The France Telecom owned mobile brand Orange leveraged its partnership with the French Football Federation (FFF) ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup through a ‘VFX Trick Play’ activation illustrating that female footballers are just as skillful as men.
Created by agency Marcel, the brief was to create a campaign that challenged the perception that women’s football isn’t as thrilling or technically proficient as the men’s game. The resulting high-tech creative sees Orange show that there actually can be gender equality in soccer.
Titled ‘Compil des Bleues / Blues Compilation’, the campaign launched in the last week of June across France to boost national support for the women’s national team and leverage spiking soccer interest ahead of the Australia and New Zealand jointly hosted Women’s World Cup kick off on 20 July.
The two-minute short film initially deep-fakes viewers into believing they are watching a compilation of action from the French men’s national team with skillful moves seemingly from French super stars Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann. But as the spot plays out, the perspective shifts and viewers realise that it’s actually a compilation featuring Sarkina Karchaoui, Selma Bacha and other stars of the women’s national team.
To create the clip, the agency team at Marcel sifted through footage from more than 80 men’s and women’s matches.
The campaign – which was developed and produced over the course of 2023 with the production phase along taking five months – runs through the tournament across TV, digital and social platforms including channels owned by L’Équipe, BeIN Sports, Foot Mercato and the Fédération Française de Football, as well as being seeded through influencers across YouTube, Twitter and Snapchat.
The hero video was shared by current soccer stars and former football players from both the women’s and men’s national teams, as well as by various other French sports personalities and even by the French Minister of Sports.
“Although attitudes are changing, especially thanks to the 2019 Women’s FIFA World Cup held in France, we quickly realized that in TV shows, comments on social media, or conversations heard in bars, the discourse surrounding women’s football is still catastrophic, sexist, and full of prejudices that have no place in 2023,” said Marcel Strategic Planner Margaux Grenouilloux. “We knew that football fans always disagreed on many topics: clubs, players, predictions, the level of women’s teams. But we knew that there was one thing they never questioned: beautiful technical skills. The love for skillful plays that garner millions and millions of views on streaming platforms, with ‘best-of’ videos on specialize channels followed by countless football fans.”
Outcome/Results
Despite the increased visibility of women’s football, In 2023, researchers at Durham University found that over two-thirds of male football fans still hold negative attitudes towards women’s sport and yet the increased visibility of and interest in women’s football combined with a cunning slice of soccer deepfakery saw this campaign generate more than 15m ad views.
Plus, according to the agency, it spawned more than 50 articles in the mainstream, marketing and sports media and was also mentioned during French prime-time TV news. Plus it was even shared on social media by the French Minister of Sports as well as by a number of World Cup- and medal-winning athletes.
Comment
In addition to its inventive technology, this campaign showcases soccer excellence and not only aims to change the perception that women’s football is less skillful than the men’s game, but drives home a message that great football is great football and that it all brings people together.
The activation was also informed by research from France’s ‘High Council for Gender Equality’ which showed that sexism persists in France, sexist stereotypes remain prevalent and even that its most violent manifestations are worsening.
The study found that among men aged 25 to 34, nearly 25% believe that violence is sometimes necessary to earn respect and 40% find it normal for women to stop working to care for their children. The same research says that 80% of women feel they are treated worse than men because of their gender.
Against that research, Orange’s objective for the campaign was to support parallel equality efforts focusing on protection and enforcement and to address people at a young age and urge them to support gender equality.
It was in June 2022 that the FFF announced the renewal of its ‘€5.5m-a-year, four-year partnership with telco Orange which includes both the French men’s and women’s national soccer teams. This extends and original sponsorship signed in 2018 and the new deal runs until 2026.
In terms of the rights package and branding, in addition to collaborative marketing initiatives the Orange logo will also remain on national team training kits and across the FFF’s physical and digital inventory.
The activation also sees Orange continue its long-time commitment to supporting French sports teams and assoictaing with football. The brand has been an FFF partner for 24 years and the tie-up has included both the men and women’s teams since 2018. Interestingly, Orange also allocates equal financial, marketing and communication support budgets to activating around both national teams.
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