Heroine Hit November

A monthly newsletter covering women’s sport sponsorship, marketing & innovation

Wrapping Up 2021

Hi everyone,

It was a year ago in hotel quarantine that I decided to start my monthly Heroine Hit newsletter.

I wasn’t sure if anyone would even read it but hundreds of you have come along for the ride each month.

Thanks for joining the journey, for all the positive messages and on-going support.

This will be my last Heroine Hit for 2021 and I will back in action in January but you can follow me on Linkedin to get my gospel until then.

Here’s to a great year of women’s sport and to an even better one next year!

Bex

Best Campaigns Of 2021

My annual Top 10 Women’s Sport Campaigns is back for it’s third year.

This is my most popular blog each year with over 15,000 reads.

I recommend linking through to the full blog HERE where you can easily view each campaign video alongside more details but I’ve outlined the winners below:

10th Place - AFLW Good Wife Guide
9th Place - Michelob Ultra Beer & See It, Save It
8th Place - Suncorp & The Drive
7th Place - Google x Women Will
6th Place - Dick’s Sporting Goods & There She Is
5th Place - UEFA Champions League & Queens Of Football
4th Place - Barclays FA Women’s Super League
3rd Place - Guinness Six Nations x Wikipedia
2nd Place - CarMax & Sue Bird vs Steph Curry
1st Place - DANZ & We All Rise With More Eyes

Gotta-know

1) Ford became the naming rights sponsor of New Zealand Ford Football Ferns

2) Weber Women’s Big Bash cricket smashed it for six with 5m viewers across the season and a record 15,500 fans and 535, 000 viewers for the final

3) Matildas vs USA drew a record attendance of 36,109 women’s football fans despite Covid restrictions and bad weather

4) There is record interest in hosting football’s Euro in 2025 with Scandinavia, Poland, France, Switzerland and Ukraine vying for the tournament

5) Inter Milan women’s team secured Mastercard as a stand-alone front-of-jersey sponsor

Offsiders Award

Arsenal pick up my second Offsiders Awards for failing to include a single women on their 12-member ‘Fan Advisory Board’ (pictured below)

What makes matters worse is that this board was established to advise on issues including:
a) Diversity & inclusion
b) Growth of women’s football & raising the profile of Arsenal women’s players

They didn’t even include a fan representative from the official Arsenal women’s team fan club.

What a way to alienate female fans and make your women’s players feel completely undervalued.

Inclusive Leadership

I was honored to present to Air New Zealand leaders on ‘Inclusive Leadership’ using my experience in women’s sport.

My key message was that ‘Small plays can change the game’ and I included a number of women’s sport examples to prove the point.

The fly-wheel diagram below demonstrates how various actions can fuel a bigger narrative and in turn create a strong culture and sense of belonging.

If your organisation or team is looking for a speaker on Diversity and Inclusion, feel free to send me an email at Rebecca@teamheroine.com

Women’s Sport Centric-Partnerships

They may not be record-breaking sponsorship deals but they are some of the most user-centric partnerships I’ve seen around women’s sport.

Women’s Cricket World Cup has teamed up with Porse to provide childcare services at all 31 World Cup matches in NZ in a few months. As a mum to a toddler this is an absolute no-brainer and one that would get me paying to attend, even if I wasn’t a cricket fan!

American pro soccer club, Racing Louisville have partnered with Kentucky Fertility Institute to offer player’s the option of fertility preservation services.

Check Your Bias

Sydney Morning Herald ran this interesting article on a gender-bias sport experiment.

They showed a live game of a men’s and a women’s football match to a group of football fans.

57% of this group said the MEN’S game was higher quality.

The other group were shown the same games but using gender-less animated stick figures.

This time 59% of the football fans said the WOMEN’S game was higher quality.

They put the results down to not just unconscious bias but also the way they are presented.

Men’s games are presented in a more exciting manner and sold using descriptions like ‘battle of the rivals’ compared to a ‘cheap and enjoyable family day out’ for women’s games.

My Latest NFT Purchase

I bought this NFT of 13-year old skateboarding sensation and Team GB Olympic bronze medalist, Sky Brown for £42.

It was part of Team GB’s official Olympic NFT collection and a collaboration with Yoplait.

Why I brought this ‘Jpeg’:

a) Proceeds went to charity, Skateisan to get more girls into skating
b) As a champion of women’s sport, I like to ‘walk the talk’
c) I think NFT’s and Web 3 are a huge opportunity for women’s sport and I think you learn best by ‘doing’
d) Sky Brown’s Heroine status is only going to grow and I think the value of this NFT could grow with it
e) By collecting women’s sport NFT’s, it gives me a collectible to showcase that I’m part of a community of women’s sport supporters

You can still grab yourself one HERE.

Inspiring Girls & BOYS

Women’s sport isn’t just about inspiring the next generation of young girls!

I’ll leave you and 2021 with this powerful image of boys scrambling to get their hands on Black Fern, Chey Robins-Reti’s boot after playing France.

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