15/03/2022

NCAA Sponsor Buick Celebrates Great Unseen Moments In Women’s Sports With ‘See Her Greatness’

Leveraging its status as a partner of the NCAA and of its showpiece March Madness college basket tournament, Buick is shining a spotlight on all women’s sports through a multi-pronged initiative called #SeeHerGreatness: a commitment to increasing women’s sporting visibility by encouraging viewership, supporting initiatives that drive equity and creating platforms for women to have meaningful conversations about the issues that face them.

 

 

 

 

 

As a long-time NCAA partner, Buick has celebrated the achievements of all athletes, but following recent brand research (which found that while more than 40% of athletes are women, they receive less than 10% of sports media coverage) the US car company has upped its focus on female athletes and sporting equality through ‘See Her Greatness’.

 

This is a March Madness led activation, created with Leo Burnett and Jack Morton Worldwide, spanning multiple sports based on the idea that with such a stark gender disparity in media sports coverage, most viewers will have missed many of the most thrilling and scintillating moments in female college sports. Thus denying fans real-time thrills and also cheating young female athletes out of much-deserved recognition which typically leads to professional contracts and sponsorship deals.

 

 

There are multiple factors behind this initiative such as Buick’s status as the US car brand with the largest percentage share of female buyers, as well as its corporate values. This initiative sees Buick commit to a mission ‘to help increase women’s visibility in sports by encouraging viewership, supporting initiatives that drive equity, and creating platforms for women to have meaningful conversations about the issues that face them’.

 

The campaign is hubbed around a dedicated microsite which highlights the challenge and the mission and promoted through a set of content which seeks to highlight recent stand-out women’s sports highlights, generate social media conversation on the topic and to drive viewers online to the brand’s ‘See Her Greatness’ at https://www.buick.com/see-her-greatness web hub.

 

A spearhead series of female sporting highlight spots – ‘Buzzer Beater’, ‘Record Breaker’ and ‘Golden Goal’ – drive home the message by juxtaposing audio, text and a pointed lack of any accompanying visuals to illustrate the insufficient coverage NCAA women’s sports receive across US media platforms.

 

 

 

 

Viewers are also encouraged to visit the campaign’s YouTube channel for in-depth interviews and Q&A sessions with NCAA players, teams and coaches in a series called the ‘Buick Huddle’.

 

A collaboration with TOGETHXR (the media and commerce company started by female US sports stars Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim, Simone Manuel and Sue Bird) the ‘Buick Huddle’ is a year-long project to connect fans with legendary women athletes via ‘Women’s Soccer Huddle at WCC’ (with Julie Foudy, Tierna Davidson and Sofia Huerta) and ‘Women’s Volleyball Huddle’ (with LaChina Robinson and Alix Klineman).

 

 

 

“As the auto brand with the largest percentage share of female buyers, Buick is committed to inclusivity and equality for women,” said Buick Head Of Media Strategy & Partnerships Anthony Biondo. “We hope to see a rise in the viewership of women’s sports and increase their representation in media coverage. With the upcoming 50th anniversary of Title IX, we want women to see a brighter future for themselves in athletics and beyond.”

 

This is just one major strand in the car company’s March Madness marketing: other activation phases include game-related content and a real-time, audio stream-led NCAA March Madness in-vehicle app.

 

The agency creative and production team working on the project included Executive Creative Directors Steve Glinski and Tim Thomas, Creative Directors Dan Councilor, Tom Topolewski, Chris Handyside, Vinny Dearaujo and Andre Felix, Head Of Business Affairs Sarah Romain, Legal Executives Cynthia Fannon and Tina Conte, Talent Managers Deb McCauley-Ellis and Doreen Jones, Director of Integrated Production Brian Dooley, Executive Producer Erik Zaar, Account Managers Jim Bickers, Yanlin Sun, Emily Harrington, Lauren Pesta, Angela D’Aristotile and Natalya Sana, Strategists Matt MacDonell, Julie Wagner, Roshen Mathew and Kaylin Scott, plus Community Managers John Hill and Mark Grossi.

 

The Cutters production team included Editor Kathryn Hempel, Assistant Editor Ryann Harrison, Flames Steve Sweik and Ann Allen, with graphics handled by Scott Stephens and colour by Eric Mauer, with Executive Producers Becky Smialek and Heather Richardson and Producer Alison Collins.

 

Sound design was by Finger Music and Sound Design with Creative Director Dave Hodge, Production Coordinator Jordan Rich and Executive Producer Ewa Miller.

 

 

Comment

 

US brand sponsors are clearly moving up a gear in their support for female sports.

 

For example, ESPN is rolling out preparing ‘Title IX’ programming celebrating the landmark civil rights law and its enduring impact on female athletes, while late last year Michelob Ultra pledged $100m in media time to women’s sports over the next five years and in early 2022 Degree Deodorant invited fans to fill out women’s March Madness brackets in its own response to the tournament’s men’s teams receiving a massively and unfairly inordinate share of attention.

 

 

 



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