Paddy Gilmore scores the World Cup’s early comedy ads, from Paddy Power to Irn-Bru

Paddy Gilmore, managing director of Studio Gilmore, has given his verdict on the funniest ads of the World Cup’s opening stage, judging which brands found the net and which sent their jokes into the stands.

Football, humour and advertising have long gone together, Gilmore says, noting that Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has built a huge marketing operation on the combination, including a cheeky response after England’s brief stay at the 2014 World Cup.

This year’s tournament is the biggest yet, spread across the US, Canada and Mexico, with 48 teams and 104 games. With brands rushing to get involved, and the teams having swapped pennants, mumbled their anthems and offered limp handshakes, Gilmore sets out to separate the long-range screamers from the embarrassing own goals.

Paddy Power: a late winner

Several brands have mined the transatlantic football-versus-soccer naming gag. Gilmore says Paddy Power does it with flair, setting Danny Dyer against Rob Lowe. Coming straight off ‘Rivals’, Dyer feels current, and the familiar trials of the British fan, from poor pies and packed pubs to mocking Peter Crouch, are relatable. He calls the result “fine work”. Gilmore’s score: “A 90th-minute bicycle-kick screamer.”

Lay’s: ‘Messy, not Messi’

Lay’s has a strange ad with a strange message, Gilmore says, featuring Will Ferrell declaring: “The Fifa World Cup is back, America. And you know who always wins? Bandwagon fans, that’s who!”

Presenting the World Cup as something to dip in and out of, switching teams when your own is losing, ignores the nature of fandom, in his view. He suggests the ad sets aside any pretence of intelligence, joking that this may be “the Rob Lowe way of thinking”. Predictably, he says, it features David Beckham, and has the bouncy feel of a Super Bowl ad that hopes energy and enthusiasm alone will carry it. His verdict: “Messy, not Messi.”

Nike: parking the bus

Nike has a track record here, with many considering its 1998 ‘Airport’ ad a masterpiece of the genre. This time, Gilmore says, it has done much the same thing again: a kickabout on a Hollywood set featuring an angry director, Kim Kardashian and many other celebrities, plus a raft of collaborations including Nando’s and Fortnite. The only thing missing, he jokes, is a kitchen sink.

The campaign’s message is ‘Rip the Script’, which Gilmore finds ironic given that Nike appears to have dusted off its own 1998 script. The humour comes from footballers doing odd things, such as Erling Haaland meditating with Channing Tatum. “Don’t get your hopes up, folks: it ain’t Charlie Chaplin,” he writes. His score is a goalless draw, with Nike parking the bus in extra time.

Brahma: a narrow win

‘Airport’ has proved so influential that Brazilian lager Brahma has recreated it using a scrunched-up newspaper as the ball. Gilmore says the impromptu kickabout has gone from inspiring other brands to prompting outright homage, but Brahma adds a welcome twist by echoing famous moments from world football.

It is not perfect, he says, questioning whether many people still read newspapers in the smartphone era and noting that a ball of newspaper would barely last 3.6 seconds. Still, citing Picasso’s line that ‘good artists copy, great artists steal’, he gives Brahma credit for reviving the Nike idea. The result: “A slim 1-0 win.”

Irn-Bru: celebration over meaning

Closer to home is Irn-Bru’s ‘We’re Made in Scotland from Girders’. Gilmore admits it is hokey, corny and a bit cringeworthy, but also entertaining. It pokes fun at the scale of Scotland’s challenge and features Americans gushing: “Oh my God, are you Scottish? I’m actually one-eighth Scottish! What’s your clan?”

The ad prompted plenty of online debate about whether it was truly Scottish when it launched around a week earlier. But Gilmore argues that adland often forgets an ad can simply be a celebration. Rather than trying to be profound or change behaviour, the best ads may just stop viewers leaving the room during the break.

He awards Irn-Bru a 4-3 injury-time win for Scotland, against Brazil.

Gilmore ends by urging fans, whatever they are drinking, to enjoy the tournament and not take it for granted, noting that at the time of writing there were only 104 matches left to watch.