Continental & England Women's Team On The #RoadToCanada

As England’s women’s football team step up their preparation for FIFA’s 2015 World Cup, Football Association partner Continental Tyres has been rolling out its first-of-its-kind ‘Road To Canada’ campaign fronted by four stars of the current squad.

The brand, who’s multi-property partnership with the women’s game in England includes the England Women’s Team, The FA Women’s Cup, the FA WSL, the FA WSL Continental Tyres Cup, as well as The FA Girls Football Festivals (a national programme aimed at increasing participation at grassroots level), is supporting an England squad hoping that this year’s tournament will see them lift the trophy for the first time.

Held in Canada, the first round of the tournament (which will run from 6 June to 5 July) will see England face France, Colombia and Mexico.

This YouTube led initiative runs through April and is built around four videos – each featuring an England player talking candidly about their own personal football story and highlighting the obstacles they have had to overcome in order to play for England.

These short documentary-style-film, which run between two and three minutes, explore each players playing background, challenges, personal influences and mentors and the teams they have played for.

The four athlete ambassador films – starring Jess Clarke (Notts County Ladies), Eniola Aluko (Chelsea Ladies), Toni Duggan (Manchester City Women) and Karen Carney (Birmingham City Ladies) – aim to reach as wide an audience as possible and generate awareness and drive engagement.

The initiative’s timeline saw the campaign launch with Jess Clarke’s video on 7 April in which she discusses her journey to international football, outines why the England jersey means so much to her.

‘I wouldn’t say my route into football was the easiest, I was brought up in a one parent home and from a young age I struggled to get to games. My Mum would be working and couldn’t come to pick me up. I didn’t want to ask anyone for help because I was embarrassed so sometimes I’d hide away, make sure everyone left, then go and catch my bus home. I think it just showed the determination and the hunger that I had to get where I want to be,’ says Clarke.

‘It’s setbacks that truly make you the person you are. I’ve always felt like my Mum sacrificed her dream so that I could live mine, I think that’s why I’ve got that desire and that hunger.’

Followed by an Eniola Aluko video on 16 April that sees the London 2012 Olympian and England striker for the last decade talk about her determination to be an inspiration to young players.

‘As a woman you’ve got to be OK with the fact that you play football and at a younger age I wasn’t,’ says Aluko. ‘I had a few coaches that didn’t believe in me and said I wouldn’t make it. That stuck with me. I use those things now to motivate me and drive me on. I see being a role model as a responsibility. If I can change a 14-year-old girl’s mind on deciding to quit football or not, I want to be a positive impact on that person.’

In Toni Duggan webfilm, released on St George’s Day (23 April), she opens up about the hurdles she has as a young girl in Liverpool and where she hopes the sport can go in years to come.

‘Liverpool has always been surrounded by football, there are a lot of deprived areas and football is an outlet for some. It definitely was for me,’ she explains. ‘When I was little, people’s Dads would be upset if I took on their son. As I got older the opponents did respect me but, when they turned up and there’s just one girl playing against lads, it was a shock for them. We’re always fighting against the perception but it’s slowly changing. It will change.’

The final film starring 100-cap Karen Carney talking about passion being the key to success rolled out on 30 April.

Other strands of the campaign run across the national print press, plus sports news, fashion and women’s lifestyle publications and extensive online content-led coverage.

The campaign’s overall aim is to drive conversation within existing football audience, to demonstrate Continental’s involvement on the ‘Road to Canada’ and the full England football pathway, as well as increasing the profile of the four England player ambassadors and, in turn, demonstrating how far the women’s game has come in recent years and the role of sponsors such as Continental in that journey.

As the main partner of FA Women’s Game, Continental Tyres has been working with its relevant rights package – led by its England team and the WSL deals – to activate before, during and after the Women’s World Cup in order to showcase Continental’s support of the Women’s game at both international and domestic club level.

Continental is working on the initiative with Sportcel – a UK sports marketing agency that it has teamed-up with since 2011.

The tyre brand’s relationship with Sportcel, which itself was founed in 2006, began when it was initially tasked to help identify and negotiation the FA partnership and has since expanded into event delivery, planning, creative ideation and activation across multiple platforms, as well as digital and PR roles.

Comment

This campaign is one of several ‘Women’s World Cup Firsts’ in terms of sponsorship activation – alongside Coca-Cola’s first ever Women’s World Cup Trophy Tour and Nike’s first US Womens Team shirt launch that offered a men’s version of the ladies kit.

There are no doubt that brands like Continental are helping support a fundamental revolution in women’s football in particular and women’s sport in general.

From Under Armour’s brilliant and award winning female focused ‘I Will What I Want’, to the NFL achieving 50% female fan parity and hard hitting initiatives like Sport England’s ‘The Girl Can’ – the landscape for women’s sport and women’s sport sponsorship is shifting.

Continental has sponsored The FA WSL for five years now and recently signed an extension to stretch its partnership through to 2018.

It was initially back in 2011 that Continental entered into partnership with The FA Women’s Super League in its very first season. And three years later it further strengthened its ties to the women’s game by working with property owner on the launch of The FA WSL – bring the number of professional clubs to 20. The company also supports Irish women’s football too.

Indeed, its country-specific partnerships in the UK also includes working as Official Supporting Partner at The FA’s St George’s Park National Football Centre (in Burton-upon-Trent) along with fellow commercial partners BT, Hilton and Nike.

Here the brand’s support is most prominent through the bespoke ContiWarmUp Area, as well as indoor running track and the goalie ‘stopping zone’ space, as well as its presence on The FA’s online ‘My Football’ training section of www.TheFA.com.

Of course, Continental has a genuine and committed heritage with the wider football world: one that stretches from its flagship sponsorships of FIFA’s World Cups and UEFA’s European Championships, to its partnership with national teams, European club football, and its grass roots, community-focused programmes.

With much of its activation focusing on its ContiSoccerWorld digital platform.

Links

Continental Tyres TV YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/ContinentalTyresTV

Continental Tyres Twitter:

@ContiUK

#RoadToCanada

Continental Tyres Facebook UK:

https://www.facebook.com/ContinentalTyresUK

ContiSoccerWorld Website:

http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/uk/en/contisoccerworld/general/home/index_en.html

Continental Tyres Facebook: