On the eve of the USA-Mexico-Canada final, Wuliangye launched a championship commemorative liquor: A long-term practical case of baijiu leveraging sports

The two finalists of the USA-Mexico-Canada World Cup have been decided, with global fans' eyes fixed on the ultimate fate of the Jules Rimet Trophy. Meanwhile, Wuliangye, the only official co-branded baijiu for the 2026 USA-Mexico-Canada World Cup, has officially announced the pre-sale of its World Cup Champion Commemorative Liquor, adding to the fervor of the final football frenzy.

Since the tournament began, Wuliangye, which has deeply cultivated sports marketing in partnership with the World Cup, has delivered outstanding performance. While most baijiu companies still view sports sponsorship as short-term traffic advertising, Wuliangye has completed a full product narrative arc from pre-tournament warm-up and in-tournament companionship to post-tournament collection. Against the backdrop of adjustments in China's domestic baijiu industry, Wuliangye has utilized innovative marketing strategies to transform football, an industry previously not closely related to it, into a new engine for driving incremental growth.

Behind this phenomenon lies the true trajectory of the current domestic consumption recovery: give me a fulcrum, and consumption can be effectively leveraged.

Wuliangye's World Cup "Second Half" Has Just Begun

This tournament marks the first time in World Cup history that the number of participating teams has expanded to 48, with matches increasing from 64 to 104, and the duration extended to 39 days, covering the complete consumption gap from early summer to midsummer. FIFA official estimates indicate that total revenue over the four-year commercial cycle from 2023 to 2026 will reach $13 billion, an increase of over 70% compared to the $7.5 billion generated by the previous Qatar World Cup.

China's industrial chain is also deeply tied to this sporting feast. For example, manufacturing bases in China, such as Yiwu, have secured over 70% of global orders for World Cup peripheral derivative products, fully sharing in the event's dividends from hardware manufacturing to cultural tourism consumption.

However, for a long time, the narrative surrounding alcohol at the World Cup has often defaulted to beer being the exclusive domain. In 2026, Wuliangye, as the sole official co-branded baijiu brand for the USA-Mexico-Canada World Cup, has entered this unfamiliar territory and achieved triple breakthroughs in sales volume, brand voice, and user base through a complete set of innovative strategies.

As of the knockout stage of the World Cup, data disclosed by Wuliangye shows that cumulative sales of all series of World Cup co-branded products (including the main Wuliangye brand, Wuliang Nongxiang, and Xianlin series) exceeded 1.6 billion yuan; online channels added 4 million new brand users cumulatively, with the vast majority bearing sports interest tags; total content dissemination across the internet surpassed 1.5 billion times; small-screen programs appeared on 45 trending searches and lists; Weibo topic reads approached 210 million, and video plays exceeded 160 million; large-screen program brand reach accumulated to over 635 million times. According to data from MiaoZhen Research Institute, Wuliangye ranked 8th on the Brand Digital Asset Index for World Cup event marketing. It led the baijiu industry in performance across three dimensions: social voice, user interaction, and positive reputation.

With the final approaching, global fan emotions are reaching their peak, and Wuliangye's World Cup marketing is entering its closing sprint phase. The Champion Commemorative Liquor will anchor the national emotion surrounding the championship victory, capitalize on prediction hype, and provide a spectacular full-cycle conclusion for the event's co-branded products.

Against the backdrop of the baijiu industry generally entering stock competition and weak off-season sales, how did Wuliangye leverage top-tier event IP to open up a new incremental market? What logic regarding domestic consumption recovery does this round of counter-cyclical growth reflect?

How Product "Event Transformation" Breaks the Off-Season Ceiling

A clear sales rule has circulated in the baijiu industry for years: "May is weak, June is weaker." After May each year, demand for business banquets declines, volume sales rely mainly on rigid-demand channels like banquets, and large-scale distribution can only be hoped for during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays.

But in 2026, this iron law of the off-season was broken. Multiple Wuliangye offline specialty stores and regional trading companies reported that store revenues in May and June increased significantly year-on-year, with customer traffic rising instead of falling. Among them, the intent of the vast majority of consumers visiting the stores was clear: they came specifically for World Cup co-branded items, champion blind boxes, and other World Cup-related products.

Many fans even chose to purchase by the case, solely to collect the hidden national team editions.

