• by Sarah Mahoney , April 15, 2026

Over a year ago, Duracell ran a Super Bowl spot in which its scientist discovered that a narcoleptic Tom Brady had been running on generic batteries. The scientist saved the day, bringing the GOAT back to life with the obvious fix, and the ad delivered such a good return on investment that the battery brand had to ask: So who's next?

The answer, as the world gets ready to roll into Fifa’s World Cup mayhem, is Lionel Messi.

"It's probably Leo's last World Cup," says Todd Midura, Duracell's vice president of marketing, "and when you think about what Leo Messi and Duracell have in common — performance, power, but also longevity and endurance — those are two things that perform at their best for the longest."

Midura tells Marketing Daily that the spot, from agency Vayner Media, follows the Brady formula closely enough to feel like a franchise and differently enough to feel fresh. Messi powers down at the wrong moment, sabotaged by generic batteries. The Duracell scientist — looking, it should be noted, considerably more buff than his Brady-era appearance, the result of what Midura cheerfully describes as more time in the gym — arrives to save the day. While Brady's batteries went into his mega-million arm, Messi's go into his left leg.

Anyone who knows Messi knows the leg. And anyone who knows the leg knows the tattoos. That leads to a product detail designed to appeal to collectible-loving fans: a limited-edition Duracell x Messi battery pack, hitting retail in May, which features batteries printed to replicate the tattoos on Messi's left leg. Those packages are backed by a sweepstakes running May through August, offering signed Messi merchandise and World Cup-adjacent prizes.

Midura acknowledges the risks inherent in all sports deals. High-profile athlete partnerships are expensive, the athletes are often overexposed, and live sports has a way of producing outcomes no brand manager would have scripted. But he frames the Messi investment differently from the Super Bowl bet. Brady's was a single moment — maximum reach, maximum pressure, one shot. Messi's is a platform. 

The campaign runs from April through the end of the summer, across linear TV, streaming, social, and World Cup broadcasts on Fox and Telemundo, including a Spanish-language version of the spot. "We can amortize the investment across a longer period and more overall impressions," Midura says. The math, spread across a summer, looks different from the math on a single Sunday in February.

As for whether it's working: Duracell tracks media value, retail lift, and brand metrics including top-of-mind awareness, consideration, and what Midura calls "the premium perception": Do people believe Duracell is genuinely better, and worth paying more for? Since launching the “Built Different” campaign with the scientist, most of those metrics have moved in the right direction. The scientist is connecting -- and Midura expects Messi to connect further.