It’s time, once again, to start practicing your “U!S!A!” as the Women’s World Cup kicks off in France this June. America’s national team is heading into the tournament as the favorites to pick up their fourth title (but you might want to put some cheddar down on England to hedge a little here, trust me) and the team has a habit of striking fear into their opponents.
To generate some excitement over the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT), Wieden + Kennedy and Fox Sports got together on a series of promos. The familiar montage and epic style present in a trio of ads featuring the overall squad and two of the team’s most prominent stars, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe. While sports spots like this can be predictable, we feel it is our civic duty to share—and because Rapinoe is one of the most serious badasses in sports.
The ad, featuring the Seattle Reign star and long-tenured fixture of the USWNT is the best of the bunch and serves notice to the rest of the world that she is, as the title of the commercial illustrates, a warrior.
The second ad with Morgan, entitled “Finisher” is a nice quick-cut of the striker slicing through opponents’ defenses with ruthless abandon, with shot after shot in the back of the net.
Finally, “Goliath” evokes the “uh oh” most teams facing the USWNT will endure this summer. It might be a little odd referencing the “Davids” of the world since, you know, it’s the women’s World Cup—but it’s an apt analogy.
Interestingly, the music on the ads is a snippet of “The Hunt” from the You Were Never Really Here soundtrack by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, who is English … and may put a fiver or two down on his country’s team to lift the cup in France. Though we have absolutely nothing to back that up.
Meantime, U!S!A! U!S!A!
CREDITS:
Client: Fox Sports
Fox Sports
EVP, Head of Marketing: Robert Gottlieb
SVP, On-Air Promotions: Bill Battin
SVP, Consumer Marketing: Whit Haskel
VP, Brand Marketing: Nancy MacDonald
VP Creative: Blake Danforth
Sr. Creative Director: Steve Lewis
VP, Production: Claudina Mercado
Director, On-Air Promotions: Jessica Scharer, Meghan de Andrade
Production Assistant: John Tyler Osborn
W+K New York
Executive Creative Director: Karl Lieberman
Creative Directors: Gary Van Dzura, Christine Gignac
Copywriters: Matt Mulvey
Art Director: Lawrence Melilli, Meredith Marino
Head of Integrated Production: Nick Setounski
Executive Producer: Alison Hill
Producer: Dom Tunon
Account: Mike Welch, Matt Angrisani, Alex Scaros, Liz Lindberg
Project Management: Yann Samuels, Carly Lissak
Director of Business Affairs: Patrick O’Donoghue
Business Affairs: Lindsey Timko, Andrea Sierra, Madeleine Hale
Traffic: Sonia Bisono
Production
Production Company: Supply & Demand
Director: Joseph Kahn
Executive Producer: Tim Case and Jeff Scruton
Line Producer: Ron Mohrhoff
HoP: Nathan de la Ronda
Director of Photography: Robert Elswit
Editorial
Editorial Company: FinalCut
Editor: Spencer Campbell
Post Producer: Penny Ensley
Executive Producer: Sarah Roebuck
Assistant Editor: Lucas Moesch
VFX
VFX Company: JAMM
VFX Supervisor, Lead Flame Artist: Patrick Munoz
VFX Supervisor, Flame Artist: Jake Montgomery
VFX Supervisor, CG Artist: Andy Boyd
Lead Flame Artist: Brian Hajek
Nuke Compositor: Rodrigo Jiminez
CG Lead: Zak DiMaria
CG Artist: Ben Martin, Juan Salazar
Executive Producer: Asher Edwards
Producer: Ashley Greyson
Color Grade
Telecine Company: Company3
Colorist: Tom Poole
Producer: Alexandra Lubrano
Mix
Mix Company: Sound Lounge
Engineer: Rob Sayers
Producer: Lauren Mullen
Sound Design
Audio Sound Design Facility: Grand Central Sound Studio
Sound Designer: Raja Seghal, Aaron Taffel, Gary Turnbull
Audio Producer: Molly Butcher
Music
Title: The Hunt
Artist: Jonny Greenwood
Music Consultancy
Company: Premier Music Group
Music Consultants: Rob Semmer, Claire Hecamp
Composed Music
Music House: Storefront Music