To celebrate the kick-off of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League, the title sponsor launched ‘History Is Anyone’s Now’: a campaign which focuses on the opportunities that Barclays supports for women and girls through football.
The campaign was inspired by the truth that while awareness of the women’s elite game is growing fast, it remains much smaller than the men’s game and so it aims to highlight where women are still missing in football.
Developed in harness with creative agency Iris London, the campaign celebrates the beginning of the competition and also shines a light on Barclays’ and The FA’s grassroots work to make football accessible to all girls in schools.
With the aim of provide more opportunities for girls to play football through to 2024, Barclays is the main sponsor of the FA’s Girls’ Football Schools Partnerships and the bank aims to deliver football through 100 hubs covering 6,000 schools across the country.
The campaign is spearheaded by a launch film and the hero spot will run on UK television and across both the brand and the league’s online platforms.
The spot tells the story of a young girl who is passionate about football: it begins with her watching her male school mates playing while she is stuck on the sidelines and then moves through opportunities for history to be made within the female game with yet to be sculpted statues, yet to be named stadiums and yet to be written headlines.
The ad ends with a voiceover saying: “This is your chance to become an icon, a hero, a legend.” The film closes with the female donning her kit, joining her team and playing the beautiful game. She is in the game and has the opportunity to enjoy it and go as far as she can.”
The film was amplified across both the Barclays and Barclays Football social channels
As the @BarclaysFAWSL gets ready for a record-breaking season, find out how our commitment to women’s football is helping give all girls the same access to football as boys by 2024. https://t.co/xHgY8PIw4F #AllToPlayFor pic.twitter.com/fgo21YjzM0
— Barclays Bank (@Barclays) September 6, 2019
We believe in creating opportunities with football. That’s why we’re the first title sponsor of the @BarclaysFAWSL and committed to giving every girl access to football in schools by 2024. #AllToPlayFor pic.twitter.com/QC4UEgPKRW
— Barclays Football (@BarclaysFooty) September 6, 2019
and the campaign was supported by additional social media kick-off content pieces.
The opening weekend of the @BarclaysFAWSL got off to a historic start, with record numbers watching the games. See what the fans had to say about it as @ChelseaFCW took on @SpursWomen. #AllToPlayFor
— Barclays Bank (@Barclays) September 9, 2019
Did you know a third of British adults are fans of women’s football? Ahead of the new @BarclaysFAWSL season our research shows a shifting trend in women’s football and the power it has to transform young lives at the grassroots level. https://t.co/XOShqIF9CH #AllToPlayFor pic.twitter.com/RanFtjsq94
— Barclays Bank (@Barclays) September 3, 2019
“With a successful professional game and equal opportunities for girls at the grassroots level, we can change the perception over time so that the national game is for everyone,” said Barclays Head of Sponsorship and Media Tom Corbett.
The campaign was created for Barclays by a team from creative agency and sponsorship consultancy Iris which included Managing Partner Sally Taplin, Managing Partner Nico Tuppen, Executive Creative Director Rachid Ahouiyek, Senior Creatives Ric Blank and Calum Langley, Strategy Director Raj Thambirajah, Account Director Alex Peel, Account Manager Luci Kininmonth, plus Agency Executive Producer (Moving Image) Michael Hanney, Agency Producers Ricky O’Neil, Christina Pagliarini and Lu Howlett and Photographer Dan Ross.
The media agency was OMD, the production company was Stink Films, the director was Tom Green and the edit house was Stitch.
Comment:
This compelling, powerful film promotes an admirable campaign which follows on from The FA’s ongoing commitment to and creative around the women’s game which includes recent initiatives such as ‘Journey To Wembley’ (see case study), its ‘Social World Cup Squad reveal’ (see case study), a Hasbro partnership based around the first ever women’s Subbuteo game (see case study) and 2017’s ‘There’s More To Football Than Football’ initiative (see case study).
Links:
https://twitter.com/BarclaysFooty
https://www.instagram.com/barclaysuk/
https://www.facebook.com/BarclaysUK/
https://www.youtube.com/user/Barclays
Iris
http://www.iris-worldwide.com/
Barclays FA Women’s Super League
https://faplayer.thefa.com/home/womens-super-league
https://twitter.com/BarclaysFAWSL
https://www.instagram.com/BarclaysFAWSL/
https://www.facebook.com/BarclaysFAWSL
https://www.youtube.com/user/fawsl
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