In the second half of June, UK bank Barclays launched a fresh wave of work backing its commitment to ensuring girls in England have equal access to football as boys with a campaign called ‘It All Starts With A Chance’ fronted by former Arsenal and England forward Ian Wright.
The campaign, which saw Barclays’ in-house team work alongside agencies M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment and M&C Saatchi London, aims to rebalance football opportunities in schools and participation at youth levels across the country. Indeed, in England only 19% of women report having an opportunity plat football during physical education lessons at school compared to 76% of men.
Barclays aims to level this out.
The campaign debuted with a hero spot titled ‘The Chance’: a 30-second story exploring the professional footballing dreams of a young schoolgirl who visualises herself in a variety of player situations from press conference, an interview with Ian Wright and signing autographs for fans.
The ad landed across the bank’s digital and social channels from 17 June and is backed by supporting content pieces which all seek to drive viewers to find out more online at https://home.barclays/who-we-are/sponsorship/barclays-and-football-/.
“This campaign demonstrates our commitment to ensuring girls are given every chance to play football. As part of our long-term commitment to football in England, by 2024 we want to make sure that every girl in England has the same opportunities to play football as boys,” outlined Barclays Group Head of Sponsorship and Media Tom Corbett. “This is incredibly important, as being given the chance to play football doesn’t just benefit your skills on the pitch, it opens up a whole new range of possibilities and life skills off it. We look forward to continuing our work, alongside our partners, to implement initiatives such as the Barclays Girls’ Football School Partnerships and Barclays Community Football Fund in the future to help grow the game of football in this country”.
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With England hosting the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 tournament – running from 6 to 31 July – interest in and excitement around women’s football looks certain to continue to boom and this will further boost Barclay’s ongoing strategy.
During last season Barclays announced a £30m investment in women’s football through title sponsorships of the Barclays Women’s Super League and Barclays Women’s Championship: bringing to life the bank’s pledge to ensure girls have the same access to football as boys by 2024 through their support of the Barclays Girls’ Football School Partnerships (BGFSP).
As well as BGFSP, in 2020 Barclays took the role as England Football’s lead partner of ‘Barclays Game On’: a Youth Sport Trust programme which uses football as a platform to teach key life skills to young girls. Plus this this year the scheme will see the opening of the Barclays Community Football Fund to offer opportunities to disadvantaged and under-represented communities through football.
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