How staying nimble helped a small Melbourne agency beat the clock to produce an official FIFA Women’s World Cup trailer

High drama and last-minute heroics have come to define the FIFA Women’s World Cup, both on and off the pitch.

Just ask Melbourne creative content agency Monster & Bear, which delivered a trailer for the tournament, filmed across Australia and New Zealand, under significant time constraints.

Monster & Bear recently revealed its dramatic Women’s World Cup promo, conveying the energy, atmosphere, and significance of the event for competitors and fans alike.

It also showcases the unique cultures of host nations Australia and New Zealand, utilising authentic on-screen talent, and guidance from experts in both Indigenous Australian culture and the Haka.

Speaking to SmartCompany, Monster & Bear founder and creative director Sarah Hickey described a rush to bring the cross-border project to life.

In her telling, the fact Monster & Bear exists as a boutique player in the production agency market also served as a competitive advantage.

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The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup approached Monster & Bear to tender for audiovisual work as part of the event’s major promotional push.

The tender for a trailer was originally packaged with other promos on the event’s wishlist, but a production plan was not immediately locked in place, pushing out the trailer’s timelines.

“Ultimately, it ended up coming back through to us as something to re-tender on as an isolated project,” Hickey continued.

“Maybe as part of a bundle we weren’t successful, but they saw that we were of interest for this particular component, because of the nature of the sort of high-end commercial work that we do.”

Securing the trailer deal kicked the team into gear, as they sought to capture their creative vision: “A concept that speaks to the next sort of the next generation of girl or women’s soccer players, and just how there’s a bit of that fever trickling through the rest of the world”.

That vision is on display, with the trailer crossing between professional superstars and young girls practising on their own.

It also features footage shot across both Australia and New Zealand, showcasing the authentic cultures of each nation to the world.

The trailer is now part of a pool of content broadcasters are free to use, potentially beaming Monster & Bear’s work worldwide.

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Pulling the campaign together in such a short timeframe required significant legwork and a savvy use of agency resources.

Unlike some firms with multiple departments and significant staff headcounts, Hickey said Monster & Bear operates as a “smaller, more nimble crew”, capable of latching on to projects with tight deadlines.

Hickey, for example, also served double duty as executive producer and director on the trailer.

Ultimately, that versatility and mobility is a benefit to firms like her own, she said.

“What is happening more and more is that the lines between what I feel like is a typical film production company, and what maybe an advertising or content of an agency would do, is kind of getting blurred a little bit,” she said.

“We’ve decided to sort of fully embrace that, and claim to be sitting right smack bang in the middle.

“We sort of say we’re not a production company. We’re not an agency. We’re a creative content agency.”

Now, with the Matildas running deep into the tournament, Hickey and her small team are celebrating their own achievements.

“Amazing work to the whole team involved… such a quick turnaround on this one, but our team ran at pace, just like the badasses featured here within,” Monster & Bear said in its own trailer caption.