European brands are betting big on sport's summer — and most can't catch the moments that matter

According to a new Klaviyo survey of 1,200+ B2C marketers across the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, 88% are raising budgets to activate around events like the World Cup, Wimbledon, and F1, with 21% boosting spend by more than half. The World Cup leads the summer plans, cited by 49% of EMEA marketers as their top priority.

The part most brands feel comfortable with is landing content and creative for a fixed-date tournament you can plan for months out.

The hard part is everything unscripted — the upset, the last-minute winner, the celebration that turns into a meme by full-time. And that's where most teams stall.

Two-thirds (67%) admit they missed a cultural moment last year because they couldn't move fast enough. Only 26% can launch an activation within six hours of an unplanned flashpoint. Just 39% are confident they're reaching the right customers with the right message when they do move.

Why it matters

Cultural moments are becoming a real growth lever, with 38% of marketers telling Klaviyo they outperform routine calendar campaigns. But the budget is chasing a format that rewards speed and instinct, and most teams aren't built for it.

Only 29% even have brand guidelines defining which moments are on-brand to join, so the call gets made case by case, in real time, under pressure — which is exactly when good judgment gets expensive.

The bottom line

The planned fixtures will get covered, that's what budgets and calendars are for. The edge goes to the brands that can move when the script gets torn up, and on their own account, most still can't.

Klaviyo surveyed 2,072 marketing decision-makers across eight markets in April 2026.