A May campaign by Fast and Female, a Canadian charitable organisation empowering girls through sport and physical activity, championed gender pay equality in sport revolved around ‘Ally Hoop: The Equal Pay Mascot’.
The campaign, which rolled out around the first ever WNBA pre-season game in Canada, was created by Toronto creative agency Hard Work Club and production outfit 1stAveMachine.
Mascot ‘Ally’ was brought to life in an anchor animated video in which she performs her own signature mascot-style, hype dance.
Plus, Ally’s mascot’ message and journey to the game, played in Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on 13 May, was amplified by an influencer team which included Canadian Olympians, athletes and broadcasters (including Canadian women’s footballer Janine Beckie and Canadian WNBA star Laeticia Amihere) across Instagram and TikTok and was further supported by digital out-of- home, in-restaurant posters and a social media buy.
‘Ally Hoop’ t-shirts and branded merchandise were also sold on the Fast and Female website with all proceeds going towards the cause.
The campaign emerged after mascot pay research which found that the NBA team Denver Nuggets’ ‘Rocky the Mountain Lion’ mascot is paid three times more than the highest-paid WNBA player.
“That stat alone shows just how far today’s female athletes still need to come in the fight for equality,” commented Fast and Female Executive Director Gabriela Estrada. “The campaign approach is an unconventional way to call attention to a serious issue. A mascot’s role is to hype fans, so why not hype them up to be more engaged in pushing for pay equity?”
“Campaigns around equality are often sport montages treated with an earnest tone that detractors simply tune out,” added Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director at Hard Work Club Meghan Kraemer. “We saw an opportunity to come at the issue differently, with a sense of fun that disarms the ‘haters’ in the comment sections of female athletes’ feeds”
Plus, according to the Canadian Women and Sport Rally Report, by age 16, one out of three girls who play sports drops out by age 16, versus one out of 10 boys the same age.
“Women’s sports are advancing because of people in sports doing exactly this – choosing to fight for better,” said Canadian soccer star Janine Beckie. “We can’t sit on the sidelines and hope for change. We need fans to join the movement: buy merchandise, tune into games on TV, share opinions publicly, bring friends to events, call out sexism and hold humanity to a higher standard. There are so many great ways to get involved, but we need to keep raising the bar for visibility.”
“I want little girls and young women everywhere to know that women’s sports are only going up from here,” added Canadian WNBA star Laeticia Amihere. “You can make it; I promise you can. It is important to me to help pave a way for young women. As Ally says, ‘aim high,’ because basketball is on the rise for women. Just watch.”
The campaign was created for client Fast and Female by a team at creative agency Hard Work Club which included Executive Creative Director Meghan Kraemer, Designer Dameon Neath, Production Designer Amanda Braun, Head Of Production Monika Ghobrial, Brand Manager Lindsay Day, Project Manager Cecilia Hui and Brand Manager Cameron Stark.
Production was handled by a team at 1stAveMachine Executive Producers Leticia Christoph and Sabrina Elizondo, Creative Director Jon Lorenz and Animator Jon Lorenz.
Comment
We love a good sports mascot campaign – with recent stand-out mascot marketing initiatives including Pabst Blue Ribbon’s ‘Bogg’s Is Blue’, ESPN’s revived ‘This Is Sports Centre’ series and Paris 2024’s ‘Meet The Phryges’ Olympic mascots – but mosr are simply comic and this is the first cause led sports mascot campaign we’ve come across in recent times.
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