Ronaldo, Ancelotti Drive Brahma’s Brazilcore World Cup Push

Brahma is turning Brazil’s World Cup doubt into the hook of its latest campaign.

The Ambev beer brand has released a new film for "Tá Liberado Acreditar" ("Let Yourself Believe"), ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

It features Carlo Ancelotti, head coach of Brazil’s national team, and Ronaldo Nazário, the face of Brazil’s last World Cup title and a long-running Brahma partner.

Developed with Africa Creative, the spot starts with an awkward truth for the Seleção, and that's how their confidence is low.

A Genial/Quaest survey cited by the brand found that only 28% of Brazilians believe the team will win a sixth World Cup title.

Instead of selling easy optimism, Brahma uses this skepticism as the setup.

The film argues that Brazil becomes most dangerous when belief is low, and the people have to trust their football instinct again.

Shot in Rio de Janeiro, the work mixes street football, tournament moments, match footage, and 1990s/2000s Brazilcore nostalgia.

Doubt Becomes the Campaign Hook

At the center of the film is a Brazilian skeptic who watches an improvised street match as he slowly gets pulled back into the national team’s mythology.

The opening makes the tension clear through a conversation between friends.

One says he no longer gets his hopes up with the national team, while another calls him out as a pessimist.

The line "nobody is believing" sets up the whole film.

The scenes move through neighborhood pitches, street corners, and recreated World Cup-style moments, using familiar football gestures.

This choice gives Brahma a way to speak to fans who aren't fully confident, but still emotionally tied to the yellow jersey.

Africa Creative CCO Nicholas Bergantin told DesignRush the team didn't want to act as if Brazilian confidence had already returned.

"For the first time in years, Brazil arrived at a World Cup cycle with doubt, skepticism, memes, pressure, bad qualifiers, and an entire country questioning if this team could really become champions again," he added.

Instead of avoiding this tension, Bergantin said the campaign uses it as the emotional starting point.

"Football culture in Brazil was never built only on data, odds or logic," he explained.

"It was built on irrational belief. On the idea that somehow, when the World Cup begins, impossible things can still happen."

This makes the campaign feel closer to the conversations fans are already having in bars, WhatsApp groups, and street corners.

For Brahma, the creative idea is the permission to believe before the proof arrives.

Brazilcore Brings the Myth Back

The film leans into a 1990s and 2000s visual mood, a period many fans still associate with Brazil’s flair, street skill, and global football dominance.

This Brazilcore look shows up through culture, improvised play, yellow-jersey nostalgia, and the joyful chaos of neighborhood football.

The campaign also blends recreated scenes with real tournament footage.

It effectively connects current doubt to past moments when Brazil’s talent felt unpredictable and hard to contain.

Ancelotti appears at the end, making the "Tá Liberado Acreditar" gesture.

It's a reinterpretation of the "number one" gesture tied to Ronaldo’s historic Brahma campaigns.

Ronaldo’s presence gives the film a direct link to Brazil’s last World Cup title, while Ancelotti connects the story to the team’s current cycle.

The soundtrack, "Tamanco no Samba" by Cauby Peixoto, adds another nostalgic layer

Samba, percussion, and repeated chants about raising dust from the ground keep the film rooted in Brazilian street football.

The film also builds toward a penalty sequence, where fear of failure gives way to the idea that "this is Brazil" and that it is acceptable to believe again.

Fans don't need certainty before they start believing again.

Brahma’s World Cup marketing push gives marketers three useful takeaways:

• Start with the audience’s real mood. Doubt can be a stronger creative hook than forced positivity.
• Use nostalgia with a current tension. Past codes work harder when they answer a present feeling.
• Give cultural icons a clear job. Ronaldo and Ancelotti connect the belief message to Brazil’s past and present.

The bigger move here is to meet fans in their doubt before the World Cup turns national attention back to the pitch.

Our Take: Can Skepticism Sell Belief?

We think Brahma’s idea works because it refuses to pretend that everyone is confident.

This makes the campaign feel closer to how people actually talk about the Seleção when the team is under pressure.

Low confidence gives the film a reason to exist, while Brazilcore gives fans something emotional to grab onto.

The risk is that nostalgia marketing can turn soft if the team fails to create its own 2026 moments.

Still, Brahma is giving itself a stronger role than match-day visibility and is trying to attach itself to the moment fans decide whether to believe again.

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