On-site team lead for Kroger's FIFA World Cup 26 retail activation, a traveling brand experience that brought the world's biggest sporting event into Fred Meyer stores in Bellingham, Washington.
The Kroger FIFA World Cup Mobile Tour is a national, multi-market retail activation that turns Fred Meyer storefronts into branded fan zones for the 2026 tournament. Each stop assembles a full footprint of sponsor tents, prize games, and sampling stations to drive foot traffic and in-store engagement during the World Cup window.
I joined the Bellingham activations as a team lead, working two consecutive event days across the Lakeway Drive and West Bakerview Road Fred Meyer stores.
Kroger needed each market staffed quickly with reliable, engaging brand ambassadors and run consistently against a national playbook, all on a tight pre-tournament timeline. The Bellingham stops needed local people who could show up, set up a large outdoor footprint, and keep shoppers engaged through long event days.
As team lead I helped fill open positions by tapping my connections in the Bellingham area, supported the scheduling effort to make sure both event days were covered, and assisted the tour manager with overall campaign communications. On site, I worked the full lifecycle: build and setup of the footprint, running an activation booth, and teardown at the end of each day, while keeping the experience on-brand and welcoming for shoppers.
Outdoor retail activations are long, physical, and weather-exposed, with setup beginning hours before doors and a hard reset between stops. The biggest lever was people: getting the right ambassadors scheduled and clear on the playbook before arrival. Acting as a communication bridge between the field team and the tour manager kept small issues from becoming day-of problems.
Filled open positions through local connections, supported scheduling for both event days, and assisted the tour manager with overall campaign communications.
Sponsor tents for Michelob Ultra, Gatorade, and Unilever alongside prize games, a goalie challenge, soccer juggling, Plinko, skee ball, and a photo booth.
Shoppers moved through sampling stations and prize games for branded giveaways including koozies, cooling towels, drawstring bags, and coupons.
On site for the full event lifecycle each day, from early footprint setup through running a booth to complete teardown.
This was a chance to take ownership beyond a single booth, treating staffing, scheduling, and communication as part of the deliverable rather than just showing up to a shift. Standing up a national brand's footprint in my own backyard, for sponsors at the scale of the World Cup, was a reminder that experiential marketing lives or dies on logistics and the energy of the people running it.
