How many times did you read that women's sports will suffer more than men's during and after pandemic? The pressure to return men's leagues is mostly about ensuring some profit. And that's the main reason behind the restart of the first major league, the German Bundesliga, and the English Premier League that will occur on June 17. But what about women's football? In Germany, Frauenbundesliga returned a few weeks after their male counterpart. The same will not happen in England and the way countries manage returning or cancelling their leagues differ around the world meaning more or less mass media exposure, visibility and sponsors.
Insecurity and loss for women's football during and after COVID 19 represent a huge crisis that, according to Churchill, should never be wasted. So innovation is an obligation, especially in a field that should not stick to the typical way of doing business, where the amount of money needed to promote great activations is much less with the great opportunity to promote results that, besides selling products, could change the society in a very positive way. In this sense, new formats of leagues and content about the sport should be delivered. The tools are available and female athletes do not need to wait for someone to establish rules or foster charity to save their game. They have complete resources on the fingertip to manage and foster a fanbase that will provide sustainability for their careers and promote their sports. It is just a matter of having a good strategy, knowing details about who the fans are, what they want and promote a creative exchange with them that - later on - could become ambassadors of players 'personal brands' and loyal consumers.
Yes, footballers are being called to be more accessible, to broadcast their career in their social media profiles in a unique way, to engage fans with an authentic narrative that has great potential to foster sponsorship opportunities by adding great attributes to brands. So COVID 19 means that there will be losses but the potential to accumulate gains is much greater with creative deliverables with potential to reach millions of fans with a message that goes beyond the sport fostering crucial social changes like gender equality.
So, after listening to this great #talkingsports with Kate Johnson (Head of Global Sports & Entertainment Marketing Partnerships, Content & Media, Google), Angela Ruggiero (CEO Sports Innovation Lab) and Laura Georges (Secretary-General of the French Football Federation) I call digital strategists to collaborate with ideas to raise women's football with basic hints to athletes in order manage their fanbase in an effective way to become great influencers of their sport besides having a constant appeal to sponsors and partners. If you want to join me, send a private message.
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