As FIFA World Cup fever takes hold across North America, Hisense USA CMO Sarah Larsen joins the podcast to discuss the brand's role as an official tournament partner, the strategy behind its "Out Host with Hisense" campaign, and how the company is using one of the world's biggest sporting events to drive awareness, cultural relevance, and business growth in the competitive consumer electronics market.
Damian Fowler (00:00):
I'm Damian Fowler.
Ilyse Liffreing (00:01):
And I'm Ilyse Liffreing.
Damian Fowler (00:02):
Welcome to The Big Impression.
Ilyse Liffreing (00:09):
This week we're joined by Sarah Larson, CMO of Hisense USA.
Damian Fowler (00:13):
Sarah is helping lead on one of the biggest stages in marketing, the FIFA World Cup 2026, which kicks off June 11th in North America. As an official tournament partner, Hisense is using the moment to build awareness, connect with new audiences, and compete in one of the most crowded categories in consumer electronics.
Ilyse Liffreing (00:31):
Their latest campaign, Out Host with Hisense, taps into a single insight. For many fans, the World Cup isn't just about what's happening on the screen. It's about who you're watching with.
Damian Fowler (00:43):
So we're going to get into the thinking behind the campaign and how brands can create cultural relevance when everyone's competing for attention. So let's get into it.
Sarah Larsen (00:52):
Well, us becoming sponsors of FIFA World Cup, we have a long history doing it. This is our 14th year as a partner with them. And what we wanted to do this year is just approach it very differently. So we looked at all the different consumer behavior around watching any of these matches and what really rose to the top is that Americans love to host. We love to have people over. We love to create fuss and food and decor around a moment. So in knowing that and the fact that the US is one of the host nations for FIFA World Cup, it seemed a very natural connection for us to create a campaign around this hosting behavior, couch culture, if you will, and give consumers a reason why they need high sense in their lives to make watching FIFA World Cup the best experience ever.
Ilyse Liffreing (01:51):
And how does that actually reach beyond the typical soccer fan really?
Sarah Larsen (01:58):
Yeah. And we want to reach beyond the soccer fan because the reality is much like the Olympics, it's a cultural moment to gather and watch this massive sporting event. You don't have to be deep into all of the stats of the soccer players to enjoy watching people kick a ball on a field. So we made a point of tying into hosting, which is more of a behavior habit of consumers as a whole rather than just going after the super soccer fan.
Damian Fowler (02:29):
I mean, that makes a lot of sense in particular for events like the World Cup. There's a certain kind of moment where people want to get behind their kind of teams. But we want to talk a little specifically about the multiple spots that you've created with Terry Cruz who plays multiple roles in the spot, host, grandmother, commentator. And I thought we might just listen in on a little tiny bit of the spots.
Ilyse Liffreing (02:58):
We're here with a hosting Legend. We're in for a show. Where's my Pudata? A taste delicious.
Damian Fowler (03:16):
I was going to ask you, what made him the right fit for the brand and the idea?
Ilyse Liffreing (03:20):
Besides him being super jacked, of course.
Sarah Larsen (03:23):
Well, that was not one of the criteria. What was the criteria is we were looking for someone who had a genuine tie to sports, also had relevancy in the hosting space and then was a comedian because we know that comedy really works well and helps to rise above in that sea of sameness. And then we just wanted someone whose personality really embodied what we are looking for in an ideal host. On top of all of that criteria, it also happened that Terry himself is passionate about hosting. He loves making sure that his house looks phenomenal and that he has all of his friends and family over and that everyone's enjoying every hosting moment that he has. So he really checked all our boxes and then once we started working with him, we were even more impressed with his ability because he's such a talented actor and on top of that, he's worked in so much with advertising that he really understands how to talk about product in a fun and engaging and natural way so it doesn't feel forced.
Damian Fowler (04:31):
And speaking of product, the campaign is launching alongside the UR9, your new RGB mini LED TV. How does that kind of tie in help you elevate or showcase the product?
Sarah Larsen (04:48):
Yes. So RGB technology is the latest and greatest when it comes to TV technology. And at Hisense, our RGB technology is something we're very proud of because we're really pioneers in this space, not to get too technical, but basically it stands for red, green, and blue. And it's how we create the light source at the color itself not filtered through white. What that means for you is that when you watch one of our high sense TVs with RGB technology, you see natural and real color that's as close to what the human eye would see. So it gives you a crisp, clear picture with great contrast and great detail. It's also easier on the eyes, which is a lot of issue for many people with blue lights and then it's also very energy efficient as well.
