Football Australia Sponsor Hyundai Mirrors Men’s FIFA World Cup Work Via Matilda’s ‘Thank You Letters’

As the Matildas, Australia’s women’s national team, head off to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, Football Federation Australia sponsor Hyundai Australia leveraged its rights with the launch of an emotional ‘Thank You Letters’ campaign.

The initiative follows on from a 2018 World Cup Socceroos’ ‘Thank You Letters’ campaign (see case study) and again sees the auto brand and the players share their own personal and powerful tributes to those instrumental in their sporting success.

Developed in harness with sport and entertainment agency Octagon and sister production outfit Milkmoney (with media handled by Hearts and Science and PR by Neon Black), the campaign features four Matildas stars: Sam Kerr, Lisa de Vanna, Alanna Kennedy and Clare Polkinghorne.

Each player put pen to paper and have their emotional mentor thank yous turned into online videos.

The campaign consist of 10 unique pieces of content: five of which will air on television across Fox, Optus, SBS and free-to-air, while the others feature online.

The summary 60-second edit of all the stories will also play before each Matildas game on SBS: offering unique insight into players and their stories.

This hero ad is supported by a set of individual player social spots shared across multiple platforms.

Kerr wrote to her strength and conditioning coach Aaron Holt,

Kennedy wrote to her mother Steph Kennedy,

Polkinghorne wrote to herdad Tim Polkinghorne,

and Lisa De Vanna wrote to former Matildas captain Cheryl Salisbury.

As well as the players’ own personal pieces, the campaign also sees the car company encourage fans to write their own messages of thank you and support on a brand new Hyundai i30 N.

This campaign strand was launched at the Hyundai A-League Grand Final in Perth and then the vehicle then traveled to Melbourne and on to Sydney to collect fans’ messages with stops en route (including a special visit to Matilda’s Captain Sam Kerr’s primary school in Samson).

In fact, these messages will journey a total of 25,000km by the time they are transported to France and handed to the Matildas.

Fans could meet up with the Hyundai i30N on its journey across Australia and follow its progress on HyundaiFootball.com.au or tweet messages of support on Twitter @HyundaiAus.

Hyundai Australia’s JW Lee believes that ‘Thank You Letters’ empowers for the players.

“Hyundai has always been one of Australia’s proudest football fans. This campaign is about powerful and emotive storytelling, and it puts the spotlight on each of the people who have made an impact on the lives of Matildas players, supporting them through their journey to footballs biggest stage,” explained Lee.

“This is not just a standalone campaign. For Hyundai, it’s part of something much bigger. Supporting the Matildas is part of our desire to help grow women’s football and give these players the recognition and profiles they deserve. As some of the most talented athletes in the country, and the nation’s best female football players, they truly deserve the opportunity to become household names.”

Chief executive officer of Football Federation Australia David Gallop AM hopes that the messages of support will spur the team in France: “It’s not easy to travel overseas and play at such a high level in unfamiliar territory, but our team will be well prepared for their Group C challenges against Italy, Brazil, and Jamaica.

“We’ve worked really hard with Hyundai to take the home crowd to France and to remind the Matildas every time they step out on the field that the whole of Australia is behind them, which is a truly inspirational feeling<2 Gallop added. “Our Matildas already inspire millions of kids in schools and grassroots clubs around Australia, but during this FIFA Women’s World Cup I know that they are determined to truly capture the imagination of the nation through their performances in France.” Comment:

This activation aims to position the Matildas on equal footing as their male counterparts through a campaign that mirrors that rolled out for their male counterparts ahead of Russia 2018 (see case study).

Links:

Hyundai Australia

https://www.hyundai.com.au/

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

https://twitter.com/hyundaiaus

https://www.facebook.com/HyundaiAustralia

https://www.instagram.com/hyundaiaus

Octagon

https://www.octagon.com/australia

Milkmoney Australia

http://milkmoney.tv/

Football Federation Australia