The Football Federation of Australia has rolled out a new promotional programme to leverage the start of the new Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League 2018/19 season.
The campaign, called ‘Where Heroes Are Made’, was developed in harness with creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney and features former men’s national team star Tim Cahill and former Matilda Amy Duggan.
Indeed, the campaign features star players from all of the Hyundai A-League & Westfield W-League clubs and aims to appeal both to existing, established football supporters and to those new to the country’s top league pro soccer tournaments.
The work is designed to shine the spotlight on both current and future football stars and leverages the success of the Caltex Socceroos and Westfield Matildas.
The creative encourages young football families to support today’s soccer stars and tomorrow’s heroes every week.
The initiative was initially teased with trail content on social media
This was followed by the campaign’s spearhead in-cinema and television brand film.
This video was supported by additional executions running across radio, OOH, social,
WATCH NOW – VIDEO PREMIERE ON FACEBOOK: @Tim_Cahill and @amydugganwin reveal their hero to watch from each club for the Hyundai @ALeague 2018/19 Season: https://t.co/5m0qzASbBW #WhereHeroesAreMade pic.twitter.com/0pIFgSEfbS
— Hyundai A-League (@ALeague) October 8, 2018
Even if our heroes end up overseas playing in leagues around the world, they all start here, in the Westfield @WLeague and Hyundai @ALeague.#WhereHeroesAreMade
https://t.co/aBlxNZfZ2K pic.twitter.com/NJbmDfR1Iz
— Westfield W-League (@WLeague) October 5, 2018
and digital (hubbed around an initiative microsite at https://www.myfootball.com.au/where-heroes-are-made
This includes a ‘Who will be your club’s hero’ section at https://www.a-league.com.au/where-heroes-are-made/news/who-will-be-your-clubs-hero-hyundai-a-league-season-1819
“Where Heroes Are Made celebrates the stars of the game – the players – and promotes the role they play and their commitment to the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League. Our brief to Saatchi & Saatchi was to create a platform that has the scope to roll-out different elements at different stages of the season, and even future seasons, and we feel we have delivered that very strongly,” added FFA Chief Marketing Officer Luke Bould.
“There’s much more to come from the campaign and we believe it will engage our target audience and get them supporting their heroes at a match in stadium, by watching on FOX Sports and ONE, or streaming via the My Football LIVE app.”
“Since their inception, the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League have proven to be ideal competitions to develop our top male and female footballers,” said FFA’s Head of Leagues Greg O’Rourke.
“From the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, 18 of the 23-players in the Caltex Socceroos squad, and all the starting players in our first match against France, had at some time played in the Hyundai A-League. Similarly, all the Westfield Matildas at the recent AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Jordan had played in the Westfield W-League.
“Even if our heroes end up overseas playing in leagues around the world, they all start here, in the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League. We are fortunate that we can see these heroes, week-in, week-out in the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League in our own backyard.”
As well as creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi, the campaign was also worked on by PR agency TLA Worldwide and digital agency Switch Digital.
“Aussies love to get behind a hero, so it’s time football celebrated its own world class heroes,” commented Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney deputy executive creative director Sesh Moodley.
“The fact that so many Matildas and Socceroos end up playing overseas should serve as an inspiration to the quality of both leagues – as they all started here. ‘Where Heroes Are Made’ is a platform to support all aspects of football in Australia, not just a campaign, so we’re looking forward to continuing to discover and promote new heroes as the season unfolds.”
Comment:
This campaign is the first work by the rights owner’s new agency Saatchi & Saatchi since it won the business with a joint Publicis Groupe pitch alongside Starcom earlier in June.
Like last year, the FFA has again tactically chosen to launch a single, unified campaign for both the men’s and women and men’s leagues and the work gives them both equal prominence.
This campaign focuses on the unifying role football plays and leverages both this summer’s men’s FIFA World Cup campaigns and the upcoming AFC Asian Cup, plus the women’s FIFA World Cup in 2019.
It reminds Australians their footie heroes who feature in these major international tournaments started in the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League.
This new season work follows on from some fantastic Australian football marketing in and around the FIFA World Cup.
Among the stand out summer soccer campaigns leveraging Russia 2018 were Hyundai ‘Fling With Football’ and ‘Letters‘, Samsung ‘Timvite’, SBS ‘We All Speak Football’, plus Caltex ‘Cahilltex’ and Powerade ‘Always Forward’,
Links:
FFA
https://www.myfootball.com.au/
Hyundai A-League
https://www.instagram.com/thealeague/
https://www.facebook.com/aleague/
Westfield W-League
