Fox Sports extended its promotional build-up to the FIFA 2022 Men’s World Cup in October through a fresh burst of ‘It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year’ themed marketing fronted by Jon Hamm’s Santa Claus and also featuring NFL icon Tom Brady, singer super star Mariah Carey and actress Ellie Kemper.
The sports network’s second, holiday-themed, snappy spot hyping Fox Sports’ US Qatar 2022 coverage was created by the media giant’s in-house team working alongside production company Hungry Man, freelance Creative Director Gary Van Dzura and experienced Director Wayne McClammy.
Following the first ‘Tis The Season’ commercial in the series which broke in July and cast Mad Men star Hamm as a Santa Claus annoyed because this year’s biggest sports spectacle runs from 20 November to 18 December and thus competes with the festive season. Indeed, the campaign promotes the fact that Fox Sports will air all 64 matches across its properties and will thus steal attention away from Father Christmas’ annual starring role.
But the latest creative sees Santa Claus adjust his attitude to the tournament with this assistance of Mrs Claus (Kemper), the self-deprecating Brady (a Cristiano Ronaldo super fan), Carey (who will be too busy watching football this year to sing that song) and the US Men’s National Team:
The lengthily titled ‘2022 FIFA World Cup will make the holiday season the most wonderful time of the year’ FOX Soccer spot dropped across its own on-air and online channels on 7 October.
“The 2022 World Cup is historic and unique because it’s the first time the tournament will take place during the holiday season, and our creative campaign featuring some of today’s biggest stars is focused on letting people know just how special this moment will be,” explained Fox Sports President of Marketing Robert Gottlieb. “Combining the greatest sporting event in the world with the most fun and festive time of the year is a supersize gift for fans.”
The campaign was briefed in by and part-created by a Fox Sports in-house team that included President Of Marketing Robert Gottlieb, SVP On-Air Promotions Bill Battin, Lead Creative Gary Van Dzura, VP Of Creative Blake Danforth, VPs Of Production Claudina Mercado and Keith Hritz, Senior Creative Director: Steve Lewis, Director Of On-Air Promotions Meghan de Andrade, Producer Rebecca Wilmer, Production Coordinator Lauren Schwartzer and Flame Artist Kevin Prendiville.
Production was handled by a group at Hungry Man Productions led by Director Wayne McClammy, Executive Producer Rick Jarjoura and Director of Photography Paul Cameron, while editorial was run through The Den with Editors Christjan Jordan and Jake Swartz, plus Senior Producer Carolina Padilla.
JAMM Visual handled the VFX, 3 looked after colour, while audio was run through Wave Studios.
Comment
While a USA World Cup title win certainly would be a complete Christmas miracle – it is yuletide and, of course, pretty much anything could happen at Christmas.
We can’t help but admire Jon Hamm…and not just for Mad Men and Bridesmaids. Indeed, the actor has been turning in classy ad acting performances for Apple TV+ and Progressive.
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.