The latest marketing push from Hisense is all about hosting, and specifically a watch party for the FIFA World Cup.

This is the third time the consumer electronics and appliance manufacturer will sponsor the international soccer tournament because the brand wants to be a part of what its consumers care about, said Sarah Larsen, chief marketing officer of Hisense USA.

It also helps that the top reason consumers buy a “super extra-large screen size” is to watch sports, Larsen said. And shoppers may be convinced of that while on a friend’s sofa watching a big game.

Thus is the premise behind the brand’s “Out Host With Hisense” campaign. Hisense surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers and found 71% of Americans say watching a premium TV at a friend or family member’s home made them consider upgrading their own. And so, hosting will be the theme of Hisense’s marketing campaigns until the end of the year. But it’s not just about hosting for the World Cup. Chief Marketer caught up with Larsen to learn more in the below Q&A.

Chief Marketer: Tell me about this campaign.

Larsen: It was really built around a couple different concepts all beautifully coming together, which was the couch culture, as we call it, for hosting. That people just love, especially in America, to bring friends and family together to watch live versus being in person.

Hosting is hot, and then we combined that with the fact that we at Hisense are the official FIFA World Cup sponsors, and we’re the host nation. It just clicked on us that we know Americans love to host. And then the best part about American behavior is not only do we like to host, but we want to be the best on the block. We leaned into that whole fun competitiveness and the best way to be that best event on your block is with Hisense. It was a natural correlation into our product as well.

Chief Marketer: Can you talk a little bit about how this is a departure for Hisense?

Larsen: It’s often a sea of sameness when it comes to go-to-market strategies. It’s as if everyone is taking a page out of the same playbook and they launch product and they have expert reviewers look at it, and then they just tell everyone how great it is.

We wanted to shake things up and rather than talking in tech and specs and speeds and feeds. We instead leaned into the consumer benefit and what is in it for the consumer. Hisense created this whole marketing campaign with a very thoughtful and specific language choice and image choice and concept to basically help consumers understand how Hisense products make their lives better, easier, more convenient.

We also partnered with Terry Crews, which was a big departure from what we’ve traditionally done in past, because he is so multifaceted. He is the ultimate host. He’s the host of America’s Got Talent; He’s a former NFL football player; He’s big into sports; He’s a huge soccer fan. And then he also loves to host himself. He’s happiest at home with his friends and family around.

By partnering with him, we were able to create this campaign that really connected with consumers and showed rather than told them how Hisense can help make sure that they are out-hosting all of their neighbors and having the best party on the block.

Chief Marketer: What do you mean language and image choice?

Larsen: When you look at the whole campaign, how we talk about products and features, is very much what’s the benefit. So instead of talking about the number of hertz that a TV has, we’ll talk about that you never miss a moment. And instead of talking about RGB technology and explaining that, which we do, we also show that the benefit — you see so many different shades of green that you didn’t think it was possible, or it’s lifelike color that’s natural and real and feels like you’re actually there. We really, from a language choice, leaned into those ‘what’s in it for the consumer’ side of things.

When it comes to Terry, he naturally does have that connection. He’s a very congenial, charming, charismatic person, and he also calls things like they are. We didn’t want someone that seemed like they were unattainable. He’s relatable. He’s the type of guy you’d want to go and have a beer with.

Chief Marketer: How do you think it will perform?

Larsen: Well, any marketing dollar I spend needs to translate into sales. So my ultimate goal will be: will achieve sellout.

Chief Marketer: Do you think the campaign impact will be ahead of the World Cup for people gearing up to host that particular event?

Larsen: Yes, absolutely. So we’re strategically timing them. Most people’s path to purchase when it comes to buying our products is usually two to three weeks. So we’re kicking off now and then we continue with pulse points in the two weeks leading up to the kickoff for World Cup, which is June 11 in Mexico and then June 13 here in the U.S.

Then we will continue with that so that we lean into when people go past World Cup and they’re starting to think about watching NFL football. Then it’s leaning into when you’re hosting for Thanksgiving and the holidays. So our intention is to have this be a 360 degree campaign that lasts year long.

Chief Marketer: Can you talk a little bit about the channels that you’re putting this out on and what you’re particularly excited?

Larsen: This is a social-first campaign. Social media channels are where it’s primary living, but then we are using this throughout all of our marketing channels in a centralized creative strategy. We create this content and then we push it out through all the different channels.

The reason behind that is consistency is so important when it comes to marketing. It takes seven times for a consumer to hear something before it sinks in. So I want to ensure that we’re creating surround sound around our consumer that at every touchpoint, whether they’re on social media, they’re shopping for something later in the day, they’re reading an article or they are shopping in a Best Buy or a Costco or a Lowe’s or a Walmart, that they’re met with the same message.

Chief Marketer: Who would you say your target is for this campaign?

Larsen: We have a couple different targets only because our products all have slightly different demographics, but I would say an overarching persona is American consumers who love to host.

We created actually a hosting survey that you can take. We have three very distinctive hosting styles, and from that, you can find out what’s your own hosting style. Then we match that hosting style up with a variety of products that might best fit your needs.

Chief Marketer: I would’ve thought that the target would be men who are watching the World Cup that are having these watch parties. But when you say host, I actually think more of women hosting book club. Is there a mismatch there?

Larsen: That’s actually such a great point and that was intentional on our part. If we only targeted a male demographic who’s a super sports fan, yes, we would get some people. But that creates a very narrow TAM for us, a total addressable market.

Instead, we’re leaning into hosting because that encapsulates everyone that’s looking to do a product purchase. It’s not just TV. Keep in mind, it’s also home appliances and AC. The person who’s buying a fridge because they want to upgrade their fridge to have more capacity to have a ton of people over, this campaign will speak to them. And, if you also are a very tech enthusiastic male, who’s very excited about soccer and having the best party on the block, this campaign will speak to you. So it was incredibly intentional that we leaned into hosting as a concept and not just sports.

Chief Marketer: That is interesting to capture everyone.

Larsen: Especially with the rise of the soccer mom, I mean, she’s been around for a while, but she is watching these sports. She’s throwing the Super Bowl party and she’s throwing a World Cup party because her family is very much soccer fans.

This is a big deal for a lot of more casual sports fans whose children are playing soccer, and they also hold so much purchasing power. It would be a misstep to not target people who genuinely love to host and then fall into these different criteria that we’ve spoken about.

Chief Marketer: What percent of your customers or revenue is generated by women versus men?

Larsen: My guess is that we’re pretty close to balance to census. The last I checked on just consumer electronics, specifically — and again, it depends on product because some products are lifestyle TVs, for example, skew more heavily female, our home appliances skew more heavily female — but it usually is about a 52% male, 48% female split.

Chief Marketer: Your career trajectory is every PR person’s dream of just starting at an agency and then going to these amazing brands, Samsung, and now Hisense. To wrap up, do you have any other advice for other PR professionals?

Larsen: Starting my career in PR is my ultimate secret weapon because it’s ingrained in your brain to protect your brand as well as promote it. That has served me so well in my many years as a CMO because I’m constantly thinking about what we need to do to promote, but then also the potential risk that we could be facing in backlash, especially in today’s cancel culture.

I love doing mentoring and speaking with college kids. I am constantly encouraging people to start as a generalist and start on the agency side. And then after you get a good foundation, you can start specializing or branch into in-house specifics.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.