This time, Wuliangye's entire World Cup co-branded product matrix is divided into several major layers:

The first layer is the core high-volume single item, the 8th Generation Wuliangye USA-Mexico-Canada World Cup Co-branded Edition, which is the main driver behind the 1.6 billion yuan in sales;

The second layer is the high-end collection series, including the benchmark collectible Wuliangye Jules Rimet Trophy Wine, limited globally to 2,026 bottles, as well as Crystal Commemorative Wine and Official Badge Wine, focusing on scarce collection value;

The third tier consists of mass-market affordable small bottles, including the popular Craft Beer World Cup Co-branded Wine, Mars Era Fruit-flavored Small Wine, Longhu Lu Wine, etc., covering scenarios for young fans' light intoxication and viewing parties.

Among these, the Champion Blind Box mechanism is the core carrier for breaking out of the circle. The blind box versions include designs featuring eight major World Cup champion national teams, such as Spain, Argentina, and France. There is a chance to obtain blind box versions when purchasing cases of the 8th Generation Wuliangye World Cup Co-branded Wine. Collecting all 8 sets allows redemption for a 20g pure gold World Cup official badge. The collection and card-collecting attributes are maxed out, precisely hitting the collecting psychology of young people and collectors.

Online auction activities also added fuel to the fire for the blind box's topical heat. On June 14, JD.com's Alcohol Department organized a special auction for Wuliangye World Cup Jules Rimet Trophy Wine and Champion Blind Boxes. The live stream attracted over 80,000 viewers cumulatively, directly setting a new record for viewer numbers in JD.com's liquor category auction history. The limited edition Jules Rimet Trophy Wine with serial number 2026 went through 80 rounds of bidding before finally selling for a high price of 35,798 yuan; the hidden edition of the 8th Generation Wuliangye co-branded wine fetched 44,739 yuan. The two auctions went viral on social media platforms, continuously reinforcing the labels of product scarcity and high value.

In addition to the explosion in the secondary market, the "Wuliangye Jules Rimet Trophy Wine Gifted to Dong Lu" incident became another major breakout event. The 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup was the only time the Chinese men's national football team qualified for the World Cup finals, carrying the collective nostalgia of a generation of fans. Wuliangye gifted Dong Lu a customized Jules Rimet Trophy Wine with serial number 2002, agreeing to open it together when his team, China Football Little Stars, advances to the World Cup. This content went viral simultaneously on Douyin and Video Account, generating a surge of positive comments across the internet and successfully conveying the brand's emotional value. Many netizens stated directly, "From now on, I will only drink Wuliangye."

Reviewing the product strategy from the group stage to the knockout stage, it is not difficult to see that Wuliangye's World Cup co-branded product strategy not only meets fans' material needs for collection and commemoration but also provides a social carrier for fan gatherings and viewing toastings, while further carrying the public's emotional attachment to football and the national team. The superposition of multiple values simultaneously activates three core consumer attributes: collection, socializing, and emotion, allowing a bottle of baijiu to release huge consumption potential in the summer market as well.

How the Champion Commemorative Liquor Captures the Final Emotional Peak

With the countdown to the championship 归属 underway, the Wuliangye USA-Mexico-Canada World Cup Champion Commemorative Liquor will be officially launched. It is already available for pre-sale on JD.com, with a global limited issuance of 9,999 bottles. Each bottle is equipped with a unique serial number, and purchases are limited to 12 bottles per platform ID, making its scarce value self-evident.

This new product precisely targets the high-emotion nodes of the event, completing a full product narrative loop from pre-event suspense, in-event companionship, to post-event collection.

By choosing to start pre-sales before the final, the Champion Commemorative Liquor precisely positions itself at the time node of the championship outcome, giving the product dual attributes of prediction and collection. There is no need to worry about the final result; placing an order locks in a dedicated commemorative bottle belonging to the 2026 champion. On the night of the final, the system will automatically correspond to the team that truly lifts the cup that evening. The bottle received will be the official commemorative item for the actual champion of this World Cup. Ordering amidst suspense maximizes anticipation.

