Top Ten Women's Sport Marketing Campaigns of the Year
Best Women’s Sport Campaigns of 2025
It’s becoming an overused but welcome annual slogan; “What a year for women’s sport”.
As expected, there were more record-breaking audiences and deals, an unforgettable Women’s Rugby World Cup with women’s rugby entering the zeitgeist, spectacular Women’s Euros action with the England Lionesses taking back-to-back titles, WNBA and college basketball levelling up yet again. However, if I had to define women’s sport in 2025, it was the year that women’s sport and culture truly collided with fashion, beauty and luxury infiltrating campaigns.
Sportswomen honored the front covers of the globe’s biggest titles and were the main drawcard in pop-culture events. Ilona Maher was a Sport’s Illustrated Swimsuit Model, Matilda’s footballer, Mary Fowler walked the catwalk at Paris Fashion Week and WNBA star, Angel Reese became a Victoria’s Secret Angel just to name a few.
A personal highlight was helping set the benchmark for creative marketing excellence as one of ten judges at the penultimate advertising awards, Cannes Lions in the Sport Entertainment category. It was an amazing experience to evaluate over 750 entries from around the world. The coolest thing was seeing the presence of so many women’s sport related campaigns and how far women’s sport marketing has come since I started my annual list back in 2019. I’ve taken that same judging process and applied it when evaluating my award-winning list this year, analyzing craft, insight, authenticity and innovative thinking.
It was fabulous to see so many new brands make the shortlist but equally brilliant to see winners from previous years feature again, showing their dedication and strategic long-term thinking. This year’s winner had it all and redefined any former meaning of creative marketing in the most positive way possible.
Congrats to all the winners!
Top Ten Women’s Sports Marketing Campaigns of the Year
Bonus Extra: Mercedes x WTA
What’s not to love about the biggest sponsorship deal in women’s sport history - a $500 million partnership between luxury car brand, Mercedes and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).
Their fun and simple announcement execution ‘aced it’, cleverly converting the iconic Mercedes logo into a tennis racquet that was adorned with the WTA lettering.
10th Place: Nike x So Win
I didn’t love this campaign when it launched in the Super Bowl, primarily because I felt the women’s sport narrative had moved on from the notion that ‘people say you can’t fill stadiums…you can’t do this’ given it’s widely accepted women’s sport has filled stadiums and smashed viewership records over the past years but after some great debate, I had to include this as it was such a crowd favourite of 2025. After all, us die hard women’s sport advocates were likely not the key target audience given the spot placement but it was likely aimed at the masses who might not be as far along the women’s sport success journey as us.
What I did love was Nike using TV’s biggest moment to highlight women’s sport. I also loved the overall positioning of “You can’t win. So win”. The music and production couldn’t be faulted and using so many sport’s heroines in one spot was a delight.
While I wasn’t 100% sold on the TV commercial for above mentioned reasons, I loved the print executions that showcased a variety of these incredible sportswomen but cleverly tapped into an array of issues to hero the brilliant insight and tagline “You can’t win. So win”.
So Nike you WIN with 10th spot!
9th Place: Togethxr x everyone watches WNBA, EUro’s & london city
Anyone who has anything to do with women’s sport understands the cultural impact Togethxr’s ‘Everyone Watches Women’s Sport’ tee has had so it was no surprise that Nike jumped on a partnership, launching the collection through their Nike retail channels and a special edition tee celebrating tennis great, Aryna Sabalenka.
While it may have seemed like a matter of time before the shirts were tailored to specific sports like women’s football and basketball, they timed and executed their ‘Everyone Watches the WNBA’ tee perfectly with All-Star weekend. Just when you were buying your ‘Everyone Watches the WNBA’ edition, they backed it up with the Women’s Euro’s featuring drops with the England Lionesses, France Les Bleues, and Netherlands Oranje women’s sides.
But what I didn’t see coming was their partnership with Women’s Super League (WSL) team, London City Lionesses and what a ‘baller’ move that was, becoming the front of shirt sponsor for the team. Again, timing was epic, seamlessly flowing from Euros to the start of the WSL to create what seemed like an always-on campaign but with so many potential teams to partner with, it seemed fitting that it was with the team owned by another women’s sport community icon, ground-breaking investor, Michelle Kang.
What I love is that Togethxr are double-downing on their successful platform and evolving it, rather than moving on to the next winning thing.
8th: Ida x Guinness Never Settle Boot
IDA and Guinness teamed up to address a long-standing issue around women being forced to compete in equipment designed for men’s bodies by launching the first-ever soft-ground rugby boot, specifically engineered for women. It was a nice demonstration of Guinness' brand proposition of never accepting second best and how brands can tangibly advance women’s sport by investing in innovation, not just focusing on messaging.