Damian Fowler (05:38):
And how are you measuring whether consumers walk away from this campaign, whether they're just sort of amused, tickled by it, or really genuinely interested in the products?
Sarah Larsen (05:48):
Oh, we measure in sales, of course. So every marketing dollar I spend needs to correlate to sales. So I want to make sure that I am creating an engaging campaign, but also it has the double focus of drawing consideration and conversion.
Ilyse Liffreing (06:07):
That's great. And beyond awareness metrics, what does this campaign really teach you about how Americans kind of think about hosting and home entertainment today?
Sarah Larsen (06:18):
Yeah. So before we even launched the campaign, we did our homework and we conducted a study where we looked at how Americans host. And so using that as the basis or the backbone for what we did was a very smart approach because we had good insights into consumer behavior. For example, 74% of Americans say that when they're at someone's house watching something on TV for an event, they are more likely to upgrade their own TV. Basically, the living room has become the showroom. So we leaned into that by really focusing on hosting and having the best TV ensured that your guests have the best experience for watching whatever you are showing them, whether it's the hottest soccer game or a season premiere of your favorite show or even an award show.
Damian Fowler (07:11):
How do you measure whether sponsorship as large as the World Cup is actually moving the business and however you look at that?
Sarah Larsen (07:19):
Yeah. And I think that's a great question because sponsorships in general, all of the big brands do them and the constant question is, how do we measure? You're spending millions of dollars on these sponsorships. Are they delivering millions of dollars in sales? So what we look at is sponsorships more as an asset than actually a moment. So it's a different way in to capture attention with our demographic and also expand the top of the funnel to new people who are fans of soccer or fans of hosting that they will then be introduced to Hisense products.
Damian Fowler (08:00):
Part of this is brand lift, but also part of this is performance. How do you connect the top with the middle with the actual outcome that you're looking for?
Sarah Larsen (08:10):
So for a brand like Hisense, awareness is important because we're a challenger brand. So we're up and coming when it comes to the TV space as opposed to some of the big brands that have been around a lot longer than we have. So I definitely want to make sure that our campaign is rising above in a sea of sameness. So when you look at any sort of creative that other consumer electronic brands are doing, it's kind of all the same. There's a very formulaic approach. We took a very different approach when it came to Hisense in that we leaned into humor and more of a lifestyle message and we wanted to be extremely consumer centric. So rather than talking about techs and specs and telling you how fast the hurts are on this TV, instead, I'm going to tell you that with this TV, when you're watching soccer, you never lose sight of the ball and you'll see every moment of the ball in every frame from when it leaves a player's foot to when it scores in the back of the net.
(09:15):
That type of showing you the benefit of the technology is what we really aim to do. We also were very creative when it came to how we use Terry in that in three days of filming we shot enough content for the entire year. So we have 10 episodes that we're going to be rolling out throughout the year with different themes and each one focuses not just on a different product but on a different feature of the product in a way that shows consumers how this product is going to help make their lives better, happier, more convenient, easier.
Damian Fowler (09:51):
So this is a sort of longer term play, if you will.
Sarah Larsen (09:55):
It is definitely. And we intentionally did that with hosting because the reality is there are hosting moments all year long. It's certainly not limited just to watching FIFA World Cup. You're going to want to do hosting when American football season is back on. You're going to want to host a Halloween party, you're hosting for Thanksgiving and you're watching a football game, you're hosting for the holidays and you're watching a holiday movie. There are just so many moments that Americans host that this seemed like a very ripe territory for us to use all year long.
Ilyse Liffreing (10:32):
So yeah, let's zoom out a little bit now and really look at the context of like sports and marketing because it really has become one of the last places where brands can reach those mass audiences in real time. How would you say that's changing the way marketers actually think about media and where they're investing?
Sarah Larsen (10:52):
I think it's more than just watching sports. I think it's really looking at how consumers are watching, period. There's such a shift in screen behavior, whereas it's no longer people sitting on a couch, tuning in on a Thursday night for their favorite primetime show and sitting through the commercials. We have instant gratification. We have thousands of choices on streaming and we can watch anything at any time, anywhere we are. You can be sitting in bed, you can be riding the train, you can be on an airplane. With all of that in mind, it's so important that our marketing strategies keep up with consumer behavior and that's why I'm a big proponent of what I call research, not me search. So we can't base our media strategy or any of our marketing strategies around our own biases and what we as an individual research party of one thinks is the best way to do that.
(11:52):
Instead, we really need to be disciplined and do the research and listen to the voice of the consumer and use that as our guide for what we're doing for marketing. So when it comes to viewing, I am constantly checking in on viewing habits. In fact, we have a community of 750, what we call TV intenders, people that recently purchased a TV or are planning to purchase a TV and monthly we're sending out questions to them because I never want to get to the place that we just assume consumer behavior from a year ago, two years ago, even six months ago is the same consumer behavior today.
