With the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia underway, prominent networks in Latin America—including DirecTV, Globo, ESPN and Fox Sports—are using magic, humor, music and pride to position campaigns around the excitement soccer brings, and the networks’ capacity to offer fans the best content anytime, anyplace.

Here, Brief digs into Fox Sports Brazil’s marketing strategy for the World Cup.

Fox Sports Brazil approached its marketing by focusing on Brazilians’ trust and pride in their national team.

“Especially this year, in which Brazilians have been impacted by bad news, the football national team becomes a source of optimism, inspiration and joy,” says Eduardo Zebini, senior vice president of programming, Fox Sports Brazil. “Fox Sports invites Brazilians to enjoy the FIFA World Cup and join a movement of self confidence and optimism. We believe that when Brazilians evoke their history and combine it with hard work, when ‘we play what we know,’ positive results will come.”

The creative concept became a tagline: “Brasil, Joga O Que Sabe” (Brazil, Play the Game You Know).

“The goal was to create a catchy phrase with the potential to be used by talent and fans alike,” says Zebini.

The campaign rolled out over three phases.

The first, “Nobody knows the FIFA World Cup better than us,” was launched in December 2017, as a way to reveal Fox Sports Brazil holds the broadcast rights for the event.

This stage included spots, such as The Other Side of The Star, in which five people from around the world recall Brazilian team victories in previous World Cups, as five stars of the emblem are sewn. The piece ends by inviting Brazil to become a sixth star and “play what it knows.”

The second phase took place between March and April 2018 with the creation of the tagline “When Brazilians play what they know, they can face any challenge,” aimed at engaging the audience in the preparation for the Cup. An example is the piece Go for It.

Likewise, a selection and training process for World Cup hosts began with the launch of “Narra Quem Sabe” (Those Who Know Call the Game), an activation at the largest shopping mall in Rio, where women were challenged to show off their skills at calling a soccer game. As a result, Fox Sports 2 features games where women give the play-by-play.

The third phase was launched on May 14, when Brazil’s coach Tite announced the list of players that would take part in the competition.

Fox Sports Brazil debuted four audiovisual pieces around this news, including the spot Ball. The ball takes the lead role, speaking through a first-person narrative, and confessing that it reinvents itself every day to “be who you want me to be”—always returning to the place where it belongs: the field.

“The ball knows what Brazilians are capable of,” the promo concludes.

Fox Sports Brazil’s broadcasts includes 64 matches and three daily shows live from Russia.

From a technological standpoint, the network uses statistics, augmented reality and other resources to improve coverage: CIS (comments interface system), with real-time access to data and statistics of the games; the InfinitySet, to “move” talent from one studio to another and an interactive table, which supports the tactical analysis of the matches.

Version español: Fox Sports celebra el orgullo brasilero entorno a la Copa Mundial de Fútbol

Tags: fox sports world cup 2018


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