Whit Haskel, Fox Sports’ senior vice president of brand marketing, has spent years helping shape how soccer is marketed to U.S. audiences and thus helping to usher the global sport into the American mainstream. Prior to joining Fox Soccer in August 2010, Haskel was with Major League Soccer for eight years. Starting with the Women’s World Cup in Canada in 2015, Haskel has worked on five World Cups. This year’s – which is being played across Canada, the U.S. and Mexico – marks his sixth. 

While the World Cup has always been global, this cycle it is the most multiplatform it has ever been, airing on Fox Sports and all of its pay-TV distribution partners. The Fox Television Stations and Fox affiliates will also get in on the action, and matches will be streamed on Fox’s new direct-to-consumer app, Fox One. All of that means the marketing is more complex than ever. 

Haskel joined Spotlight to talk through a little of Fox Sports’ strategy as it tackles this summer’s major sporting event. 

‍Spotlight: When did you guys start working on the marketing for the World Cup? 

‍Whit Haskel: The first item we focused on was what we call the learning agenda. We've been working on World Cups since 2015 when we broadcast the Women's World Cup from Canada, so we've been building insights and learnings and best practices since then. Our last one was in 2023 when the Women's World Cup was held in Australia and New Zealand. After that, we really pivoted to the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. We started building the learning agenda and started to think strategically about how we as a marketing department wanted to approach the event. 

‍Spotlight: What do you mean by ‘learning agenda’? 

‍Whit Haskel: We dove into the history of the World Cup on Fox, and looked at all the insights that we have. We dove into what the tournament is going to look like. This is a document that we use to educate everybody in our department and any agency we may work with. We presented the learning agenda to all the stations through our broadcast distribution group. 

‍Spotlight: That includes Fox affiliates as well, not just owned stations? 

‍Whit Haskel: Correct. It's basically an understanding of who we think the key players are going to be, the key national teams, the fact that this is a home World Cup, and it's going to be in 11 markets [in the U.S.] and what those markets are, and where those markets sit. It was a pretty dense dive and it helped orient us as a marketing department.

‍Spotlight: And then in parallel, you're also developing a brand bible on which you're educating all these people so everything looks the same across all these platforms? 

‍Whit Haskel: When we get to that point, the goal is to stay consistent. This is the World Cup, there's a lot of messaging out there. That wasn't always the case for previous Men's World Cups or Women's World Cups. We were doing a lot of that heavy lifting on our own. 

We build tool kits and different assets that we share with our distribution group, who then work with the DirecTVs and YouTube TVs of the world. For our station group and Fox One, the goal is to stay as consistent as we can, while allowing partners to have some flexibility. 

‍Spotlight: That part seems harder than it looks. It's so many assets across so many platforms. I’m sure you also have to work closely with FIFA to make sure they approve of all of these materials. 

‍Whit Haskel: That process with FIFA requires a pretty rigorous alignment. They're very protective of their IP, as they should be, and so, despite having worked on five World Cups with them, this one is different. They have built an office in Miami, and they have a huge presence here, and they're very aware of everything that's going on. We're more than happy to build on the equity we have established with them. There's a very sophisticated system in place, including a software platform where a lot of our and our partners’ materials are approved. It's very cohesive and it's been great.

‍Spotlight: Did you have a North Star or a mission statement or a strategy in mind in terms of how you decided what brands or what activations you wanted to do? It always seems harder to me when you have all the options in the world in front of you. It seems easier if you have some boundaries set ahead of time. 

‍Whit Haskel: You can have a North Star, but you never know what might pop up. 

‍Spotlight: One of your fun activations is with Sesame Street, through which young fans will be able to learn about the beautiful game through a unique collaboration with the iconic children’s brand, where Muppets will appear throughout Fox Sports World Cup programming. How did Sesame Street end up in the mix? 

Whit Haskel: I believe they approached us. They clearly see the opportunity. They previously did some work with a major sporting event, the Olympics. When you talk about Sesame Street, everybody's face lights up. [Partnering with them] gets us beyond our core demos; it gets us into families and young kids. We started talking to them and then  we brought in our production team. Production totally embraced doing things with them to the point where we were doing a shoot in Atlanta with the US men's national team and prepping for the World Cup. We agreed to bring some of the characters down there and everybody gravitated to it. It puts a smile on the face of a US national team player who may be very busy in preparation, but then sees Elmo and lights up. 

‍Spotlight: Fox’s new direct-to-consumer streaming service, Fox One, went live last August, so that’s a new platform in the mix for you. 

‍Whit Haskel: They’re a major player now. These changes are welcome and exciting. We're learning about that division and that business. Live sports are critical to their success, so they're pushing the envelope on the types of things that we can do together. 

I'll point to the Chief World Cup Watcher. That’s been a fun activation for us to collaborate on and to help give them some exposure.

Spotlight: How does the Chief World Cup Watcher activation – in which you select someone to watch all of the World Cup games in a transparent cube in Times Square and post about the experience on social media – specifically go back to Fox One?

‍Whit Haskel: To give credit where credit is due, the idea came from a division of Mediahub called Radical + Disruptive Lab. The idea came up in our early-stage planning process with Mediahub and we loved it. As it grew in interest and excitement within our department, and eventually, as we're talking to Fox One about our plans, we shared with them what we were planning on doing. We asked if they wanted to partner with us on it right around the same time that we talked to the sales team. We understood that Indeed was advertising in the World Cup, and we said, "Wow, this could be perfect for Indeed,” and everybody who's come in contact with the idea has just loved it. It's the "Fox One Chief World Cup Watcher hired through Indeed," so there are all sorts of areas of collaboration with them and their partners. We're getting to the point where we've got finalists and we're vetting them now. [Editor’s note: The Chief World Cup Watcher will be announced on Fox on Saturday, June 6.]

