Women's Sport and the Athletes: The Opportunity for Brands to be Seen & Heard

Spotlight on Content Creator and Football Freestyler Harriet Pavlou

Opinion Piece from Katie Shaw, Global Head of Brand Engagement at Entourage Sport & Entertainment

Ahead of the UEFA Women’s EURO Final this Sunday and seeing how the competition has attracted fans around the world over the last 3 weeks, Katie Shaw, Global Head of Brand Engagement at Entourage Sport & Entertainment gives an insight into how brands can build value across sport with strategic partnerships and clever content opportunities to amplify authentic voices within female sport.

With the appetite and excitement for woman’s sport and their athletes continuing to grow on such a positive trajectory, both as a spectator and from a commercial standpoint, this space is proving itself to be one which can benefit brands now more than ever.

Across my 14 years’ experience of working across both men and women’s sport, the majority of the output has been aimed at men, with stories surrounding women often untold and unheard. Women and girls present an opportunity to share a different story, to push boundaries and encourage a new age of fans to engage with different messaging and create something new. This gives brands a huge opportunity to be creative, break down barriers and move away from the more traditional forms of sponsorship allowing them to stand out and curate partnerships that truly benefit their brand objectives.

With the digital and media landscape constantly evolving and new native platforms being introduced at a rapid rate there is a wave of new interest in sports content, creating innovative opportunities for brands to build audiences and associate with existing ones, connecting with fans in a far more targeted way. This also gives brands the platform to be far more creative in the ways it serves its growing audience as the opportunities within the digital space are endless. With the success of men’s sport largely being based on traditional broadcast revenue, this presents an opportunity for woman’s sport to shift its offering and tell a new, creative and meaningful story.?

As Nielsen Sports identified in The Rise of Women’s Sport research, women’s sport is seen as more inspiring, more progressive, more family-oriented and inclusive, cleaner and less money driven opening up opportunities for brands to engage with cause-focused and purpose driven campaigns, complementing their brand strategies, opening up a whole new pyramid of brands that wouldn’t traditionally consider sponsorship as part of their marketing strategy.

In addition, there is also a commercial opportunity for brands, with male sports often being too competitive and cost prohibited, whereas women personalities and women sports can offer opportunities for brands operating with smaller budgets.

With women’s sport beginning to get the focus it deserves across multiple channels and this providing numerous opportunities for brands which deliver tangible value to them, we are seeing the impact in regards to the pipeline for female talent at Entourage S&E.

One personality, who since joining Entourage S&E’s roster of talent is having huge success within this space is the content creator and football freestyler, Harriet Pavlov. Harriet, who began working with us towards the end of last year after taking part in Soccer Aid. With bags full of personality, and millions of followers across her online channels, Entourage S&E finetuned her commercial strategy by positioning Harriet not solely as a freestyler, but an authentic, amplifying voice within sport as a whole.

More recently for the UEFA Women’s EUROs, Harriet partnered with Paddy Power to parody what is often her reality having to break down stigmas around women in sport, working with a brand that is never shy is sharing bold messages within sport. This is just the latest in a series of partnerships with market-leaders for Harriet.

From playing alongside sporting icons in Heineken South Africa’s All-Invitational match to taking in the sights of the San Siro with BT Sport. Rubbing shoulders with the triumphant Red Roses through O2’s RFU partnership and taking on Arsenal first-team players with club sponsor, Ball Corp. Nutmegging Neymar with Red Bull in Qatar then swapping for a slightly smaller ball with The Hundred & English Cricket Board. Surprising grassroots players with OneFootball?before inspiring the next generation through UEFA’s Women’s EUROs Roadshow events.

Harriet and so many other female athletes have a real opportunity to continue carving a path in what is undeniably a growing audience and with a number of key women’s sporting events coming up, such as the Women’s Rugby World Cup later this year and the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023, the appetite and excitement can only grow and brands will be able to benefit if they have a meaningful role in this space.