With less than two months until one of the biggest sporting events of the summer, Fox Sports revealed its flagship promo for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The U.S. Women’s National Team is aiming for an unprecedented third-consecutive title, and the players know the rest of the world is out to get them.
The 90-second spot, “USA vs. The World,” stars Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Rose Lavelle, Crystal Dunn and Naomi Girma. Former player-turned-analyst Carli Lloyd makes a cameo appearance, as do Fox Sports hosts Rob Stone and Aly Wagner.
The promo asks the simple question: What will it take to stop the U.S. team? But there isn’t a simple answer.
Fans from teams around the world try to take down the USWNT, but the players thwart them at every turn: Lavelle knocks down a drone, Dunn breaks a simulation and Rapinoe beats a Terminator-like time travel plot to stop her from ever playing soccer.
“USA vs. The World” will debut Saturday during Fox Sports’ presentation of The Belmont Stakes and also air in the Red Sox vs. Yankees and Cubs vs. Giants broadcasts on Fox.
The spot was done entirely internally by Fox Sports Marketing, led by creative director Gary Van Dzura, who also directed it. Matt Van Buren executive produced alongside Autumn Durald Arkapaw as director of photography (who recently worked on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever).
“[Van Dzura] worked very closely with our in-house creative team to execute it and produce it, but we didn’t do it with an agency,” Robert Gottlieb, president of marketing at Fox Sports, told Adweek. “It was a bit of a roll of the dice to not do it with an agency.”
The spot is the kickoff to a larger marketing campaign around the World Cup. Individual promos featuring storylines with Dunn, Rapinoe, Morgan and more will be rolling out soon.