‍Spotlight: Will the Chief World Cup Watcher eat, sleep and live in the cube? 

‍Whit Haskel: No, it's not an endurance test. It's 104 games over 39 days and all of the shoulder programming so some endurance will be required, but they're not living in the cube. 

‍Spotlight: But they probably get snacks.

‍Whit Haskel: There could be partners who provide such things. We have a partner that has done a World Cup trophy tour who is also a FIFA partner and they will be providing some beverages. There could also be other FIFA partners who will be outfitting the Watcher. 

It's very organic and alive and fun and challenging, all at the same time, because there are little curve balls here and there that come up, but we're super excited about where it's heading, especially about the earned media around the launch. It went really wide.

Once the Watcher is in the Cube, all 104 matches become opportunities to bring guests into the experience. The idea is to extend beyond the broadcast and our owned platforms by inviting people from different backgrounds, industries and fan communities to stop by, spend time with the Watcher and help create moments around the tournament. 

‍Spotlight: Will the Watcher bring their own ability to produce content or would that content also be produced by Fox? 

‍Whit Haskel: Producing content was part of the job description. We had a lot of fun even with the job description. We stated that this person needs to be comfortable in front of a camera and needs to have some sort of a following, or at least create content that drives some engagement. That's important for us because we don't want everything to be on Fox’s digital and social platforms. We need to be able to reach people beyond our own media.

‍Spotlight: Headed into the World Cup, we’ve already seen some major campaigns like Visa featuring Jason Sudeikis and Adidas featuring Timothee Chalamet. Do you find that having those kinds of flashy campaigns in the ecosystem accrues value back to Fox Sports since Fox Sports is the U.S. home of the tournament? Do all of those parts help elevate the whole? 

‍Whit Haskel: Absolutely. Many of these brands that are activating now with all of these stars, they have been activating against all of these World Cups, especially if they're a FIFA partner, but definitely not to the degree and to the investment that they are right now. 

‍Spotlight: You're putting, obviously, Fox Sports talent into the spots. You've got Tom Brady, you've got Alexi Lalas, you've got different soccer stars. When you're doing stuff like that, is it difficult to get the talent involved, or is it more just a matter of logistics? 

Whit Haskel: Fox Sports was built on the back of Fox NFL Sunday. These are people, personalities that you want to sit back and watch a game with, have a beer with, and have fun with. Whenever we can infuse them into our biggest campaigns, we try to do that. This isn't the first campaign Tom Brady has appeared in. He gets it. So we utilize our talent whenever they're available. The goal is always to get our biggest personalities involved when and how they are available. 

We've worked collaboratively with our Fox soccer talent for all these World Cups. They're an incredible group, and it's their moment to shine. I've known those guys forever, the Alexi Lalas and the Rob Stones of the world. I'm so happy to see them on air and to see the opportunity that they have to beat the drum for soccer.

It's a good time to be at Fox and it’s the 250th anniversary of the country. It's a good time to bring the country together to support the U.S. Men's National Team. People don’t know these players beyond the core, big-sporting-event viewer. Most people couldn’t tell you who will be in the starting lineup, but they will be able to, thanks in part to what our production is going to be doing. For almost every men’s and women’s World Cup, we’ve done a suite of Hometown Heroes spots, where we create reasons for viewers to care both regionally and locally. We feed that content to the stations and we orchestrate a campaign with them to establish a connection between, say, Tyler Adams, who grew up playing with the Red Bulls in New York, and who will be potentially one of the team captains for the U.S., or Christian Pulisic, who’s from Philadelphia. There are points of connection all over the place. The stations are crucial for that. 

‍Spotlight: Will those stations do their own marketing and activations around the games in their markets, and even more so in markets, like Los Angeles or Houston, where games are going to be played? 

‍Whit Haskel: Early on in this run up to the World Cup, we had a series of conversations introducing our stations in all the host markets to the host committees. We had a sit down, thanks to FIFA, with all of the different host committees and the stations on the line, and we just got to know each other. At the end of the day, we can't mandate what the stations do and who they work with, but we are always providing them with opportunities. The host committees have different relationships with the stations across the country.

Having come from Major League Soccer, I know that all of their clubs have this ambition when they go dark during this World Cup cycle to be ambassadors for the game in their markets. We introduced, and this goes way beyond just the 11 host markets, we introduced all of those clubs to the stations in their markets, like in Charlotte, N.C., where they've got a thriving MLS club, and a TV station. We introduced them and said, "This is a menu of ideas of how you could work together.” For example, in San Jose, they've got one of the former coaches of the U.S. Men's National Team to work as a local on-air analyst. What a great resource for the station to build segments or shows in conjunction with their local Major League Soccer club. We’re all in on helping them tell the story and showcase the excitement of the World Cup. 

‍Spotlight: The World Cup kicks off on June 11. Do you feel ready?

‍Whit Haskel: We were on a call with the FIFA marketing team today and everybody's like, holy smokes, it's 20 days out, it's really happening. We've talked about all of this for so long. I’m sure there'll be some goosebump moments for all of us. And at the same time, I'm sure when July 20 rolls around, we'll all be super happy to pivot and focus on the next thing.