The One Show
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Category
Out of Home / Brand Installations
Annual ID
OS24_DE113M
About the Work
Most young Arab girls hailing from conventional families grow up believing that sports are not for them. Because traditional Middle Eastern society has always insinuated that sports are not appropriate for women.
Resulting in 73% of young Arab girls giving up playing sports by the age of 14. Ironically, in the Arabic language, most words associated with sports have a female gender. Words like ball, run, kick, jump, goal, shoot, pass and even the word sport itself are female words.
All these words end with the Arabic letter "Ta'Marbuta". Written as a circle with two dots on top. This litter is what gives Arabic words their female gender.
Just as the "Ta'Marbuta" at the end of Arabic words gives them the female gender, we found a way to put it on a football pitch. By simply adding two dots right above the already existing centre circle.
Following the same logic as the language itself, this letter gave the pitch a gender to - female. Resulting in the world's first pitch to have a gender - female.
The first Female Field was created by adding the two dots on the home ground of Onyx FC, UAE's only all-women-owned and operated football team.
The act of creating the Female Field was deliberately kept minimalistic and simple, yet powerful and unmissable. Additionally, because all it takes is two dots of any shape and form added over the centre circle, it was intended to be recreated anywhere. We started by releasing teasers on social media to highlight the fact that sports-related words in Arabic all have a female gender. Then we filmed the addition of the two dots to the Onyx FC home pitch, by the captain of the team herself. Followed by a series of content pieces shot at this new Female Field with different players of Onyx FC, further reinforcing our message.
Soon enough, ours was no longer the only female field. We saw countless ones popping up all across Dubai, and not just on football fields. Basketball courts, beach football pitches, and even Ice Hockey rinks were being turned into Female Fields.
Resulting in 73% of young Arab girls giving up playing sports by the age of 14. Ironically, in the Arabic language, most words associated with sports have a female gender. Words like ball, run, kick, jump, goal, shoot, pass and even the word sport itself are female words.
All these words end with the Arabic letter "Ta'Marbuta". Written as a circle with two dots on top. This litter is what gives Arabic words their female gender.
Just as the "Ta'Marbuta" at the end of Arabic words gives them the female gender, we found a way to put it on a football pitch. By simply adding two dots right above the already existing centre circle.
Following the same logic as the language itself, this letter gave the pitch a gender to - female. Resulting in the world's first pitch to have a gender - female.
The first Female Field was created by adding the two dots on the home ground of Onyx FC, UAE's only all-women-owned and operated football team.
The act of creating the Female Field was deliberately kept minimalistic and simple, yet powerful and unmissable. Additionally, because all it takes is two dots of any shape and form added over the centre circle, it was intended to be recreated anywhere. We started by releasing teasers on social media to highlight the fact that sports-related words in Arabic all have a female gender. Then we filmed the addition of the two dots to the Onyx FC home pitch, by the captain of the team herself. Followed by a series of content pieces shot at this new Female Field with different players of Onyx FC, further reinforcing our message.
Soon enough, ours was no longer the only female field. We saw countless ones popping up all across Dubai, and not just on football fields. Basketball courts, beach football pitches, and even Ice Hockey rinks were being turned into Female Fields.
2024 Awards
Total Points: 3
Merit
Credits
Agency
Havas Middle East / Dubai
Client / Brand
Adidas / Dubai
Animator
Misk Al Fekaiki
Art Director
Alicia McBride
Moataz Safar
Associate Creative Director
Michele De Iuliis
Moemen Metwally
Content Creator
Ahmed Raslan
Copywriter
Nagat Idris
Samantha Pires
Creative Director
Anshuman Bhattacharya
Serena Abi Aad
Editor
Zineb Belrhaba
Executive Creative Director
Leonardo Borges
Joao Medeiros
Producer
Dalia Wehbe
Khushi Rawat
Account Manager
Mia Moussa
Client Services Director
Anyce Nedir
Manager Newsroom & PR
Chris Smith
Managing Director
Fabio Silveira
Senior Manager - Newsroom
Ivan Del'makov
Senior Manager Brand Communications
Sarah Abrego
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