Inside Jungle’s FIFA World Cup work with Walkers
Bag A Legend was one of Jungle’s biggest social activations of the FIFA World Cup, turning Walkers’ No Walkers, No Game platform into two connected experiences spanning social content, live competition and match-day participation.
It was a campaign built around partnership. With multiple agencies, talent teams, commercial partners and platforms involved, Jungle helped transform the original idea into an experience that worked across social, physical locations and PR.
From brand platform to social experience
Walkers’ in-house creative agency, Sips & Bites, crafted the original Bag A Legend concept as part of No Walkers, No Game.
OMD brought the brief to Jungle as our media agency partner, sharing the initial concept for us to develop and bring to life across social. Jungle led the creative development, production, editing and distribution, working closely with Walkers, OMD, Tesco, Stonegate and the wider agency team.
OMD also funded the creator talent, while WeAreAthlete supported the campaign’s football talent, including Theo Walcott, Chris Waddle and Les Ferdinand.
Together, we developed two connected activations, each designed to bring the campaign mechanic to life in a different way. The first used a curated entertainment format to introduce the idea. The second opened it up through a genuine live competition, giving a football fan the chance to take part.
Across both, the product played a central role. A bag of Walkers was not simply featured within the content. It became the thing fans needed to find the legend, complete the challenge and prove that there really is No Walkers, No Game.
Hiding a legend in Tesco
The campaign launched by hiding former England footballer Theo Walcott in plain sight at a Tesco store.
To build intrigue, the activation began with social content showing Walcott, disguised in glasses and a moustache, being spotted outside the store. The following day, a hero film revealed what he was doing there.
Creator and Sidemen member Simon Minter challenged a group of participants to search the store for a mystery football legend. Armed with a bag of Walkers, they raced through the aisles looking for Walcott, with the first to find him earning the chance to share a match-viewing experience with the former England player.
A third piece of content extended the story by recreating Walcott’s famous 2-0 gesture from the North London derby. The fact that the match finished with the same score gave the campaign another timely connection to the football conversation.
Together, the three assets created a clear social journey: intrigue, reveal and a culturally relevant follow-up.
Turning the second activation into a live competition
The Stonegate activation took the idea from curated entertainment into live participation.
On the morning of an England match, football creator Billy Wingrove appeared in a video shared in collaboration with SPORF. He had received a text from football legends Les Ferdinand and Chris Waddle, who were waiting in a Newcastle pub without any Walkers.
Fans were invited to message SPORF for the chance to discover where the legends were and join them for the match. After the competition closed, a local winner was selected and invited to attend with a guest.
Their mission was simple: arrive at the pub with the missing bag of Walkers.
The exchange became part of the hero film, with the winner joining Ferdinand, Waddle and Wingrove to watch the match. Additional content, including a Walkers-branded beer mat challenge, helped extend the activation beyond the competition itself.
Unlike the Tesco film, this part of the campaign unfolded around a live match day. The competition, winner and viewing experience were real, allowing the social audience to follow an activation that moved from their feeds into a physical football experience.
Built as a series, not a single hero film
Bag A Legend was designed as a connected series of social moments rather than one piece of content expected to carry the entire campaign.
The Tesco activation moved from a ‘spotted’ teaser to the in-store hero film and a reactive football follow-up. The Stonegate activation combined a live competition call-out, the winner’s experience and supporting pub content.
The campaign was led through SPORF, Jungle’s sports publisher, which brought an established community of football fans to the idea. At the time of the campaign, SPORF had 17 million followers, generated 108 million monthly views and drove 1.1 million saves and shares each month.
Content was then extended through creator, football talent and brand channels, ensuring each part of the campaign reached audiences in the spaces where they were already following and discussing the tournament.
Making a complex partnership feel simple
Behind the campaign was a wide network of partners, each bringing a different specialism.
Sips & Bites crafted the original concept, which OMD brought to Jungle as our media agency partner. Jungle developed the idea for social and led the production, editing and distribution. OMD funded the creator talent, WeAreAthlete supported the football talent, and VCCP led the PR activity. Tesco and Stonegate provided the physical settings that allowed the campaign to move from social feeds into real-world experiences.
That meant coordinating multiple talent teams, retailer and venue approvals, production requirements, social publishing schedules, competition management and live match-day activity.
For audiences, however, the experience remained simple: find the legend, bring the Walkers and watch the game.
The Stonegate activation also created a wider PR moment, attracting broadcast and regional coverage from outlets including Sky Sports News and BBC North East.
Reaching football audiences at scale
The campaign was planned to deliver more than 7 million impressions, 5.9 million guaranteed video views and almost 5 million in combined reach.
More than its scale, Bag A Legend demonstrated how a brand platform can be adapted for the way social audiences experience major
sporting moments. Walkers did not simply place content around the tournament. It gave football fans a story to follow and, through the Stonegate activation, an opportunity to become part of it.
Why partnerships matter around major sporting moments
Major sporting events create huge audiences, but they also create one of the busiest and most competitive environments for brands.
Standing out requires more than media spend or a single recognisable face. It takes a clear idea and the right combination of brand, publisher, creator, talent, production and distribution partners to bring it to life.
For Bag A Legend, those partnerships allowed Walkers’ No Walkers, No Game platform to move from a wider brand proposition into local social content, a live fan competition and a physical match-day experience.
The result was a campaign that showed what happens when brands move beyond simply appearing around major sporting moments and give audiences something to follow, share and take part in.
As attention turns to the next season of sport, Jungle is already working with brands to build campaigns around football, rugby, Formula 1, women’s sport and other major cultural moments.
If you’re planning your next sporting activation, we’d love to talk.
