What Women's Football can Learn from Other Sports and the Brands Leading the Way

On a recent Footballco Business Podcast, our guest was Jenny Mitton , Managing Partner and Women’s Sport Lead at M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment London .

Jenny joined us to discuss women’s football, its rise in prominence in recent years, what brands are doing or should be doing, and how much of a challenge this year is with no major international women’s football tournament to focus on. We also got to talk about Jenny’s experience in other sports to see what lessons they can provide for women’s football.

This newsletter contains three highlights from the show, but you can listen in full by clicking below.

Knocked for Six

The rise in popularity of women's football in the UK and the range of new brands engaging with women's sport has often been attributed to the success of the 2022 Women's Euro. A combination of a domestic tournament combined with the Lionesses lifting the trophy being the perfect platform to raise the profile of the game and bring in new audiences and advertisers.

While some were surprised by Euro 2022's success, Jenny saw this coming, given her work across other sports.

I actually had a bit of a preview beforehand. So I think I alluded my first big campaign was in cricket. And actually back in 2017, I don't know if you can remember that wonderful day at Lords for the Women's Cricket World Cup final. Everyone turned on the TV, we didn't have the striped suits and sort of, white male faces. We had this eclectic crowd of different faces, young, old - huge diversity. And it was sold out for a women's game.

It was thrilling, quite tense. There was a bit of jeopardy in that game. I think they won by only about nine runs in the end, but went on to become World Cup champions. And that for us was a huge moment, not because the crowd looked different, but then when the ECB released some insights post-match, we saw their behaviour was different too. So they were, rather than buying pints of beer and probably champagne at Lords they were spending huge amounts on coffee. And suddenly, I think brands and rights holders went, this is interesting. Not only are we bringing different people into sport, but they are behaving and spending differently, which gives us an opportunity potentially to work with different brands who would normally probably not have a role. I'm not sure how many coffee brands thought they could make millions from sort of rowdy football fans, but in the women's sports space, everyone's willing to part four pounds for a great cup of coffee.

Learning from Other Sports

This newsletter and podcast focus on football, but as Jenny highlighted during her interview, football doesn't always lead the way. There are a number of examples of where football can learn from other sports. Sometimes, these sports are more nimble or willing to take risks, such as women's rugby.

I think football has been at the forefront because as you alluded to, there's more money in the space. They've been enabled to invest. It's also the biggest sport in the country. I think half the population consider themselves to be a football fan, which is pretty staggering when you think about all the multiple passion points that you could have. But there have been some other sports I think have been a bit braver in some areas and have tested the water that football can learn from. I think football is sometimes held back because all eyes are on it.

And I think they're very conscious they're linked to a really successful men's team in most cases. They're really conscious about doing it well and not falling over and failing.

I think some other sports are up for a bit of trial and error and testing things out a bit more. So a really good example is the Women's Rugby League, they've actually handed over the social channels to the players. The players run it. They create the content, they deliver it. You've got to remember these are young 20-year-old girls, late teen girls. Social is their life. They can probably edit better than most of us.

And they've been entrusted to show their personalities. They don't have to worry about having media briefings. They're just showing up as them in their life on the training field. And I think it's about looking at other sports that maybe don't have the constraints that you might have if you're part of a really well-established club and being a bit braver with the women's team like rugby league have.

Invest and be Authentic

The growth of women's football has not only presented new opportunities to brands already endemic in the sport but has also resulted in brands new to football entering the space. Jenny praised a few of these brands but highlighted the need to show authenticity.

For me, the brand everyone is talking about at the moment is Adobe . They've come into the FA Cup, which, if we're honest, I think for a long time has been more of a fledgling football brand. Of all the properties, it's probably been the one that has older associations, it maybe feels a bit tired. They have come in and completely supercharged the approach to the competition.

When you think of Adobe, you probably don't think of Gen Z, fashion, music. They've really targeted the core football fan and they're aligning themselves with a younger group, which I'm assuming is who they're looking to target in terms of the sort of business growth and future -proofing their customer base.

But they haven't just invested, it's how they've invested. They've really shown up in a way that's authentic to this growing audience. It's celebratory. I've seen people across, whether it's hardcore women's football fans, which I mentioned before, it's really important to still speak to this audience, they're your base, through to new people in the space sharing Adobe content, talking about the fact what they're doing in the space is really cool.

So I think they've been really smart and going, what elements of football culture can we ingrain ourselves in and play an authentic role and help it grow, but also do it in a way that works for our brand. And then, just on the other side, they've leaned into the cultural space. On the other side, Barclays with the Barclays Women's Super League, they have put their money where their mouth is and not only invested at the elite level, but they've also made sure that every single girl can get access to football in schools. So fundamentally, if you're a young girl, you know, if you're 13 and below, all you will know, thanks to Barclay's investment, is I can play football at school. and if I want to be a footballer, I can see footballers on the international stage. They're potentially changing a whole generation. So Gen Alpha, just underneath Gen Z, so 13 and below.

Mitton believes Euro 2022 “changed everything” for women’s soccer in England. On the commercial front, despite exponential growth already, things are only getting started.

Brands that have been first movers in the women’s game have enjoyed plenty of success. Barclays, for example, has been the title sponsor of the Women’s Super League (WSL) since 2019 and is investing significantly in grassroots, helping the bank to become synonymous with stakeholders at all levels of the game.

Mitton also wants women’s soccer properties to be bold and follow the example of other sports. Notably, the Rugby Football League (RFL) has launched new accounts on TikTok and Instagram being run by players to offer different touchpoints, as well as adding unique content. It would be easy for rights holders and brands to treat women’s soccer the same as the men’s, but evidence shows different tactics are required. For starters, the women’s game offers a more inclusive feel and has greater appeal for families looking to attend matches, therefore requiring a different tone in marketing.

On the sales side, there is huge potential in unbundling women’s properties from the men’s. Fifa and Uefa have already made the move, and a study from Deloitte ?forecasts growth in standalone sponsorship deals for women’s teams, especially in soccer, which will likely spark more investment and brand activations.

All this comes as NewCo prepares to take control of the WSL and Women’s Championship from next season. The organisation’s chief executive Nikki Doucet told SportsPro in April that she wants to make the WSL the “most distinctive, competitive and entertaining” women’s soccer league in the world.

However, it’s vital that the wider English soccer pyramid is part of that story. The true mark of success for the domestic women's game will be ensuring player participation, fan engagement and commercial interest extend all the way down to grassroots level.