Banned world cup brands have beaten FIFA at their own game

This flip has become the real story of the tournament so far, an own goal FIFA scored on behalf of the people who paid it the most.

The Levi's Stadium tape and the blacked-out Heinz bottle turned Heinz into a character in a story people enjoy telling, the one where someone spots the daft rule and managed to slip round it, and Heinz had the wit to play the part and turn a covered logo into a product drop.

This decision gave them residue rather than just reach, the thing that stays with us long after the spend has evaporated and the perimeter boards have been turned off. There's precedent for this more lo-fi, ad hoc, cultural infrastructure being the hot marketing these days.

In the world of music, for example, pop-up events, gigs and raves get promoted in cities like London and New York, via QR codes taped to lampposts, Dropbox folders on USB sticks, stickering and the like, beating sponsorship.

This is exactly that argument in miniature, brands building their way into the moment through improvised, lo-fi routes rather than buying a pricey seat right at the front.

In a World Cup this loud, a tournament that runs overnight while half the audience sleeps and where the feed is already crowded with hydration break hate, a Somalian referee sent home and the bullying of the Iranian side, then sheer volume buys you nothing because you simply cannot out-shout a tournament.

This is why the only way to cut through is to do something genuinely different.

Those almost absurd workarounds of the taped bottle and the covered sign have become the opportunity rather than the obstacle; I love that the constraint has become the creative brief and everyone is talking about the results.

The most valuable position at a cultural event is no longer the centre of the frame but the edge of it, the bit the rules never anticipated.

The brands winning this World Cup worked out that being officially absent and culturally present is key, and they managed it for a fraction of the fee too, which is precisely why the people who wrote the cheques should be paying close attention to who actually ends up owning the lovely aftermath.

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James Kirkham is a brand strategist and founder of agency Iconic.

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