Manchester City Football Club has rolled out a club-wide campaign focused on promoting women’s football called ‘Same City, Same Passion’.
The initiative launched in the last week of January, timed to mark four years since the re-launch of the MUFC women’s team and a club statement accompanying the campaign said that despite the rapid growth the sport has experienced since, the public perception of women’s football doesn’t always match the reality of what can be seen on the pitch.
‘Same City, Same Passion’ has been developed primarily to demonstrate that the similarities between the men’s and the women’s games are far greater than the differences and to drive home the message that men’s, women’s, boys’ and girls’ football can be enjoyed by everyone.
The campaign is spearheaded by a hero video running across Manchester City’s digital and social channels – including YouTube
and Twitter.
Same game. Same club. Same #mancity pic.twitter.com/Usb9QgPl6e
— Manchester City (@ManCity) January 25, 2018
A competition strand of the work sees the creative encourages viewers to reply to the film with their own comments on why they’re passionate about any/all of Manchester City’s teams.
One winning fan entry, selected at random, will win an official Manchester City home shirt signed by the club’s two first team captains Steph Houghton and Vincent Kompany.
Interestingly, part of the campaign sees Manchester City merge its men’s and women’s social media channels to give all supporters with 24/7 access to all the club’s news, exclusive content and behind the scenes offering in just one place.
From the campaign launch onwards, only @ManCityWomen will continue to exist seperately on Twitter as a solely match day resource to provide play-by-play updates for every women’s game.
Similarly, match action from the men’s fixtures will be available via @ManCity.
As well as the spearhead spot, City’s dedicated the weekend of 10/11 February as ‘Same City, Same Passion Weekend’: a strand which saw at-ground and in-stadium campaign activations at both the men’s Premier League fixture against Leicester City (on Saturday 10 February and the women’s FA WSL fixture versus Liverpool Ladies on Sunday 11 February).
“Yesterday, we celebrated four years since the re-launch of Manchester City Women. Since 2014, both the game as a whole, and the Manchester City team, have experienced incredible change and success, but we know this is only the beginning,” explained Manchester City COO Omar Berrada.
“Misconceptions about the professionalism and quality of women’s football still exist and that needs to change. Same City, Same Passion aims to highlight that the similarities between men’s and women’s football are far greater than the differences and, regardless of who’s playing, it’s just football. Merging social media channels as part of this campaign offers us a unique opportunity to increase the visibility of our women’s team and to offer our supporters the chance to enjoy the excitement and passion that defines every Manchester City team.”
Kevin Parker, general secretary, Manchester City Official Supporters Club, added: “I think Same City, Same Passion is a brilliant initiative and a great way for all Manchester City fans to see what both our teams have to offer. There are many people who don’t yet realise how amazing our women’s team is, merging the social media channels will give them the opportunity to see just how exciting women’s football is.”
Comment:
A strong statement campaign, backed up by a digital social strategy that demonstrates that this isn’;t just a piece of marketing but a strategic club commitment.
It certainly makes a contrast with cross City rivals Manchester United who continue to stand out amoungst the Premier League giants for not having a women’s team.
Links:
Manchester City FC
https://www.youtube.com/mancity
https://www.linkedin.com/company/manchester-city-football-club
https://www.facebook.com/mancity
https://twitter.com/ManCityWomen