Ilyse Liffreing (12:33):
Now, if you had to look forward, how do you think consumer behavior will evolve over the next few years?That's
Sarah Larsen (12:41):
My favorite thing to think about and that shows what a huge nerd I am, but I'm okay with that. I think consumer behavior is continuing to evolve. There's certainly a nostalgic push. Having Gen Z so big in our lives, they are moving back to a more simpler way of doing things. They like to watch shows from the '90s. They like to listen to CDs. They definitely were seeing a return for what they can consider simpler times, which if you're a Gen Xer like me, the '90s are definitely not a simpler time, but I think what we're going to see is more behavioral changes when it comes to viewing and a lot more integration of marketing and advertising within the viewing experience. With the removal of linear TV and the commercials, what we see is now product integration and ads within the product that the movies themselves are having a resurgence because that's the only way that we can capture consumer behavior, but it needs to be done in a very consumer centric way.
(13:57):
And what I mean by that is when you're watching a show, let's say you're watching a cooking show and it's about Italian food, an ad comes up for your local Italian restaurant. That's a smart connection because it's triggering consumer behavior. You're hungry while you're watching it. Italian sounds really good and look, here's an easy way that I can get it. That makes sense. What I think we'll have to be careful is not doing it in a way that it becomes intrusive and has no connection with what the content people are viewing.
Ilyse Liffreing (14:29):
I would argue that it's quite easy to do that if that authenticity isn't there.
Sarah Larsen (14:34):
Yes, I totally agree. And authenticity, that's important in anything you're doing for marketing. When you look at brands and how they're jumping in from a PR or a social media perspective on different cultural moments, you see so much positive reaction when a brand has the authority to play in that space and it makes sense. And conversely, when a brand is tone death and they're just trying to force themselves into some cultural moment where they really have no relevancy, consumers are smart and they're calling them out on it.
Damian Fowler (15:09):
On that point, in a category dominated by legacy brands, those culturally resonant moments are obviously very important, especially for challenger brands. How do you think about that? And as you look at the calendar of those so- called culturally relevant moments, how do you plan for that to get connected into those moments?
Sarah Larsen (15:33):
Yeah, it's so important. And what's important for us is to operationalize culture hide checking. So what I mean by that is we need and we have created a whole system in place for cultural moments so we can in real time take advantage of what's happening and we plan for it when there's things we know are coming up like FIFA World Cup Kickoff or the drop of the latest Taylor Swift song. We can plan in advance for that when we know a date, but we also have a built-in system for real-time approvals when it's something that's opportunistic and unexpected. And that's how brands can really take advantage of cultural moments because you have to move at the speed of culture and you have to move at the speed of consumer interest. If you wait two weeks to get approvals and get everything exactly right, you'll have missed the opportunity.
(16:37):
So we certainly love being a challenger brand because we're a lot more flexible and nimble and we're able to move much more quickly on making decisions if we should or we should not jump into a trend.
Damian Fowler (16:52):
Where do you see the biggest opportunities and where do you think the industry is maybe getting ahead of itself?
Sarah Larsen (16:58):
Oh, that's like an ongoing question AI in itself is a big opportunity as we continue to learn more about it. I mean, it's learning about us and we're learning about it in real time. I think using it to help with streamlining and to doing things that are smarter or quicker than we necessarily have done them before is fantastic. Where I struggle with AI and where I push my teams when they're relying too heavily on AI is we can't take out the human component of it. So for example, there's a big convergence in beauty and tech with AI and you're seeing lots of AI being used to tell you when you're shopping online what color would be best for your own coloring and what lipidstic will best meet whatever need you have or what haircare product is going to help with your hair care concerns. But what has much more influence over purchase decision is a trusted advisor or friend or family essentially telling you what product they love and that's what encourages people to try it.
(18:11):
So that's why we can't take the human component out of the marketing that we're doing so much is still reliant on not just humans advice to a consumer when it comes to purchase decision, but also human intelligence and experience when it comes to an AI generated plan or piece of marketing creative. We all have seen the results of AI gone bad and you tell AI to do something and they come back with a piece of creative that looks crazy and a woman has seven hands ... It's comical and it's funny and it's fun and it's entertaining, but it's also scary because there are brands that rely too heavily on AI and they're taking humans completely out of the mix and no one is looking at it saying, "Wait a second, that doesn't make sense."
