Fans rarely need brands to invent rituals for them. They already arrange their lives around fixtures, do what their idols do, repeat community jokes, scrutinise celebrations and pack home comforts for their holidays. The opportunity is to notice what already matters, then contribute something that makes it easier, richer or simply more fun—without pretending the brand created it.
- Synchronise a Shared Ritual
- Amplify Community Language
- Protect Time for the Ritual
- Make Watching More Participatory
- Celebrate a Private Fan Habit
- Extend the Emotional Peak
- Respond to the Consequences of Passion
1. Synchronise a Shared Ritual
Help fans perform an existing behaviour together, even when they are physically apart.
Fandom Feast: McDonald’s Live Party — McDonald’s Japan × XG, TBWA\Hakuhodo Tokyo, 2025
Fans already watch their favourite artists eat, talk and celebrate online. McDonald’s made the ritual participatory by inviting XG fans across Japan to order the group’s favourite meals and eat them simultaneously during an interactive livestream. Selected fans joined XG in person, while others participated remotely. Sales of the special Galaxy Set rose 53% on the day of the second event. McDonald’s did not invent the fan behaviour. Its menu and ordering system simply gave thousands of people a way to perform it together.
2. Amplify Community Language
Recognise an expression that already belongs to fans and give it a bigger, more repeatable platform.
Kyle F*cking Connor — KFC Canada, Courage, 2025
Winnipeg Jets supporters had already given star player Kyle Connor a nickname perfectly abbreviated as KFC. The brand amplified the connection during the team’s traditional playoff Whiteout: it produced all-white buckets, sent a white-suited Colonel Sanders into the crowd and temporarily transformed a restaurant into “Kyle F*cking Connor.” KFC did not manufacture new fan language or impose a sponsorship slogan. It recognised a joke the community already understood and used its distinctive assets to turn it into a bigger matchday expression.
3. Protect Time for the Ritual
Help fans overcome the social or practical obstacles that prevent them from participating.
Excuses Bars — Heineken, LePub Milan, 2025
Watching an important match often begins with a less celebrated fan ritual: finding an excuse to avoid whatever else you were supposed to be doing. Heineken turned 36 sports bars in Madrid and Barcelona into those excuses, renaming them after the reasons supporters commonly give for abandoning other commitments. Fans could now truthfully say where they were going while signalling the familiar negotiation behind match night. Bar attendance reportedly rose 25%. Heineken sponsored not just the football, but the awkward social manoeuvring required to watch it.
