Thanks to a new season ‘WNBA Game Days Fits’ fashion-focused activation by Changemaker partner Google, the league’s fans no longer need to search high and low for style ideas as Google Lens is offering a new way to showcase the hoops stars’ ‘tunnel fits’.
Spanning TV, digital, social and PR and launched around the WNBA’s 19 May 2023 season tip-off, Google rolled out a campaign showcasing new ways to search as players show off their ‘tunnel fits’ led by a hero 30-second ad titled ‘Game Day Fits’.
The spearhead spot, which debuted on air on ESPN’s coverage of the season opening game between the Phoenix Mercury and LA Sparks, features a strong team up player ambassadors including Kelsey Plum, DiDi Richards, Diamond DeShields, Arike Ogunbowale and Kahleah Copper.
Set to the ‘Go Up’ track by Gizzle and dropping across the sponsor’s social platforms from 19 May, ‘New Ways To Search: WNBA Game Day Fits’ invites fans and viewers to ‘check out and shop new fits’ and explore ‘new ways to search’ by downloading the new Google app and tapping the Lens icon (https://lens.google/).
Developed internally by the Alphabet-owned outfit’s Google’s Creative Lab Team, ‘WNBA Game Day Fits’ is part of the upcoming “New Ways to Search” campaign highlighting new features in the Google search app. The spot shows fashionable stars arriving on game day and illustrates how fans watching can easily search outfits the players are wearing.
The women’s basketball activation, which is part of a wider Google campaign highlighting ‘new ways to search’, emerged after an analysis of 2022 statistics found that ‘WNBA fashion’ searches more than doubled last year and so the social and search giant saw an opportunity to leverage the league’s spiking popularity (after all, 2022 was the WNBA’s most-watched season in 14 years).
The initiative sees Google Lens help WNBA fans find the pieces worn by their favourite players and then extends this tool and idea to suggest that ‘the next time you encounter a dreamy outfit in the wild and are too nervous to ask the person wearing it where they bought it, try Google Lens to find similar items with the camera on your smartphone.’
The women’s hoops league spot is part of a larger ‘new ways to search’ campaign rolling out through Spring/Summer 2023.
The 2023 season marks Google’s third year as a top tier ‘WNBA Changemaker’: the league’s marquee sponsorship program designed to help it revolutionise its fan offering and business model. Indeed, according to Google VP Of Global Marketing Marvin Chow, this season the tech giant’s strategy is evolving to put more of a spotlight on players themselves.
“It was exciting to work with and feature players who have been at the forefront of advocating for equity in women’s sport and growing the reach of women’s basketball,” explained Chow. “When it came to bringing this to the WNBA, athletes’ elaborate game day outfits were a perfect match – this was confirmed by Search interest, which showed that searches for ‘WNBA fashion’ had doubled last season compared to the prior season.”
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Fashion and female sports has come a long way since the ‘pink-it-and-shrink-it’ days of the 1990s and basketball and street fashion now go hand-in-hand in the USA.
Google and Las Vegas Aces point guard Plum already had an existing ambassador relationship and the company plans to create more content with the star in the coming months. Plus Google will also collaborate with ESPN through the season on various initiatives including expanding the ‘ESPN WNBA Countdown’.
“The WNBA provided the opportunity for Google to have real impact, and we’re proud of our work with the league and ESPN to televise more games and shine a light on amazing athletes who don’t always get the attention they deserve,” outlined Google Director of Global Sports, Media and Entertainment Marketing Kate Johnson. “The rich culture of the league, players and the many dimensions of fandom allow us to demonstrate Google Search’s meaningful role in helping fans and players alike dive deeper into all aspects of the game they love.”
Google’s new activation is the latest example of a Changemaker elevating its commitment to the WNBA. The tech company had already partnered with ESPN to bring more games to national television, and this year the league will have a historic 205 live broadcasts and streams during the regular season.
Other fresh Changemaker partner initiatives include Deloitte working with the league to completely overall its app and website for the new season, while just before tip-off the WNBA unveiled CarMax joined as its sixth Changemaker.
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