet sweepstakes.

Consumers can enter through a branded landing page or microsite and opt in to receive future marketing communications. This gives the brand an opportunity to turn the excitement surrounding a prize into longer-term customer relationships.

Want More Social Engagement?

Create a social media promotion designed around the channels your customers already use.

Pet content is inherently social, making Instagram and TikTok particularly natural places for brands to encourage participation, conversation and sharing.

Just remember that social media sweepstakes and contests still need to be structured correctly and comply with applicable laws and platform requirements.

Want User-Generated Content?

This is where pet brands can really have some fun.

Consider a pet photo or video contest, such as:

Cutest Pet. Funniest Pet. Best Pet Costume. Biggest Personality. Best Before-and-After. Pet Who Looks Most Like Their Owner.

Or go in the opposite direction and find the ugliest pet. Sometimes ugly is adorable, too.

A contest can give your customers a reason to interact with your brand while generating entertaining content that can potentially extend the life of the campaign beyond the initial promotion.

Are Pet Sweepstakes Legal?

Yes, brands can run sweepstakes and contests, but the promotion needs to be structured and administered correctly.

A sweepstakes is generally a game of chance, while a contest determines winners based on skill or judging criteria. That distinction matters.

For example, the Federal Trade Commission notes that sweepstakes promotions cannot require participants to make a purchase to enter. Depending on the structure and geographic scope of a promotion, additional federal and state requirements may also apply.

That is one reason working with an experienced sweepstakes administration company can be valuable. The fun idea is only one piece of the campaign. Official rules, eligibility requirements, entry methods, prize structure, winner selection, required disclosures and fulfillment all need to work together.

Make Your Pet Giveaway Do More Than Give Away a Prize

The most successful pet brand sweepstakes aren’t simply about putting a great prize on a landing page and hoping people enter.

Start with the marketing objective.

Do you want to increase business? Of course.

Reward your current customers’ loyalty? Yes, please.

Increase visibility and drive traffic to your website? You read my mind.

Why not build a promotion that accomplishes several of those goals at once?

With the right strategy, a sweepstakes can become a customer-acquisition and engagement tool rather than simply a giveaway.

Looking for Pet Sweepstakes Ideas? Sync Marketing Can Help

And this is where I come in.

As both a slightly pet-obsessed pet parent (who does not buy dog fashion, I swear) and the owner of Sync Marketing, I understand both sides of the equation.

For more than 16 years, Sync Marketing has helped brands plan and administer sweepstakes, contests and giveaways from beginning to end. Our team can help develop the promotion concept and structure, create the Official Rules, manage compliance and administration, select and verify winners, and handle prize fulfillment.

Whether you’re a pet food company, retailer, pet insurance provider, veterinary brand, grooming company, pet accessory company, or, yes, even a dog fashion brand, we can help you create a promotion designed to get pet parents’ attention while supporting your larger marketing goals.

Because pet parents love their pets.

And if there’s one thing many of us love almost as much as spoiling them, it’s having a chance to win something for them.

Planning a pet brand sweepstakes or contest? Contact Sync Marketing to start brainstorming your next promotion.