A three-phase launch phase in late May and early June saw Liverpool FC and primary partner Standard Chartered team up to introduce their new project aimed at empowering, inspiring, educating and supporting girls to play and stay in sport titled ‘Play On’.
‘Play On’’s objective is to boost the number of girls who stay in sport to ensure that more of them are able to take skills they learnt out on the pitch into later phases of their lives where they can use them to achieve life goals.
The roots of the initiative are based on the demonstrable benefits of kids playing sport: which range from achieving in school, to moving out successfully into the world of work and positively influencing and equipping youngsters with transferable skills such as leadership, teamwork a d resilience which are an advantage through all life stages.
But, twice as many girls as boy stop participating in sport from the age of 14 – this decrease is evident all around the world – and research shows it is due to a mix of social, societal, personal and cultural issues.
So the banking brand and the club aim to reverse this trend through its ‘Play On’ programme which is hubbed around a website and includes tools, motivation and incentives for young girl to keep playing sport.
The campaign idea, to utilise the global draw of Liverpool’s first team to grab attention, then subvert the message by asking each player to give one of the girl’s reasons they are quitting, was conceived and created by sport and entertainment agency Octagon’s Jonny Watson and Dan Harrison
The three-part launch phase of the campaign began on 24 May with a PR push, a media event and an initial ‘Play On: Digital Introduction’ video.
This was followed four days later by a tongue-in-cheek, post-game, player interview style spot titled ‘Play On ‘I Quit’. Helmed by Common People Films Director Ben Newbury, it aims to encourage girls to achieve their goals off the pitch
On 5 June, the third stage of the launch campaign rolled out in the form of a spot titled ‘Play On Team Talk’ which was based around an encouraging and rousing dressing room meets classroom motivational speech from iconic Liverpool Manager Jürgen Klopp who urges players and girls to “Be brave. Don’t give up. Keep going.”
All three spots and supporting social content linked by the hashtags #SCLFCPlayOn and #LiftingParticipation, seek to drive viewers online to learn more about the initiative at https://www.sc.com/play-on/
“It was hard to learn that twice as many girls than boys quit sport by the age of 14. The girls we filmed, from Standard Chartered’s ‘Future Makers’ charity arm, often faced overwhelming social pressures and gender typecasting. Intense peer pressure – especially around issues like bullying, stereotypes and body image. Parental pressure – with family members actively discouraging girls from playing sport,” commented Director Ben Newbury.
“And an elusive but deep-rooted inequality within our society – where-by girls are still not treated equally by clubs, schools and culture in general. Some girls quit playing a sport they love because they don’t feel safe walking home from training. Contrast this with the immense support and encouragement that a men’s first team player in the premiership has experienced in his life and it highlights how important this initiative is.”
Common People Films Ramy Dance EP added: “We’re really proud to be part of this great campaign! The whole team worked incredibly hard to ensure it felt authentic whilst amplifying such an important initiative.”
Comment
We admire this clever, creative and important cause campaign.
Particularly the ‘subversion’ within the ‘I Quit’ spot. Its powerful effect comes from just how odd and strange each reason for quitting sounds when uttered by an elite professional male footballer. Thus shining a light on just how differently girls are treated.
The marketing team nailed the ‘tone’ and ‘creative approach’ by blending simplicity with subversion and by using a team of elite male athletes whilst still ensuring a focus on the young female target demographic and landing the message.
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