Fox Sports' World Cup marketing game plan focuses on connecting fans

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Some of soccer’s biggest stars made an appearance on the Santa Monica Pier last Thursday -well, their inflatable versions did. 

Three 40-foot-tall inflatable clones of reigning World Cup champion Lionel Messi, Spain’s Lamine Yamal and the United States Men’s National Team’s (USMNT) Christian Pulisic added a temporary attraction for piergoers. 

Courtesy of FOX Sports

Fans pose with FOX Sports Giants of the Game inflatable clones of Lamine Yamal, Lionel Messi and Christian Pulisc at Santa Monica Pier on May 28, 2026

For some fans, the inflatable trio represents more than just stars of the game. They reflect the growing generations drawn to the sport. 

“It’s nice that my son can see his generation’s players play with the ones I grew up with in the city we live in,” said Rodrigo H., a lifelong FC Barcelona fan and Los Angeles native. His son Antonio’s favorite player at the moment is Yamal, who has drawn frequent comparisons to Messi, as both have worn the jersey at Barcelona. 

The Marketing Goal

The giant inflatables were one of FOX Sports’ most recent activations as part of the branding campaign ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. A campaign that FOX Sports Senior Vice President of Brand Marketing, Whit Haskel, told the Sporting Tribune aims to “celebrate this U.S. team, and aggressively promote them in different ways, because outside Christian Pulisic, people may not be familiar with some of these players.”

So, what’s the game plan for Fox Sports’ branding and marketing campaign to familiarize new audiences? 

“It’s all building awareness and recognition of this team and hoping that they, you know, achieve greatness this year in their backyard,” said Haskel. 

Courtesy of FOX Sports

FOX Sports Giants of the Game inflatable clones of Lamine Yamal, Lionel Messi and Christian Pulisic at the 2026 Indy 500 in Indianapolis, IN

This includes bringing activations to various communities. The inflatable trio previously made surprise appearances in World Cup-themed towns across the country, including Belgium, WI, Brazil, IN and Holland, MI, before stopping at the 2026 Indy 500. 

Eleven cities across four regions will host FIFA matches in the United States. Part of the marketing strategy has been creating audience connections to the USMNT through projects like the Hometown Heroes campaign- FOX Sports’ principal World Cup promotional campaign. 

The Hometown Heroes campaign highlights the journeys, local roots, and hometown pride of USMNT players. These storylines are featured throughout their pre-game shows and during tournament matches. FOX has been airing and publishing digital segments that focus on the stories of USMNT stars, including Christian Pulisic (Hershey, PA), Tyler Adams (New York) and 2026 World Cup Captain Tim Ream (St. Louis, MO). 

FOX Sports’ ‘Miracle’ World Cup ad, which launched last month, bridges former USA glory with a new USMNT goal. It features cameos from USMNT players including Pulisic, Tim Ream, and Diego Luna, as well as former U.S. coach Bruce Arena. Fox Sports analysts Tom Brady and Zlatan Ibrahimović also appear. The last cameo comes from Mike Eruzione, captain of the “Miracle on Ice” 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team. 

The ad envisions the USMNT and Brazil facing off in the World Cup final, set for July 19 in New Jersey. To the soundtrack of Elvis Presley’s song “The Impossible Dream”, Pulisic scores the tournament-clinching goal off a last-second corner kick, sending the crowd erupting with cheers. 

Target Market Reach

FOX Sports holds exclusive English-language broadcast rights to all 104 FIFA World Cup matches in the United States on FOX and FS1. Spanish-language broadcast rights in the U.S. are held by NBCUniversal’s Telemundo. 

The 2022 Qatar World Cup attracted a global audience of 5 billion viewers across Linear TV, Digital, Social Media, and FIFA Platforms, according to FIFA’s 2022 audience report. Fox Sports’ coverage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Final between Argentina and France peaked at 16.78 million viewers. 

According to YouGov’s FIFA World Cup 2026 global brand handbook, approximately 87 million Americans express at least “a little interest” in the World Cup. As the game gains more popularity in the U.S., changing audience demographics represent both the present and future of American soccer fandom. Newer fans are significantly younger (35% aged 16-24 vs. 15% of established fans), more female (53% vs. 38%), and more diverse (29% Black vs. 16%) than established supporters (those following for 6+ years).

Hardcore fans will be tuning in to matches and fan fests across North America. But what about the new or casual ones? This time around, Fox Sports is focused on attracting new audiences through community outreach and social media with its new initiative, the Fox Sports Creator Club, in partnership with the Los Angeles-based agency Digital Media Marketing (DMM).

“We envision it being a way that we can be even more active in this space, as we move into the fall, and essentially, with an agency named DMM, we’re recruiting hundreds and hundreds of influencers,” said Haskel. 

Fox Sports is looking for local creators in FIFA World Cup Host Cities to create unique content surrounding the tournament and future sporting events. 

“It’s a program that seems to be working really, really well right now. All the things are just hitting, whether it’s a personalized pair of Adidas sneakers, your name on the back of a jersey, or access to different viewing events throughout the country.”

To be considered for the Fox Sports Creator Club, creators and influencers apply to attend events and to participate in activation opportunities developed internally at Fox Sports. In return for attending the opportunities, creators are asked to tag the company and share their experiences on their social platforms. The influencers involved represent different audiences that Fox Sports hopes to reach outside of the game. 

“We’ll definitely have a huge number of soccer influencers, but we want to go way beyond the core, because this is the type of event that goes beyond the core. We’ve got food influencers, culture influencers, baseball and football influencers, NFL, I mean, and so forth and so on as a part of this club, and we hope to be able to leverage the relationship that we build with them as we move into the fall and find unique opportunities.”

“We only reach a certain number of people on our platforms, and we have to go way outside our platforms to connect with other sports fans and other fans of big events like this. We’re aggressively doing that,” said Haskel.