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With the U.S. Women’s National Team roster (finally) revealed and under a month to go until the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off, Fox Sports unveiled its massive marketing campaign for the tournament.
The USWNT is targeting an unprecedented third-consecutive title, and Fox has the exclusive television rights for the July 20-August 20 event—kicking off a host of activations throughout the country, many of which will continue throughout the tournament.
The company will present all 64 matches on Fox and FS1, with every match streaming on the Fox Sports app.
“There’s going to be a moment this summer when the world is going to focus on these athletes from all over the country, and at the red-hot center of that is the U.S. team,” Robert Gottlieb, president of marketing at Fox Sports, previously told Adweek.
Perhaps no element of the campaign is more prominent than Liberty Alex: a 20-foot, 825-pound real-life statue of USWNT star and captain Alex Morgan as the Statue of Liberty.
Fox made the sculpture from a 3D scan the network took of Morgan back in 2019, and the star wore the flag/dress at a photo shoot in April. It took a little over a month to complete the build.
Like the snow globe installations during the 2022 Men’s FIFA World Cup, the statue will tour the country, making several high-profile stops.
Morgan herself saw the statue for the first time at the USWNT on Wednesday as part of a special unveiling ceremony in Los Angeles. Next up, Liberty Alex heads to the Concacaf Gold Cup match, where the U.S. men’s team faces Trinidad & Tobago in Charlotte on July 2 before appearing at the MLB All-Star Game in Seattle on July 11.
After that, the next stop is Fox Square in New York from July 16-26, with additional stops to be announced.
“Fans can interact with it. They can take pictures,” Gottlieb said, noting that, like the snowglobes, the statue provides further exposure opportunities for the tournament across marquee events and through a social presence.
Fox also plans to utilize the statue as part of a larger out-of-home campaign in a fully integrated capacity through billboards, digital and print. There will also be full billboards of the statue in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Dallas.
A separate out-of-home campaign will feature five USWNT players in both group and individual settings, made up of digital, print and billboard components.
USA vs. the world
Fox will also build on its 90-second “USA vs. The World” spot unveiled earlier this month starring Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Rose Lavelle, Naomi Girma and Crystal Dunn.
The full-length spot will be cut down into shorter spots starring the players, running across all Fox markets.
“Reaction has been great. We liked it,” Gottlieb said. “These are brand awareness spots mostly. When we get closer to the tournament, we’ll have bespoke tune-in spots,” which will talk more about upcoming games like U.S. vs Netherlands.
The national campaign is running heavily for the next four weeks, but the company will debut regional spots across its 212 TV stations. Each player on the team will have spots dedicated to their own home markets, voiced by sports commentator Greg Olsen.
Unlike the campaign for the men’s tournament, which starred Jon Hamm as Santa Claus and featured international soccer stars, the campaign for the women’s tournament focuses heavily on Team USA.
“Men’s marketing [was] the tournament and the global stars. The men’s team was an important component, but it’s not necessarily the hero. Jon Hamm was the hero,” Gottlieb said, adding that in the women’s tournament, there (arguably) isn’t as much familiarity with international stars like Australia’s Sam Kerr.
“For mass audience and mass awareness, it’s Team USA,” Gottlieb said.
Big name partnerships
It’s not just Fox getting in on the USWNT action.
U.S. Soccer and Fox teamed up with Crayola to support women’s soccer. The “Art of Soccer” campaign aims to inspire kids across the country to get creative and cheer on the USWNT.
Crayola artists designed co-branded soccer balls, which will be exclusively available on Amazon, and Crayola influencers and Fox Sports talent have been sent soccer balls and design kits to create their own designs to share across social media.
Frito-Lay and Fox also teamed up to launch the Ultimate Soccer Watch Party. Select fans will be sent “party packs” containing everything they need to host a World Cup viewing party.
There will also be larger game viewing parties, with the first happening at the home of the Dallas Cowboys. Frito-Lay and Fox will fill the stands for the evening of the first USWNT game on July 21, with more viewing parties to be announced.
