With the World Cup wrapping up this week, Seattle is taking a moment to appreciate the great success the city had in hosting the six matches. As well as all the successes that resulted from the preparation leading up to the city’s moment on a global stage.
Leading up to the tournament, Visit Seattle recognized that creating a world-class visitor experience would require the entire city to show up as one. Because of FIFA’s restrictive trademark and IP brand rules, not every local business could show their World Cup love the same way. So earlier this year, together with agency Copacino Fujikado, they created “Let’s Play SEA ’26,” a bold, ownable citywide identity designed to unite the region around the World Cup moment.
The free, publicly accessible toolkit, downloaded by more than 1,000 local businesses, combines vibrant colors, custom patterns, and a distinctive “SEA” mark that feels instantly recognizable and deeply local. But more importantly, it was built to belong to everyone. The kit was designed so any local organization—from transit systems and major attractions to neighborhood cafés and independent businesses—could adopt the platform.
The “Let’s Play SEA ’26” identity appeared everywhere visitors experienced Seattle—from SEA Airport and Sound Transit (which recently recorded record ridership) to garbage cans and recycling bins owned by Seattle Public Utilities, hotels, restaurants, and attractions—creating a seamless welcome unlike any other host city.
To amplify that impact, Visit Seattle negotiated premium out-of-home media across the region and offered it to community partners—offering to cover all the creative and design services costs themselves.The result: local organizations gained access to hundreds of thousands of impressions during one of the world’s biggest sporting events while collectively telling a bigger story about Seattle.
