The Pride Has Arrived as ITV Gears Up for FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023

As anticipation mounts ahead of next month’s tournament, ITV has revealed its creative campaign for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 including filming with real lionesses in South Africa. 

The Lionesses’ huge success in the 2022 Euros has galvanised greater levels of passion, interest and engagement for the women’s game. The next chapter of the Lionesses’ journey required an inspiring film to rouse the country and bring the nation together again. 

The asset focuses on the idea of lionesses infiltrating people's lives and morning routines across the country, bringing the new tournament front-of-mind and reflecting the calm confidence of the Euros-winning England team. The film stands out for its fresh approach to sports promotion, focusing on the viewing public and seamlessly integrating these beautiful lionesses into everyday lives. The campaign line, 'The Pride Has Arrived' highlights this sentiment, that the England team are entering another tournament with the nation behind them.

Here the real lionesses represent the presence of England’s amazing women’s football team. ITV Creative partnered with Framestore ECD and Director William Bartlett to deliver on the idea. 

The key creative challenge was to set the right tone to allow the personalities of the lionesses to take centre stage. The film was a combination of both CG and real lionesses, the latter were filmed against green screen on location in South Africa. These were then seamlessly added into our locations. This was combined with a sensitivity to the performances of the actors, ultimately creating the reality of the lionesses’ presence in the scene.

With the 60 second piece launching in Good Morning Britain today (Friday June 30th) and then on air from tomorrow (Saturday July 1st), the promo campaign will sit across the full ITV Network as well as ITVX and owned social platforms. There are also 20 and 30 second cut down versions. Extending the campaign off network is a two week out-of-home activation which is live from Monday July 10th until Sunday July 23rd, comprising digital six sheets and some 48 sheets.

Jane Stiller, chief marketing officer ITV said, “We're so happy to be able to put women's football front and centre this summer - when we launched ITVX last year we did so to bring the freshest content to our viewers, and broadcasting the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 does just that. 

“ITV is always at the heart of popular culture. If it matters to the country, it matters to us. And we all fell in love with the Lionesses at the Euros two years ago. That's why we wanted to create a campaign that rallies the country behind them again, with a little extra bite to go along with it.”

Creative team Joaquin & Bailey said, “We wanted to answer the brief to not make another 'Women's World Cup ad' and to just make a great World Cup ad. Football is a passion and the World Cup brings people together. That's what it's all about.”

William Bartlett, director Framestore said, “It was an incredible project to be involved with. ITV Creative were great to collaborate with and we had a lot of fun creating the scenes we could drop our lionesses into. And as always, the VFX crew at Framestore hit it out of the park delivering outstanding work worthy of such a strong creative idea. Now all that's left to do is sit back and enjoy the tournament!”

ITV and the BBC will provide live television coverage of the upcoming 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which starts in Auckland on Thursday July 20th. Because of the tournament’s location in the southern hemisphere, kick-off times will be early with three quarters of matches beginning between 8am and midday UK time.