Heroine Hit June

A monthly newsletter covering the most interesting news, ideas and activity in women’s sport sponsorship & marketing

Breaking the mould

Elle and Nike have teamed up to showcase today’s football Heroines in a way that they’ve never been captured before.

It is a vibrant campaign that celebrates a new era in women’s football alongside the women driving change on and off the pitch.

The limited-edition issues will be distributed at the Euros opener, in Nike stores and appear as a mural on Camden St.

Gotta-know

It was all about money this month!

🏒 Gatorade is dropping their NHL sponsorship and downgrading their NFL one with a new marketing strategy focused on women & college athletes

🎓 Bumble, the dating app where women make the first move is sponsoring 50 female college athletes to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX

💰 Media platform, Just Women’s Sports raises $6m from investors inc. Alibaba co-founder & Brooklyn Nets owner, Joe Tsai, Kevin Durant & Billie Jean King

🎾 Emma Raducanu adds HSBCto her prestigious sponsor roster with the partnership set to help educate young people about the world of finance

📱 Friends of Team Heroine, Areto Labs raised $1.5m to further detect & counteract toxicity & abuse in social communities like women’s sport
*Check out our joint NWSL Positive Vibes Tracker if you missed it

Women’s sport & activism are intertwined

Women’s sport would not be where it is today without activism be it in progress made towards gender equality or protections for the many LGBT+ and black athletes & women’s sport community members.

It was no surprise to see the swath of women’s sport athletes, leagues, teams, player’s unions, sponsors and organisations using their platforms to address the overturning of Roe vs Wade.

US soccer star, Megan Rapinoe delivered a powerful, emotional and articulate statement during the USWNT pre-match press conference which you can watch here.

Retirement antics sum up women’s sport

Basketball legend, Sue Bird announced her retirement from the WNBA.

She plays for the Seattle Storm but it was her opposition, the New York Liberty that wore warm-up shirts thanking the veteran for her efforts.

As well as having “Thank you Sue, love New York” emblazoned across the front of their shirts, they played a tribute to Bird even though she was from the ‘away team’ and pre-match festivities are normally reserved for the home team.

Women’s sport is different, in the best possible way.

Billionaire business

I’m picking that Naomi Osaka is going to be the first sportswoman to become a billionaire.

The 24-year old has the most lucrative sponsorship portfolio of any female athlete with $60m in deals last year (and $59m the year before) but she also has an impressive and growing portfolio of off-court business ventures.

Nick Kyrios secured as first client

Last month she broke away from IMG to launch her own athlete management business called Evolve and she just landed her first client via colourful tennis personality Nick Kyrios.

Launches media company with LeBron James

Now she’s partnered with LeBron James to establish a production company that will produce TV, movies, anime, branded content & documentaries that tackle serious issues in an educational & lively manner.

Cannes creativity

2 women’s sport campaigns picked up awards at creativity’s most prestigious awards event, Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

1. NIKESYNC claimed the highest Lion Grand Prix award

Nike took on the idea that most sportswomen were still being treated like small men with their biological differences being ignored.

They created tailored training programmes in their Nike Training Club app that helped women sync their training with their menstrual cycles to optimise performance and wellbeing.

Watch the campaign video here.

2. Guarana Antarctica got ‘Stuck in the 80’s’

The Brazilian soda drink called out the gender prize money gap in football.

They tapped into how prize money at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup was the same that the men were receiving nearly 40 years ago in the 1980’s.

A clever and entertaining campaign followed which transported female footballers to scenes from the 80’s.

Check out the campaign video here.

UEFA Euros - What’s hot

UEFA Women’s Euros starts on 6th July and is set to be the most watched women’s sport event held in the UK and likely to have a vast impact on women’s sport across the globe.

Here’s what I’m loving so far:

1. BBC’s comprehensive coverage

BBC is covering nearly every game live on their main free-to-air channels, have a daily podcast, a documentary, highlights, behind-the scenes, player masterclasses plus more hosted by over 40 media experts.

2. Tik Tok’s sponsorship

Tik Tok is making serious moves into women’s sport with sponsorships including Six Nations, Burnley FC, Portland Thorns, Extreme E and now Euros and I can’t wait to see what innovative content they produce on their platform during the tournament.

I’m also feeling bullish on the number of new fans they are going to pull into the game via their existing user base.

3. Euros Fantasy Football

Starling Bank have released the industry’s first ever official women’s Fantasy Football competition - about time!

Get your player picks in here and support this fabulous development here.

4. England Lionesses squad announcement

The FA announced their Euro’s squad in a quirky video that featured stars including David Beckham, Alex Scott, Emma Hayes and Rio Ferdinand.

It aims to unify the nation as if it were a family and cleverly uses ‘player trading cards’ as a mechanism to showcase the team and their stories.

At its heart was the role community plays in the game and my favourite part was how they highlighted that there has been a Lioness from every part of the country.

Brand Black Ferns

NZ Rugby launched a slick new brand ad ‘Like a Black Fern’ with the Women’s Rugby World Cup taking place in just over 4 months.

What I liked most about this campaign video was that it wasn’t a ‘tactical’ or ‘retail’ campaign which is normally a pre-requisite for women’s sport to secure marketing budget.

Historically we only see marketing investment around:
👉 Buying tickets to a game (get your tickets now)
👉 A broadcast promo (watch on TV1)
👉 Event marketing (World Cup is coming)
👉 Product purchase (new Adidas Black Ferns jersey out now)
👉 Sponsor leverage (Proud Sponsor of Black Ferns)

Why I also ‘liked’ it:
✅ Had the unique Black Ferns culture at the ad’s heart
✅ Fun, entertaining & a down-to-earth and relatable tone
✅ Fast-paced execution with a nice mix of graphics, footage & audio

Shirt swap

The German, Belgium and Spanish men’s football teams acted as true allies for the women’s game when they swapped their men’s national kit for that of their respective women’s team during their friendly international matches.

A brilliant example of cross-promotion between men’s and women’s teams, they wanted to promote their team’s entry into the up and coming UEFA Euros as well as celebrate the progress their women’s teams had made.

Research Flood

It was a good month for women’s sport insight with three valuable women’s sport research reports being released.

Women’s Sport Trust
- Released their latest report around women’s sport viewership which you can check out here.
- Spoiler alert: Mass-reaching free-to-air TV increases women’s sport viewership and women’s sport fans are watching more frequently.

The Fan Project
- The report out of Sports Innovation Lab is the 2nd edition dedicated to women’s sport which looked at the spending habits of women’s sports fans and can be found here.
- Spoiler alert: Women’s sport communities are being undervalued.

YouGov:
- Examines the socially responsible sport’s fan and can be found here.
- Spoiler alert: Younger sports fans are more passionate about women’s sports and women’s sports fans over-index in their support for social cause.

Hey Marketers

Are you a Marketing Manager keen to understand and explore the opportunity for your brand around women’s sport but not sure where to start? Drop me a note on rebecca@teamheroine.com