Missed Opportunities in Women's World Cup 2023 Advertising

Tia Foreman plays left back for Fulham Football Club and works at Ipsos where she specialises in advertising research. Her professional expertise as a footballer and communication expert make her uniquely placed to comment on the state of advertising in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

She has drawn on the sentiments from her football network and Ipsos evidence to support her own point of view.

In an ideal world, this article would read simply “World Cup 2023 Advertising”. It is a little frustrating to see the tournament and the related advertising framed through a gender lens vs. the men’s game. It leaves me hankering for more enjoyment and enthusiasm.

Ipsos, in collaboration with #SeeHer, have shown the potential business impact of non-stereotypical women's portrayals in ads, both on short term sales lift as well as long term brand equity share gain. Just 4% of the Ipsos ad testing database in the US features women as athletes, highlighting an opportunity for brands to stand apart and gain commercially from non-traditional female portrayal.

Our recent polling data showed the Women’s England team are rated more highly in terms of their on-pitch results and off pitch social impact vs. the men’s team. These are fertile, borrowable values for brands. This data also highlighted the need to change the narrative on the quality of football skills as the women’s team is not rated as highly, which is a little heart breaking to see.

In this context, the insight behind arguably the most viral ad so far, by telecoms brand Orange in France, was on point. It surprised viewers with an ad featuring male players’ faces superimposed on female athletes performing impressive football skills. So, while you thought you were watching Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann, you were really enjoying the skills of players such as Sakina Karchaoui and Selma Bacha. Bravo to Orange for effectively challenging gender assumptions in sports. Though I must admit, I can’t help feeling a twinge when 'shock elements' are needed to validate women's football skills.

An Ipsos study from the 2022 Euros showed that three in 10 British adults felt that efforts to tackle sexism in football had not gone far enough. The World Cup offers a key platform for women athletes, and FIFA’s title sponsor Adidas champion them in the ‘Play Until They Can’t Look Away’ campaign which showcases the next generation of talent, including Alessia Russo, Mary Fowler and Lena Oberdorf, in fast-paced scenes displaying skill and creativity.

Another theme observed is fathers and daughters. From the Swiss Football association announcing their squad to Nike’s ‘What The Football’ and the BPI Bank in Portugal’s ‘It’s a Girl’ campaigns. All three campaigns are well done. Nike in particular captures the excitement of the World Cup with a humourous storyline of a dad who falls into a coma while watching football icon Brandy Chastain’s 1999 penalty and wakes up 24 years later. His daughter then brings him up to speed on all the brilliant talent in the game including Debinha, Ada Hegerberg, Chloe Kelly, and Sam Kerr. With the use of the track, ‘Who’s That Girl’ by Eve, it also presents female power and addresses a potential knowledge gap for the audience, this is everything one would expect from a Nike football ad.

Title sponsor Coke's 'Believing is Magic' could grow on you as its 2018 world cup ad did. In 2018 Ipsos measured people’s responses to four world cup ads using EEG to understand emotional engagement around them before and during the tournament. It found that the levels of excitement around the ads grew significantly over the course of the tournament. The 2018 Coca Cola ad saw a positive uplift in emotional engagement as it asked fans if they were “ready for kick off”, suggesting the anxiety and anticipation of the Quarter Final match against Sweden was firmly in people’s mind set.

Nike’s, ‘Like A Lioness’, with an ace backing track by UK artist Ms Banks, demonstrates, power, belief, and individuality. Sport always seems to move faster than society in terms of challenging social biases. With Lotte Wubben-Moy sending the letter to 10 Downing Street about the FA’s decision not to pay player bonuses, to Stanway spray-painting the white shorts blue, these are just a few nods to the impact that the Lionesses are having off the pitch. This ad is a great example of building patriotism and inspiring a community to get together and support these women who are aiming high to achieve their goals.

The ad that really hit home for me was RTÉ Ireland ‘You have to see it to believe it’. This one converted ‘top bins’ by capturing the excitement of a nation watching their nation compete in the World Cup for the first time. If the wall mural of captain Katie McCabe does not encapsulate sheer pride and authentic excitement of a nation, what does?

Overall, it is the absence of buzz (relatively) that gets to me. Also, the ratio of broadcaster to brand ads doesn’t feel quite right for the start of the tournament. Yes, brands can start to advertise as the tournament progresses and base their media on how the national team is performing. But, have they missed a unique opportunity in 2023 to get in early and capitalise on those borrowable values from the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup?

Key takeaways

So, here are my pointers for brands going forward:

• Recognise the commercial potential evidenced by the effectiveness boost from non-traditional female portrayal and burgeoning interest in the Women’s Sport.
• Start early in the tournament when its quieter and amp up your campaign over the course of the tournament. The same ad can wear in as the tournament progresses.
• Give female players and their achievements the spotlight. There is headroom to elevate the narrative off the soapbox and into people’s imaginations.
• Fandom, excitement, and energy are key to successful sports sponsorships, regardless of who is on the field.