While it’s a bit of a leap to see Guinness’ natural alignment to help create women’s rugby boots, it stayed true to their long-term platform, ‘Never Settle’ and made sense in the context of their naming rights sponsorship of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations. They backed it up with some a nice social launch video and the ‘Never Settle’ slogan emblazoned on the boots.
Cheers Guinness!
7th: Missing Managers x Football Manager, xBOX & Sky Sports
Building on their award-winning campaign, The Everyday Tactician, Xbox teamed up with Sky Sports and Football Manager 26 to tackle one of the most un-addressed gender gaps in sport, the lack of women in coaching and management in their ‘Missing Managers’ campaign. Less than 9% of professional football managers in the UK are women and in 2024, only 21 women held a UEFA Pro License coaching qualification.
Their smartest play was having it fronted by Chelsea icon & current USWNT Coach (Manager), Emma Hayes who is one of the most respected figures in global football, giving the campaign instant credibility and authority.
By highlighting the absence of women managers across football culture, in gaming, on social and in broadcast environments, the campaign moved beyond awareness into ambition-building. It reframed football management as a visible, viable pathway for women, proving that representation isn’t just about who’s on the pitch, but who’s making the decisions from the sidelines as well. Complementing that, they provided tangible outcomes, turning Football Manger 26 in-game success into real UEFA coaching qualifications and WSL experience for aspiring female managers.
6th: F.C. Como Women
With it’s exquisite branding, you’d be forgiven for thinking F.C. Como Women was one of the most desired lifestyle and fashion brands in Europe, instead of a women’s football team that plays in the country’s top football league.
The club has gone all in on its unique offering with the brand eloquently leaning on its stunning setting of Lake Como, Italian sophistication and elegance and drive for gender equity in what really is a masterclass in brand building.
While their logo looks more like art or a high-end luxury goods label, its identity is consistently delivered across all touchpoints, from their team shirt to match day ‘posters’ to hospitality which looks more like a trendy bar setting with cabanas and champagne to ‘jewelry’ that replaces traditional sport’s merchandise. Even their team parties look like a scene straight out of the hottest Capri nightclub.
Backing up their identity, their fight for equity is evident, utilizing channels like their front-of-shirt space to celebrate former international player, Alia Guagni’s retirement but more importantly to ignite a conversation around career prospects (or lack thereof) once women footballers hang up their boots via a move which placed her CV (resume) on the front of the team jersey.
With the recent acquisition of Bristol Beers by owners, Mercury13 I can’t wait to see how they bring this brand and team to life.
Bravo F.C. Como!
5th Place: Dove x These Legs and Sports Re-Illustrated
Dove is one of the most famed marketing brands in the world, delivering crowd-stopping creative while never straying from its decades long platform focused on ‘Real Beauty’. It’s work in 2025 in the women’s sport space earns its place on this year’s list by addressing body confidence as a root cause for why girls drop out of sport.
‘These Legs’, aired during marketing’s biggest moment, the Super Bowl and spotlighted how early body confidence issues stop girls from staying active. The ad delivered an emotional punch, opening on a small girl joyfully and innocently running along a street but then juxtaposed the beautiful innocence of childhood activity with the harsh reality of self-doubt and societal issues girls and women face around their bodies as they grow. The masterstroke was reimagining Bruce Springsteen’s iconic song, ‘Born To Run’ to highlight the impact of harmful body talk.
Dove delivered another brilliant strike via a partnership with one of sport’s most iconic and longest running magazine titles, Sports Illustrated which they cleverly titled, Sports Re-Illustrated. It featured the youngest athlete ever on the cover and profiled ten inspiring young athletes to help visualize the harsh statistics of girls dropping out of sport at twice the rate of boys. The campaign was also backed up by Dove’s scientifically proven coaching tool to build body confidence in 11-17 year-old girls.
Together, the campaigns blended cultural relevance, emotional storytelling, and data-led insight, reminding us that the future of women’s sport depends as much on participation and visibility as it does on societal attitudes.
4th: Washington SPirit x Dead Dirt - Domo Wells
The collaboration between creative weapon, Domo Well’s Dead Dirt and the Washington Spirit showed how women’s sport merchandise can not only move past the ‘shrink it and pink it era’ but supercharge fandom through culture. Instead of producing generic fan gear, this partnership delivered genuinely cool, fashion-forward merchandise that fans would want to wear whether they were at a game or not. It respected the audience, understood modern streetwear culture, and treated women’s sport fandom as stylish, expressive, and culturally relevant. In a year where commercial growth was a key theme in women’s sport, this campaign proved that merchandise can be both revenue-driving and brand-building when creativity and authenticity lead the way.
The great news is that her company, Dead Dirt has signed a multi-year licensing agreement with the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) that extends beyond just the Spirit with Dead Dirt set to design merchandise across the league’s clubs. Pre-sale for shirts from all NWSL teams live here now.
