Sport has always acted as a universal currency, breaking down barriers of culture, geography, background, and social status. Whether it is playing on a local team or cheering for a global event, it creates a deep sense of belonging. Some might even argue it bears parallels with religion in that teams inspire a dedicated following, vibrant communities emerge amongst supporters, loyalties are often inherited, and rituals are a huge part of the experience itself.
Technology means it’s easier than ever to connect with other fans and immerse yourself in every aspect of the game with them – and we’re seeing that with the World Cup right now. Before a match, you might buy the kit, eat the themed meal, listen to a podcast, watch predictions, join forums to anticipatethe outcome, memorise all the player stats you heard on the radio. During the match, even if you’re alone, you can message someone, read live reactions, judge the refereeing, even google if a player is young enough to be your son (or is that just me?). You’re watching clips afterwards, replaying the mistake, reposting the moment, channelling your inner pundit to debate the highs and lows with your colleagues….
So, it should come as no surprise that our latest Belonging in Britain research has found that more people are members of sports supporter communities than any other type of group in the UK.
Despite the endless commentary about division and fragmentation across our nation, 91% of people in Britain belong to at least one community. On average, we now belong to four; the algorithm and the journalists just haven’t spotted it. But people are – quite frankly – still human and one of the most human desires is to connect with one another.
Sport, right now, makes this extremely visible.
And, of course, sport’s scale is appealing to marketers. It is often treated by brands as an audience moment. A big, attentive, emotionally charged audience moment, but an audience moment nonetheless.
I think that risks missing the more interesting opportunity.
Brands often start with the fixture, the tournament, the sponsorship package or the media environment. Fans do not start there. They start with the anticipation. With belonging. With “where are we watching it?” and “you have to see this!” With the collective groan, the shared hope, and the conviction that this year might finally be their year.
So, brands should spend less time asking “how do we reach sports fans?” and more time asking “what role does this moment play in their lives?” The best activations don’t simply show up around the experience, they enhance it.
Pets at Home’s work with talkSPORT brings this to life. Reimagining football commentary through opinionated AI-generated pets could sound, on paper, like the sort of thing that could go very wrong. But it made sense because it joined two things people genuinely do: obsess over football and share pets being hilarious. It gave fans something entertaining to share, rather than simply placing a logo near a sporting moment and hoping proximity would do the work.
There’s a second lesson here too; influence inside communities works differently. While my feeds, and I suspect yours too, are currently full to the brim with campaigns fronted by sports stars, influence doesn’t always flow from the biggest name or the biggest media channel. Sometimes the most influential person is the podcast host, the moderator, the local coach, the club volunteer, the person in the group chat who somehow knows everything before everyone else.
This influence effect within communities isn’t theoretical, our research found that 86% of people in communities had taken action because of something they saw or heard there. So, this is good news for marketers.
However, it’s important for brands to realise that communities generally don’t need them – they exist fine without them. The role for brands is not to host the party, it is to understand the room well enough to know whether they should speak, help, entertain, support, or sometimes stay quiet. Brands must ensure they only add something the community genuinely values.
Don’t get me wrong, none of this is an argument against the big moments. The World Cup, a penalty shootout that ages everyone in the room a decade in five minutes, the record-breaking Wimbledon final, the Commonwealth Games on home soil: these are rare moments of shared attention, and so it makes sense that brands want a place within them.
Those looking to show up authentically must understand that there is another opportunity that sits well beyond the ninety minutes. It’s in the build-up, the superstition, the anticipation, the celebration and the long post-mortem. It lives in the everyday rhythm of being a fan.
This rhythm teaches us something important about audiences more broadly. Belonging in Britain found that communities are one of the most useful lenses for understanding people. They tell us what matters to them, what they are passionate about, the dreams and needs that unite them, and the rituals that shape their lives. Sport simply makes those things highly visible.
So, whatever happens to England’s team at the World Cup, marketers shouldn’t be disappointed that tournaments like these only come around every four years. The communities behind them are active every day and there are countless other communities on our doorsteps. The brands that earn their place in those spaces will be the ones that take the time to understand what being a part of them truly feels like.
This year, Belonging in Britain was created in collaboration with our partners at Global. I sat down with Rebecca Martin, Branded Sport Director at Global, to dig into this further for MediaCat. The full interview is here if you want the longer version.
To explore the key insights from 2026’s Belonging in Britain, and be the first to receive the full report, click here.