Mapping out the entire 39-day World Cup schedule, Wuliangye has completely built a product link that dynamically adjusts according to the rhythm of the event, with every stage of the event having matching products to cater to specific emotions and scenarios:

During the pre-event phase, the core product is the 8th Generation Wuliangye Co-branded Edition, focusing on the social ritual sense of the World Cup year. Simultaneously, the "Predict the World Cup Champion, Win Wuliangye's Ten Million Prize Money" nationwide prediction activity was launched, leveraging low barriers to mobilize nationwide participation;

During the in-event group stage and knockout stage, the main products are the 8th Generation Wuliangye Co-branded Edition and various series of co-branded small wines, adapting to daily scenarios such as home viewing, fan gatherings, and offline viewing parties. Coupled with continuous exposure on CCTV's large and small screens, this achieves stable output of daily distribution;

During the final closing phase, the Champion Commemorative Liquor officially debuts in pre-sale，叠加 (superimposed) with the high-end collection benchmark Jules Rimet Trophy Wine, capturing the highest emotional peak of the event and completing the product closed loop for the event cycle.

Wuliangye's approach ensures that the product lifecycle completely covers the entire event cycle, with corresponding products catering to every time node. Consumers' emotions are addressed one by one, continuously converting into purchasing behavior.

Deconstructing from a business logic perspective, the core of event marketing is not short-term exposure, but achieving symbiosis between brand and event value. Events have their own rhythm, so marketing must naturally move with the trend.

The Consumption Recovery Code Behind 4 Million New Users

The 1.6 billion yuan in sales from co-branded products is the visible tactical achievement of Wuliangye's World Cup marketing; whereas the 4 million new brand users, predominantly tagged with sports interests, represent its strategic assets with greater long-term value.

As is well known, the baijiu industry has entered a zero-sum game of stock competition. The original consumer demographic is highly concentrated among middle-aged business groups, far removed from young users, sports circles, and general entertainment circles.

This time, Wuliangye used a zero-threshold nationwide prediction activity to open up entry points for the masses, successfully achieving user expansion beyond its traditional circle. The "Predict the World Cup Champion, Win Wuliangye's Ten Million Prize Money" activity saw cumulative participation exceed 100,000 netizens, enabling young fans who previously did not engage with high-end baijiu to actively participate and 沉淀 (precipitate/settle) as private domain users for the brand.

A deeper change is the thorough migration of baijiu consumption scenarios. In the past, baijiu consumption was highly bound to business banquets and holiday gift-giving. However, the World Cup cycle has spawned entirely new consumption scenarios such as offline gatherings and fan salons. As long as the willingness of young consumers to pay for their football hobbies is met, they are not obsessed with what category of alcohol they are drinking.

What this reflects behind the scenes is the most core structural change in the current domestic consumption recovery: people's willingness to consume is shifting towards spiritual entertainment and interest circles, with self-pleasing consumption continuing to expand.

The diversification of communication methods has also helped Wuliangye continuously convert users from different circles.

Online, as the Golden Partner for CCTV's 2026 USA-Mexico-Canada World Cup broadcast, Wuliangye not only deeply supported CCTV-5's flagship programs "Rich Man's Feast" and "Champion Big Guess" segments but also exclusively sponsored the 央视频 (Yangshipin) micro-show "Who Is the Champion." The show invited sports commentators and entertainment stars such as Wang Meng, He Wei, Ma Fanshu, Han Qiaosheng, Zheng Kai, and Mao Xiaotong to participate, covering audiences in both sports and entertainment circles.

Offline, Wuliangye assembled a dedicated front-line viewing team to travel to the three host countries of the USA, Mexico, and Canada, creating a series of cultural communication highlight moments outside the stadiums. Fan "Refund Brother" He Sheng clinked glasses with fans from various countries holding Wuliangye; American martial arts expert Ashley demonstrated Chinese martial arts on site; and Gen Z intangible cultural heritage expert Chen Chuniang danced in traditional Nuo opera costumes at the stadium. All activities were widely disseminated on overseas social media platforms, achieving cultural export while attracting significant attention from overseas fan groups to Chinese baijiu.

The explosive growth in the mass product line also corroborates the consumption recovery brought by the event economy. Huobao brand's total internet distribution exceeded 15 million yuan, reaching 40 times that of the same period last year, indicating that event-driven consumption recovery is not a localized rebound in a single price band, but an overall recovery covering high, medium, and mass markets.

