The One Show
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Category
Social Post / Series
Annual ID
OS_SM21_012G
About the Work
Despite the rise of women’s soccer in America, female soccer players were still being paid 19x less than their male counterparts. While many attributed the pay discrepancy to gender discrimination, Budweiser dug deeper and found it was also driven by a massive gap in sponsorship. The MLS, the men’s soccer league in America, had 24 official sponsors. The NWSL, the women’s league, had three. As one of those three sponsors, Budweiser wanted to drive change. But in order for Budweiser to help close the pay gap we had to address the sponsorship gap.
Introducing: The Future Official Sponsors of the NWSL. We didn’t just talk about the sponsorship gap. We actually filled it by creating 9 placeholder products for some of the biggest sponsorship categories in sports, everything from toiletries to timepieces. We created an online marketplace where people could browse the Future Official Products, pledge to purchase them, and even share on social and tag the brands they wanted to see fill that sponsorship vacancy. We used global soccer icon Megan Rapinoe to promote these products as if they were real so brands no longer had to imagine what sponsoring the league could look like, they could literally see the benefits of sponsoring the NWSL for themselves. Thousands of fans ran with the campaign, urging their favorite brands to become sponsors and force change in the league. In the end, brands answered the call.
For the 2020 season, the NWSL added 6 new sponsors (P&G, Secret Deodorant, CBS, Twitch, Google and Verizon). But the biggest impact was when the NWSL announced an increase in their salary cap by almost 20%. Budweiser redefined the sponsorship model to help start closing the NWSL's pay gap. So we no longer have to imagine what the future of women’s soccer will look like.
Introducing: The Future Official Sponsors of the NWSL. We didn’t just talk about the sponsorship gap. We actually filled it by creating 9 placeholder products for some of the biggest sponsorship categories in sports, everything from toiletries to timepieces. We created an online marketplace where people could browse the Future Official Products, pledge to purchase them, and even share on social and tag the brands they wanted to see fill that sponsorship vacancy. We used global soccer icon Megan Rapinoe to promote these products as if they were real so brands no longer had to imagine what sponsoring the league could look like, they could literally see the benefits of sponsoring the NWSL for themselves. Thousands of fans ran with the campaign, urging their favorite brands to become sponsors and force change in the league. In the end, brands answered the call.
For the 2020 season, the NWSL added 6 new sponsors (P&G, Secret Deodorant, CBS, Twitch, Google and Verizon). But the biggest impact was when the NWSL announced an increase in their salary cap by almost 20%. Budweiser redefined the sponsorship model to help start closing the NWSL's pay gap. So we no longer have to imagine what the future of women’s soccer will look like.
2021 Awards
Total Points: 45
Gold Pencil
Credits
Agency
VaynerMedia / New York
Art Director
Brittany Newman
Associate Creative Director
Rami Levi
Chief Creative Officer
Rob Lenois
Chief Marketing Officer
Marcel Marcondes
Creative Director
Harrison Barron
Todd Bradley
Editor
Cristina O'Connell
Executive Producer
Margaux Ravis
Group Creative Director
Adam Lock
Photographer
Emily Shur
Producer
Jill Roy
Agency Producer
Joanne “Joey” Joseph
Katherine Penland
Lauren Dinsdale
Account Director
Lindsay Faulkner
Account Executive
Ben Harwick
Assistant Photographer
Zac Hahn
Associate, Budweiser Sports
Hannah Sorkin
Brand Manager
Marisa Siegel
Brand Manager, Budweiser
Mattie Shook
Chief Executive Officer
Gary Vaynerchuk
Chief Production Officer
Aaron Kovan
Director, Budweiser Sports
Joseph Barnes
Matt Davis
Director, Marketing Communications
Eddie Moye
Executive Vice President
Nick Miaritis
Grooming
Brittany Edmiston
Head of US Sports Marketing
Nick Kelly
Production Manager
Natalie Campbell
Senior Account Executive
Donald Spampinato
Senior Account Manager
Charles de Cabrol
Senior Director, Marketing Communications
Lacey Clifford
Senior Media Manager
Scott Decker
Set Design
Ward Robinson
UX/UI Designer
Xuedi Chen
Vice President, Marketing
Monica Rustgi
VP Group Account Director
Joe Leotta
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