3rd Place: Women’s Rugby World Cup (Black Ferns, 02 x Red Roses & World Rugby)
This is a cheat move by me as I’ve knowingly grouped a number of different marketing activations from different organisations into one award when they are clearly stand-alone brands, but they somehow created what felt like a unified and conjoined campaign during the 5-week Women’s Rugby World Cup - not to take away from the brilliance of each of these individual parties!
It was Rachael Whareaitu and her team for the Black Ferns who delivered my favourite video. The execution which acted as an arrival announcement showcased the reigning champs at their Sussex hotel and dramatically ended on the GOAT, Portia Woodman drawing the hotel curtains. The powerful and dramatic music synchronized with the character-centric story-telling positioned the Black Ferns as royalty and was jam-packed with underlying narratives that challenged ‘tradition’. It leveraged the quintessential English hotel as it’s backdrop and royal poses to topple any connation of hierarchy and stereotypes, all while showing they were up for the challenge of repeat titles, this time on English soil. This is a masterclass is women’s sport production.
England put up stiff competition when it came to their marketing game, delivering beautiful social videos that captured the beauty and magic of the moment during the final at Twickenham. Alongside them was a sound campaign from their long-time sponsor, O2 around “England, meet England” which helped raise the profiles of the players ahead of the tournament and act as a rallying cry of support. The icing on the cake was when they celebrated England’s new heroines after the Red Roses clinched the championship with tags of “England, meet your champions”.
Lastly, adding to the game was World Rugby itself. They snag this shout-out thanks to their eye-watering ‘Women’s Rugby World Cup Opening Title Sequence’ which played out at the start and end of all World Cup coverage, artfully bringing to life the diverse stories of the competing teams, players and community. They commissoned 16 female artists – each representing a participating nation – to create bespoke artwork that celebrated both the spirit of the game and the unique identity of their home team, with one unifying requirement: every design had to feature an oval shape at its centre. It was bold, energetic and uniquely women’s rugby!
2nd Place: Nike Home (for the second time)
Nike were at it again, three years after the England Lionesses won the Euros on home turf, re-igniting their “Home” campaign. They brilliantly captured the scale of the Lionesses who took out back-to-back titles with a simple, yet fun marketing moment.
My favourite activation was the fun video that saw a fan painting over the centre line on the letter “H” to turn ‘Home’ into ‘IIOME”, artfully reflecting their two Euro’s titles. The team’s plane was also etched with a ‘IIOME’ decal as the Lionesses returned ‘home’ to England from Switzerland with their championship trophy.
Winner: SOOO London
If you are anyone in the women’s sport community, this year’s winner will be no surprise! It was the easiest winner selection in my seven years of writing these awards. It was pure brilliance.
Style Of Our Own or simply, SOOO London completely re-imaged women’s sport fandom, community and retail commerce by creating a 7 month ‘women’s sport pop-up’ in the heart of London’s retail area on Regent Street. Symbolically positioned amongst some of the most highly regarded brands on the planet, it perfectly captured women’s sport newfound place in society.
A community meeting hub at its core, it offered a place to watch games together, an event space to connect, an opportunity to purchase, panels to inspire and even a football cage to play together. It perfectly brought together the whole women’s sport ecosystem in the most authentic way possible.
Collaboration was at the heart, bringing together organisations including The Crown Estate, Westminster City Council, alongside dozens of women’s sport start-ups, merchants and brands and most importantly fans and the wider women’s sport community. Mastercard as the key brand partner was possibly the best marketing play ever, authentically staying in “their lane” of commerce but finding a way to magnificently elevate the women’s sport ecosystem.
It was possibly the most genuine women’s space ever, no doubt in part because it was led by true and long-time women’s sport personalities including Team Heroine friends Laura Youngson, Maia Herm and Lizi Hammer to name a few!
The timing was exceptional, opening ahead of the Women’s Rugby World Cup in England but flowed into Women’s Euros and the lead up to WSL.
While it was designed by the community for the community, importantly it was a commercial boon, with Foudy’s reporting sales of £100,000 in 5 hours and once again proving the value of women’s sport when it’s given the right foundations and environment.
Although I wasn’t fortunate enough to experience SOOO in real life (I was lucky enough to score some SOOO merch curtesy of Lizi) yet I still felt a sense of belonging and pride and like I was actually experiencing it given all the social media content filling my feed - the ultimate goal of any brand activation.
Congratulations to all the team who brought SOOO to life, it’s going to be a hard one to beat!!
I can’t wait to see how women’s sport marketing evolves in 2026 and who makes next year’s list.
Follow me on Linkedin for more women’s sport insights.
For previous winners and to see just how much women’s sport marketing has evolved, check out my 6 previous year’s winners here: