The Challenge
Develop a fully-integrated, socially-led campaign that would inspire teenage girls across Europe to either keep playing football or give the sport a go.
Research proves that football makes girls stronger and more confident. Yet, due to the stigma attached to girls’ football, many girls stop playing at the age that they need confidence the most.
Our challenge: overcome that stigma, and grow the game so that it's the most popular sport for girls across Europe by 2020.
The Approach
We're proving that girls' football is kick 🍑.
We've created a range of assets, held together through a mix of illustration/animation and real footage/photography, that show how inclusive, fun, and kick ass girls' football is and can be. The year-long campaign was developed from the girl up (not the brand down), and therefore is socially-led, with TV and print support.
We wanted to reach out to girls on channels where they’re active and in ways that they behave. This allows for maximum creativity when engaging with our assets, with girls being able to co-create, participate, and truly make the campaign theirs.
In the course of a three week shoot, we developed a year's worth of video content. But that's not all we made. From GIFs on Giphy, to content films that live on social media, to an iMessenger sticker pack, the campaign is optimised for the platforms the girls spend their time on and provides a range of creative touchpoints for them to enjoy. We're live in AR, too, thanks to GiphyWorld's sticker packs.
The Results
We launched to our girls on 31.05.17 and to the world on TV during the half-times of both the Womens' and Mens' Champions League Finals (the latter of which typically has 160 million+ viewers worldwide).
In the first three months, we had over 35 million campaign views, gained 25k followers from scratch, and had over 1.02 billion impressions, all without traditional above the line media spend.
Unsurprisingly, it's our nontraditional channels that have had the most traction. Our GIFs on our Giphy Channel, for instance, have over 344 million views as of July 2018.
Awards include a Bronze Cannes Lion and Shortlist in Multi-Platform Social, as well as a Silver at the Kinsale Sharks and a Bronze LIA.
In the meantime, join in:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/WePlayStrong
Instagram: @weplaystrong
Twitter: @WePlayStrong_
GIPHY: www.giphy.com/weplaystrong
Screen-shot from mid-April. Our GIFs and stickers are available on Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Kik, and hundred more platforms. Visit the page at giphy.com/WePlayStrong