Team Orange Football proved that women’s soccer is just as technical as men’s, with a powerful ad aimed at changing perceptions of women’s sports. 

The ad appears to be celebrating the technical skill of the men’s football team Les Bleus, featuring stars like Griezmann and Mbappe, before revealing a twist – that the footage we’ve just seen was actually the women’s team. 

Achieved through the use of deepfake technology, the ad has been praised online for addressing bias in the sports world and speaking directly to critics who claim that the women’s team are not as technically skilled as the men’s. 

The final between Spain and England on Sunday was a testament to the fact that women’s football is just as skilled and exciting as men’s. And with viewership of the World Cup predicted to have passed 2 billion over the course of the tournament, it seems that the public agrees.

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CALM teamed up with none other than England footballer Fran Kirby to shed light on suicide rates in young women. The ONS found that one woman under the age of 25 dies by suicide every two days in the UK.

A stellar film was needed to capture the public’s attention. Director Natalie Rae got straight to the task of formulating ‘Unseen Signals’. The film featured a striking image of Fran Kirby on the field in the World Cup, raising her hand for help after being fouled. But no one pays attention. 

Why? Because we have to recognise the signals to help these women get the support they need, especially when one-fifth of suicidal women feel their experiences are dismissed. Crafted using a mix of real gameplay and green screen moments made the film feel incredibly realistic. After launching during the height of the tournament, it’s safe to say they succeeded in bringing awareness to the issue of young women’s mental health. 

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Following the success of the Lionesses’ in the 2022 Euros, a study has found that 57% of women are more likely to watch football matches in the pub. 

But despite the football buzz taking over the country this summer, one in three female football fans stated they have avoided cheering their teams on because they’re worried about their safety getting home post-match. 

And with the ever-rising cost of living, the UK public has been ditching taxis and Ubers, being left with little option but to walk or get public transport after nights out despite reporting concerns for their safety.

This widespread apprehension has been the driving force behind the creation of WalkSafe, a personal safety app dedicated to empowering people to get home safely by leveraging data like police crime reports to create a live map of the safest route home. The software, described by creator Emma Kay as “the app that shouldn’t have to exist”, has seen support from companies like the Budweiser Brewing Group, who partnered with WalkSafe in the hopes of empowering more women to feel safe going out to watch football in pubs and bars this summer.

With WalkSafe being the most downloaded personal safety app in the UK, we hope that more football fans feel empowered to support their team during the World Cup this summer.
 
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Can you believe that it’s been a couple of weeks since records were broken and millions of fans tuned in online or were ticket holders at the stadiums to watch the Women’s World Cup finals? To remind us of its sheer scale:

Over 1.9 million fans turned up at the stadiums for the 2023 tournament, which broke its previous record of 1.35 million during the 2015 games.

BBC One and ITV had a combined peak viewership of over 14.4 million
for the finals.

Spain had its highest TV audience for women’s football, with a peak of 7.4 million viewers.

It goes without saying that although this has been a momentous time for women’s sports, the fans both old and new have played a key role in bringing in the positive headlines, which has created a culture and unique spirit surrounding the tournament. The headlines, the atmosphere and the record-breaking turnout have all nodded to the fact that something has clicked and the fans have helped the world rethink what stepping up and out looks like in 2023. So, as marketers witnessing the shift in this emerging audience, what can we learn here? Where could this take us? How can brands support in taking it to the next level?

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