Damian Fowler (19:01):
Yeah, it's funny. I was just speaking to somebody who said she was going to the French Open and her husband used, Gemini, I should say, her husband used an LLM to ask what he should wear and it came back with a brown belt and blue shoes and she said to him, "There's no way you're going to the French Open wearing that. I don't care what the chatbot tells you.
Sarah Larsen (19:24):
" So
Damian Fowler (19:24):
I mean, one of the things I guess you're talking about here is trust, right? So trust is very important and we can't always trust what it surfaces, the chatbot.
Sarah Larsen (19:33):
Yes, trust but verify. And I will say with my own daughters and they're 22 and almost 19, they'll tell me something, whether it's a fact or a piece of information or advice and I'll say, "Oh, where'd you get that from?" And they're like, "Oh, I got it from AI." I said, "Yeah, AI's not a source though. What was your source?" Yeah, what was the source? We know AI scrapes everything, but they can scrape bad information just as easily as they can scrape good information. It's very true. I definitely think trust. Trust is very important. Trust but verify. Always verify your AI.That's our motto for this call.
Damian Fowler (20:16):
That's a good motto. I like it.
Ilyse Liffreing (20:18):
Obviously there's a lot of brands that are trying to play in the World Cup space right now. How do you feel about that balance between reaching local communities versus the international world and how your message can play out across both?
Sarah Larsen (20:35):
Yeah, it's an interesting idea because soccer or football obviously is such a global sport, but it's viewed so wildly differently based on where you live. So even just talking to my own high sense colleagues in Mexico and Canada, all of our campaigns have some kernels that are the same, but then they were wildly different as well. For example, in Mexico, going to the game and sitting in the best seat is the absolute ultimate thing that every person wants whereas we saw in the US, the stat showed us consumers actually prefer to stay home and watch it in front of a TV. And then in Canada, it's kind of like a happy mix between both. So Mexico took a different approach with their campaign where it's all focused on being in the front seat and that front seat front row energy, whereas we obviously are focusing more on hosting because we know that's important.
(21:36):
So I think when it comes to a global sport like soccer, which really is played everywhere, you really have to lean into your consumer and understand what matters to them. Certainly a soccer player that resonates in China, where Hisense is based, is not going to be the same one that resonates in Germany and it's not going to be the same one that resonates in the US.
(22:02):
That's why from an approach perspective we leaned into hosting and we also leaned into Terry Cruz. He's a former NFL player, but he also is a comedian and he's the host of America's Got Talent. So he kind of covered all of the bases for us. He also happens to have incredible international appeal. So my colleagues in Mexico and Canada were thrilled we were working with him because he has great fan base in those two countries. And then outside of North America, he's also super popular. So I think it's just you find the universals you can lean into and then you tailor it to really hit the demographic that is your key audience.
Damian Fowler (22:46):
So we've got some rapid fire, what we call hot seat questions for you right now to wrap this up. If you could give CMOs one piece of advice about building a challenger brand, what might that be?
Sarah Larsen (22:59):
Take calculated risks.
Ilyse Liffreing (23:01):
Good. I like that. What would you say is the most overrated metric in marketing?
Sarah Larsen (23:06):
ROAS, 100% ROAS. That doesn't tell me anything.
Ilyse Liffreing (23:11):
Nice.
Damian Fowler (23:12):
If you had an unlimited budget, would you put it into media, creative data, sponsorships, retail media, or somewhere else entirely?
Sarah Larsen (23:22):
Oh, I have to put all of it into one area. I do like a balanced media mix, but I will say content is king. So I would put the bulk of it into making really amazing, engaging, relevant content. And then the second bulk I would put into a kick-ass distribution plan because you can make the best content in the world, but if consumers don't see it, it's not going to land.
Ilyse Liffreing (23:48):
Now one final one that is based off of this campaign. What kind of host would you say you are?
Sarah Larsen (23:54):
I know I'm an elevated host. I took our survey and I hope you both did as well. So you can go to Hisense.com and find out your own hosting style and tune in June 11th for the kickoff. I hope you're all going to be watching.
Damian Fowler (24:13):
And that's it for this edition of The Big Impression.
Ilyse Liffreing (24:15):
This show is produced by Molten Heart. Our theme is by Love and Caliber and our associate producer is Sydney Cairns.
Damian Fowler (24:22):
And remember
Sarah Larsen (24:24):
The living room has become the showroom.
Damian Fowler (24:26):
I'm Damian.
Sarah Larsen (24:27):
And
Ilyse Liffreing (24:27):
I'm
Sarah Larsen (24:27):
Ilyse.
Damian Fowler (24:28):
And we'll see you next time.