BT-owned EE rolled out a third wave of work under its ‘Hope United’ squad to launch ‘GayVAR’:an integrated campaign which leverages the mobile operators’ status as the lead partner of The Football Association (The FA) and its flagship Wembley Stadium by highlighting and tackling online homophobia in football.
Inspired by the game’s VAR (Video Assistant Referee) feature and fronted by former England international Joe Cole and comedian Tom Allen, ‘GayVAR’ is built around an online tool and video content series that encourages fans to take a stand and call out online homophobic hate whenever they see or experience it.
Created in harness with agency Saatchi & Saatchi, with PR run through sport and entertainment specialists Pitch Marketing and media buying by Essence, the activation launched with an introductory video deployed across brand platforms from 22 February.
The campaign was promoted across the brand, sports partner and agency digital and social channels and the launch spot was followed 48 hours later by additional spots from the series such as ‘Missed Interception’ and ‘Hate Pass’.
The EE and agency team will monitor social media across a set of three Premier League game weeks (beginning on 24 February with the Premier League match between Fulham and Wolves) and will post GayVAR content in response to specific match moments identified as generating spikes in online homophobic abuse – such as poor individual player performances, goalkeeping errors, diving and, of course, defeats.
The content is led by a set of short videos highlighting the offensive, ridiculous and archaic nature of homophobia and these will be deployed across EE’s social media channels specifically refuting claims that homophobic remarks are merely ‘banter’.
Other established members of EE’s ‘Hope United’ squad – including Rio Ferdinand, Lucy Bronze and Andy Robertson – feature in a free online video content series in which they share digital skills to educate users on how to challenge and report online homophobic abuse.
Plus, a supplementary post-match-analysis-style video starring England and West Ham midfielder Declan Rice will be released after key Premier League fixtures: in these Rice confronts abuse directed both at him and his fellow players.
A further strand of the initiative sees Hope United shirts made available to purchase with all profits going to Cybersmile (a non-profit committed to digital well-being and tackling all forms of bullying and abuse online).
The campaign was devised in partnership with ‘Football v Homophobia’ (FvH): an international initiative aimed at challenging discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression across all levels in football. FvH is committed to changing minds and behaviours through campaigns, education, advice and guidance, research, policy consultation and capacity building.
“The fact that Hope United is now on its third iteration demonstrates that the nature of online abuse is as varied as it is abhorrent,” stated EE Director Of Marketing Communications Pete Jeavons. “As long as online hate exists, Hope United will have a role to play, and EE will continue to use its platform to help create a more inclusive digital society.”
Saatchi & Saatchi ECD Will John added: “With GayVAR we wanted to flip a format football fans are familiar with, and use it to highlight the real homophobic abuse that happens around the game. There’s a line and if you cross it, it calls it.”
Football v Homophobia Campaign Director Lou Englefield commented: “Fans, players, clubs and brands are in such a strong position to put a stop to homophobic abuse, and share the fact that it’s as simple as putting your hand up and saying ‘that’s not ok’. Football should be for everyone and this is the key message everyone should share.”
The campaign was created for EE by a team at agency Saatchi & Saatchi which included CCO Franki Goodwin, Executive Creative Director William John, Creative Director Ali Dickinson, Copywriter Sarah Heavens, Art Director Neil Ritchie, Head Of Art Rodrigo Castellari, Executive Design Director Nathan Crawford, Designers Kris Miklos, Marco Balducci and George Colledge, Planning Director Ophelia Stimpson, Managing Partner Jon Tapper, Business Leader Sophie Degraft-Johnson, Account Director Elliot Handler, Senior Account Manager Maddie Williams, plus Agency Producers Jack Robinson, Lauren Pickard and Gabriela Nieto.
Media buying was handled by Essence where the team was led by Media Planner Lillie Norton.
The production company was Iconoclast London with Director Glenn Kitson, Production Co-Producer Gloria Bowman and Editor Rachael Spann (from At Work), with post handled by Electric Theatre Collective and Producer Alex Carswell, with Sound Engineer Mark Hills from Factory.
Comment
This is the third iteration in the ‘Hope United’ initiative and its February launch coincides with ‘LGBT History Month’ and ‘FvH’s Month of Action’: the latter focuses on asking supporters, clubs, players and football authorities to increase efforts to challenging homophobic attitudes in the game.
GayVAR’s launch followed on from research commissioned by EE that found around three quarters (71%) of Brits feel that homophobia is a problem in football: a percentage that rises to 88% among LGBTQ+ respondents. While, 40% of those interviewed believe that social media exacerbates the issue. And 25% say that they have witnessed online homophobic hate first hand in the last two years. Yet, concerningly, only 27% of those witnesses to homophonic abuse took any action.
This work is a continuation of the original ‘Hope United’ initiative which launched in 2021 ahead of the UEFA European Championships to tackle all forms of online hate, while a second ‘Not Her Problem’ phase tackling the topic of sexist hate ran around the UEFA Women’s European Championships in 2022.
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