Comprehensively speaking, in the era of baijiu stock competition, incremental users are more precious assets than short-term sales volume. These consumers who paid attention to Wuliangye due to their love for football still possess long-term repurchase and circle-spread potential after the event ends. This is the most valuable wealth brands gain from consumption recovery.

From "World Cup Season" to the Long-Term Value of Event Economy

Wuliangye's World Cup marketing is not a spur-of-the-moment attempt to ride the wave of popularity, but a carefully laid-out plan following policy guidance.

Government Work Reports have repeatedly emphasized expanding sports consumption over consecutive years. Previously, the General Office of the State Council also issued the "Opinions on Releasing Sports Consumption Potential and Further Promoting High-Quality Development of the Sports Industry," explicitly proposing to promote deep integration of sports with cultural tourism, catering, and consumer goods industries, creating new consumption scenarios such as "Travel Following Events" and "Events Entering Commercial Districts."

With the tailwind of policies blowing stronger and stronger, events are destined not to remain just short-term hotspots but to grow into national-level consumption engines. Wuliangye's comprehensive layout this time is a benchmark practice of industrial integration under policy guidance.

Reviewing Wuliangye's entire World Cup strategy, a mature, replicable multi-dimensional combination punch of "Product + Content + Channel + Internationalization" emerges clearly. On the product end, it creates a layered, full-cycle co-branded matrix covering diverse scenarios like collection, business, and young adult light intoxication; on the content end, it links CCTV's large and small screens, overseas front-line viewing teams, and internet influencers, balancing domestic mass communication with overseas cultural output; on the channel end, it connects JD.com auctions, official mini-programs, offline specialty stores, and instant retail across all channels, synchronously receiving event traffic online and offline; on the internationalization level, it uses baijiu as a medium to export traditional Chinese culture, achieving an upgrade of the brand's global image.

Unlike traditional short-term hard ad placements, the momentum of Wuliangye's symbiotic marketing with events will present in a wave-like manner.

From a short-term dimension, the World Cup directly drove counter-cyclical distribution in the off-season, creating 1.6 billion yuan in new sales; from a medium-term dimension, 4 million sports-circle users completed brand penetration, expanding the long-term incremental population.

More importantly, the significance must be measured from a long-term dimension. This "Fine Wine + Sports" cross-boundary symbiosis model can accumulate user goodwill and win circle recognition, possessing long-term compound interest effects. Therefore, the 1.5 billion times of internet-wide dissemination in this Wuliangye World Cup marketing, the fan circle goodwill accumulated from various breakout events, and the 4 million incremental users 沉淀 (settled) in the brand database are all long-term assets capable of long-term operation and continuous conversion, which will not disappear directly with the curtain fall of the World Cup.

Standing from the perspective of stock competition in the baijiu industry, the full-cycle marketing model Wuliangye has validated, where "product rhythm follows the event cycle," reconstructs baijiu consumption scenarios and brand narratives, assisting the high-end and international advancement of Chinese baijiu along two lines, perfectly aligning with the national strategic goals of promoting event economy, facilitating consumption recovery, and exporting Chinese culture, providing a reusable incremental path for the entire industry.

Conclusion

When the World Cup final night arrives, and players from two teams step onto the field, waiting for the moment the Jules Rimet Trophy's destination is decided, Wuliangye's Champion Commemorative Liquor will transform the joy of victory into a "Great Nation Strong Aroma" that carries love and commemoration, sealing every drop of sweat and tears from the USA-Mexico-Canada pinnacle showdown with Eastern strong aroma.

From the social ritual sense before the event, to the 全程 (full-process) companionship during the group and knockout stages, to the champion commemoration at the final closing, Wuliangye has walked the complete World Cup schedule using a complete, coherent product narrative line. The 1.6 billion yuan in 阶段性 (phased) sales performance is merely the basic answer sheet handed in by this event marketing. More importantly, it practically verifies one thing: the booming event economy can completely become a new growth engine for the traditional baijiu industry to break through stock bottlenecks and leverage consumption recovery.

Sports know no borders, fine wine connects hearts.

For Wuliangye, the marketing cycle of the 2026 USA-Mexico-Canada World Cup is about to conclude, but the long-term strategy of leveraging event economy to penetrate young circles, broaden consumption scenarios, and drive cultural export has just begun.