FOX Sports provided an interesting behind-the-scenes look at their USMNT World Cup marketing campaign. Filming occurred in Austin, Texas in June. The preview gave the team the opportunity to take photos and videos of the United States Men’s National Team together.
Many of the squad members play in different countries around the world. In fact, only eight of the 25 players recently called up to the USMNT currently ply their trade in Major League Soccer.
The timeliness in Austin came at a time when the team was reunited. Indeed, it followed a 5-0 Nations League win over Grenada on June 10.
While FOX Sports had the opportunity to get the entire crew together, the entire shoot took three days to complete. Rod Chiabai, senior vice president of off-air marketing at FOX Sports, explained how rigorous the testing needed to be.
FOX Showcases USMNT Marketing Campaign for Qatar 2022
“It’s an immense amount of planning,” Chiabai said. “You have to cover your bases and capture everything you might need, and sometimes you don’t know what you’re going to need until after the fact.”
“So you want these guys to be in every position and every pose, looking at the camera or looking away from the camera. You don’t want to be two weeks later and say ‘oh, I wish I had gotten that injection.
Mark Ruberg, Marketing Producer for FOX Sports, explained the goal of these campaigns.
“As a huge soccer fan and someone whose family revolves around him, we want to see the sport grow and this is our opportunity to introduce the stories of these players to the country, connect with them and maybe with a child. You’ll see Weston McKennie or Gio Reyna, you’ll hear his story, and you’ll say, ‘I want to be like him one day. I want to make the national team. That is my dream too. And that’s why we do it,” Ruberg said.
Ruberg has worked on these marketing campaigns with the USMNT for years. He was previously tasked with filming the video for the team’s 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup race. During a similar behind-the-scenes look, the producer claimed his goal was to get people to stop flipping through the channels and focus on the work he helped create.
