Heroine Hit - September

Your monthly dose of women’s sport sponsorship & marketing inspiration, insight and innovation

GOAT of advertising campaigns

Heroine Hit’s September issue is dedicated to Serena Williams who also graced the cover of Vogue’s prestigious September Issue.

Add the cover of Time to the mix and we start to appreciate how Williams wasn’t just a tennis icon but transcended culture.

She’s appeared in dozens of ads for leading brands including multiple Super Bowl commercials and some of the most talked about ads ever.

As the GOAT bids farewell to the US Open and tennis, I take a closer look at 5 ads saying goodbye to the Heroine and 10 of her best ever ads.

As a former athlete, my all-time favourite campaign has to be Nike’s “Dream Crazier” but I can’t get enough of Gatorade’s farewell campaign outlined below.

Gatorade’s Goodbye Campaign

Gatorade made the ultimate brand tribute changing their iconic logo across their channels from ‘G’ to ‘S’ to honour the sporting great.

They also created a brand ad titled ‘Love Means Everything’:

👉 The bad-ass video was beautifully shot, beautifully cast and beautifully narrated (by Beyonce) and celebrated not just Serena’s tennis talent but what she has done for women, particularly black women.

👉 What I loved most was how it opened as a love letter ‘For Serena, With Love’ and cleverly delivered the insight around ‘Love’ equating to zero in tennis but being everything in life.

Check out my blog celebrating the star and the marketing campaigns surrounding her HERE.

Gotta-know

⚽️ UEFA Women’s Euros was watched by an eye-watering 365 million people globally.

🏟 San Diego Wave vs Angel City is set to become the most attended NWSL game on 17 September with a sell-out crowd of 32,000.

📺 NWSL secured a prime-time CBS scheduling slot for their final. Check out Huffington Post’s article on why a small scheduling change can change everything.

👀 Australian brands that sponsor women’s sport benefit from higher levels of trust & are more likely to be viewed as leaders in their respective industries.

🏀 Google are at it again joining FIBA as the first-ever Global Partner of Women's Basketball and the Women's World Cup.

World’s 1st gender-neutral football fantasy league

Bundaberg Rum launched Bundy Mixer, the world’s 1st mixed-gender football fantasy competition around the NRL and NRLW with supporting content to boot.

“With Bundy Mixer, you can bring together the best of the best, not just the best of the blokes.”

The campaign is brilliantly entertaining but also:

👉 Helps increase much needed familiarity & connection with the NRLW players

👉 Pulls in new fans to NRLW (NRL and gaming-centric fans)

👉 Puts the men’s and women’s competitions on equal footing

👉 Delivers action not lip-service by tackling the issue and adding value to the women’s game

Cheers Bundy…..Mixer!

Women’s sport gets gamified

NRLW wasn’t the only women’s sport getting a gamified make-over.

XBox turned WNBA’s New York Liberty court into a gaming-inspired basketball arena with wider gaming experiences in Roblox including a dunking simulator and avatar merchandise.

EA games will include women’s teams for the first time when they release their latest football game at the end of this month.

Chelsea and Matilda footballer, Sam Kerr appeared on the front cover of FIFA23 alongside Kylian Mbappe.

15-step action plan for brands in the new era of women’s football

Inspired by and building on Lewes FC CEO, Maggie Murphy’s post and UEFA’s Business Case For Women’s Football, I take a look at how Women’s Euros has changed the game and what it means for Marketers.

Check out my 15-step action plan for brands in the new era of women’s football HERE.

Sportswomen are the new Disney Princesses

Baywatch babes were the TV role models when I was growing up but now girls have sport’s Heroines to watch on their screens.

England footballers Leah Williamson and Beth Mead topped parent’s list of 20 most confidence boosting icons for kids – ahead of the likes of Ariana Grande.

In fact, 7 out of the top 10 were sportswomen.

Disney co-ran the parent-study as part of their new role model-led initiative; Ultimate Princess Celebration: Time to Shine.

Disney’s initiative will be fronted by Lioness captain, Leah Williamson and aims to inspire and grow the confidence of young children as they prepare to start school.

Sportswomen as authentic ‘Impact Influencers’

Combine the power of role models noted above with the online movement toward ‘authenticity’ and ‘Impactful Influencers’ and sportswomen are a goldmine for brands.

Sportswomen perform in the ultimate authentic and raw setting….sweating with in-the-moment emotion and all while in an ordinary soccer uniform as opposed to appearing as edited movie stars or musicians and artists in performance mode.

The opportunity for brands to better leverage sportswomen like that of Doctor, former Afghan refugee and professional footballer, Nadia Nadim as Influencers and Ambassadors is ripe.

Sailing into gender-equity

I met NZ SailGP’s Blair Tuke and Women’s Pathway Programme sailor, Liv MacKay during their Copenhagen race.

The ground-breaking Women’s Pathway Programme evolved this season from what was a training programme to one which has a woman on board as part of the six-person racing crew.

I love how SailGP are treating this programme as a work-in-progress, not afraid to say they don’t have all the answers to what a best-in-class equitable mixed-gender sailing competition entails but that they are constantly learning and listening.

Greater inclusion within sports like sailing which have historically been male-centric is going to be a must-have if they hope to thrive in terms of fandom and commercial revenue.

Bravo SailGP!

Landrover revs into women’s sport with a ￡2m celebration

Landrover has driven into women’s sport with sponsorship of Women’s Rugby World Cup, gender-equity striving SailGP and now there are reports of a ￡2m deal with Euro’s final goal-scorer, Chloe Kelly.

Without knowing the terms and even as someone who advocates for women’s sport sponsorship, Chloe’s deal sounds remarkedly high for what no doubt has been heavily driven by just one moment.

If they had the foresight, Landrover could have nabbed her for a single % of this price tag or likely the whole Lionesses team for that sum prior to Euros!

I’d love brands to get behind sportswomen using a wider lens but the moral of the story is to get behind these Heroines and future cultural icons yesterday!

Hey DE&I Leaders

Looking for a keynote speaker on topics like ‘Inclusive Leadership’ using the power of sport to connect with your team? Drop me a note on rebecca@teamheroine.com 

Linkedin are linking me up

I’ve become an official member of the Linkedin Creator Programme and I’m looking forward to supercharging my voice around women’s sport on Linkedin.

If you’re not already, follow me on Linkedin to stay afoot with the daily happenings in women’s sport sponsorship and marketing HERE.