For its centerpiece commercial in the build-up to the 2019 Women’s World Cup, which kicks off June 7, Fox Sports knew it had to shoot to score. The spot, titled “All Eyes On Us,” poses the question which soccer fans around the world will be asking: can anybody challenge the U.S. team, the undisputed queens of the international women’s soccer stage? “Take your best shot. Just remember, you come at the queen, you best not miss,” says actress Carrie Coon, who narrates the spot. The result is a fast, furious, immersive commercial. Robert Gottlieb, executive vice president and head of marketing at Fox Sports, says that also describes what it was like to shoot. “Becky Sauerbrunn, who at the end of the commercial tackles the French player and goes flying, did take after take of that tackle. Don’t tell the coach of this, she’d lose her mind, but her knee was bloody by the end of shooting, and not a word of complaint, she was ready to keep going,” Gottlieb says. “But luckily we saw the blood and said we better stop before we injure one of these players, that would have been a disaster.” The spot is of particular importance to Fox Sports given that, unlike for the 2018 Men’s World Cup, they have a U.S. team to place at the heart of their marketing campaign. “This is all about the U.S. team for us. They are the dominant force, they are the dynasty, they are the goliath that the rest of the world is measuring themselves against, so our marketing becomes much more U.S.-focused,” he says. “If you have a choice as a marketer between having the U.S. in the tournament or not, you should always choose having them in the tournament, obviously.” When it came to assembling a team to shoot the spot, Fox Sports brought on board Joseph Kahn, a veteran music video director who has worked with the likes of Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, as captain. Kahn says that he was initially attracted by the network’s pitch of centering the spot around a “gritty and singular” one-shot. “They wanted this sequence in the middle of it where you get in amongst the players without any fancy editing or anything like that,” Kahn says. “Getting something choreographed and shot in one take is very interesting because we have such precision in the spot that you can’t do with anyone else, it takes a high-end athlete to pull off some of the stunts that were done.” Kahn and his crew had only one day of shooting with the team, and he reveals that he choreographed the sequence in a parking lot with some doubles and his iPhone. When he was able to get the actual players on the field, Kahn says he directed them like he would “any actor or musician,” and was surprised by how inquisitive many of the players were about the directing process. “All of them were asking me what does a director do? So you set up the camera? You tell people what to do? It was like I was teaching in film school,” he says. “By the end of the day, when I was putting my hands up to frame shots, they started mimicking me. I would look up at the skies and they would look up at the skies, it’s almost like they were studying what I was doing.”<doc-sep>To say women’s sports have historically received short shrift–a sexist situation that continues today–would be an understatement. Ahead of this summer’s Women’s World Cup in France, Commerzbank and the German football association (DFB) teamed up to create an ad that not only promotes the German women’s national team but also acknowledges the football establishment’s own role in diminishing female football accomplishments. It admits that it hasn’t invested enough in marketing the team by admitting the public doesn’t know who any of the players are. It openly mocks its own reward for the women’s first European championship: a tea set. It then brilliantly embraces these qualities to illustrate the grit and determination of its team, best summed up by the line, “We don’t have balls. But we know how to use them.”<doc-sep>Germany's women's national team is calling out every stereotype they've had to put with in sports. Team sponsor Commerzbank debuted its new ad campaign with the team ahead of this summer's Women's World Cup. In the spot, the players call out their own nation for not knowing their names or how many times they've won the European Championship. (It's eight, in case you were wondering.) The ad also explores prejudices female athletes have to deal with, including people thinking they play like amateurs or should just have babies. However, none of these stereotypes stop the team from playing confidentally and going after what they want. "We don't have balls. But we know how to use them!" the ad says. "We're the ones with makeup on our faces. We like to wear high heels and knee socks. We like to dance...When it comes to role models, we just have to look in the mirror. "Don't worry, you don't need to know who we are. You just need to know what we want." The 2019 Women's World Cup runs from June 7-July 7. Germany has won the tournament twice in 2003 and 2007.<doc-sep>
The Germany women's national team have fired a broadside to their own country ahead of the Women's World Cup, saying: "We play for a nation that does not know our names!" In a commercial for Commerzbank, Germany's players highlighted the relatively low profile they have in public, despite the superstar status of many members of the men's team. "We don't have balls. But we know how to use them!" The @DFB_Frauen with a 🔥 campaign ahead of this summer's Women's World Cup. #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/IC1b9b2VHU — DW Sports (@dw_sports) May 14, 2019 Lyon midfielder Dzsenifer Marozsan appears at the start of the commercial alongside Bayern Munich playmaker Melanie Leupolz and Wolfsburg forward Alexandra Popp, who will all feature in Martina Voss-Tecklenburg's squad at the World Cup in France next month. In the commercial, which was later shared featuring English subtitles by DW Sports, Popp asks: "Do you know my name?" A narrator continues: "We play for a nation that does not know our names." SOLO WARY OF FRANCE THREAT TO USWNT The advert also features Turbine Potsdam forward Svenja Huth, Wolfsburg midfielder Sara Doorsoun-Khajeh and Bayern Munich midfielder Sara Dabritz alongside graphics and archive footage illustrating the team's success through the years. Germany's women won the World Cup in 2003 and 2007, and they have clinched eight European Championship titles between 1989 and 2013, as well as Olympic gold in 2016. VAR TO BE USED AT 2019 WOMEN'S WORLD CUP They face China, Spain and South Africa in Group B at the World Cup, with their first game kicking off on June 8. "It's okay," the advert's narrator continues. "You do not have to remember our name. Only what we want: to play." ADIDAS PLANS "EQUAL PAY" BONUS FOR WORLD CUP