McDonald’s Canada Turns Community Football Event Into a FIFA World Cup 2026 Surprise

​Big Pig Co. has collaborated with W+K Toronto on a heartfelt new campaign for McDonald’s Canada, celebrating the power of football to bring people together through the Rising Arches programme.

Created by Wieden+Kennedy Toronto and directed by Jesse Louttit, the film follows families and children who believed they were taking part in a community event, only to discover that they had been selected to attend a FIFA World Cup 26 match. The unexpected moment transforms anticipation into disbelief and joy as the families learn they’ll be experiencing one of the world’s biggest sporting events together.

At the heart of the campaign is the Rising Arches program, which creates meaningful opportunities for young people and families by making once-in-a-lifetime experiences more accessible.

Director Jesse Louttit speaks on the process of the piece and thought process of how the commercial was executed “Soccer was already a huge part of these families’ lives, so we kept it simple and let the surprise happen. At the game, we photographed it more like a family memory - on phones and point-and-shoot cameras, close to the kids, the parents, and the excitement of being there.”

The campaign arrives as McDonald’s continues its global celebration of the FIFA World Cup 26, a tournament designed to bring communities together through the shared passion of the world’s game.