MINISO's World Cup Ad Has No Athletes In It — That's Literally the Point

While other brands were busy dropping bags on footballer endorsements for the 2026 World Cup, MINISO took one look at those budgets and said: no thanks. The result? One of the more memorable stunts of the tournament so far. 👀

The value retailer's World Cup posters went up across Chinese streets — and instead of a celebrity, there's just a human-shaped cutout. Blank. Empty. A void in the shape of a footballer. The idea being: insert whatever star
you
want in your head, because MINISO definitely didn't pay for one. It's the marketing equivalent of "use your imagination."

They also ran a "half-finished" video ad on a massive 680,000-yuan screen by West Lake in Hangzhou, filled entirely with transparent, faceless players. A big-budget placement showing… nothing. The audacity is kind of impressive.

But the whole thing is built around a very deliberate line:
"We cut the budget for athletes, just so your happiness can arrive."
It's not just a joke — it's MINISO being openly, unapologetically on-brand. They're a ¥10-product store. Spending millions on Mbappe would've been weird. Leaning into not doing that? Weirdly perfect. 🎯

And they backed it up with an actual promotion: from June 11–29, spend ¥88 or more at select stores and you get a scratch-card "fan card." Once the tournament's top four teams are confirmed, anyone who collects all four finalist cards splits a ¥1,000,000 prize pool together. It's a genuinely fun mechanic that keeps people coming back to stores during the whole tournament window.

The campaign leans on a concept that's practically built for social media — a literal cutout silhouette just
begs
to be filled in with fan photos or edited memes. UGC without having to ask for it. 😭

It's a rare case of a brand turning a real limitation (can't afford the talent) into a creative asset rather than just… quietly not mentioning it. MINISO basically wrote "we're cheap" on a billboard and made it charming. That takes confidence — or at least a very good creative brief.