The 2019 Atlanta Super Bowl Host Committee, the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons teamed up to celebrate the groundbreaking Gwinnett Girls Flag Football League by holding an exhibition game and a rally and NFL sportswear partner Nike also chose to activate around the girls league in its Big Game marketing campaign.
Nike, which is also the girls’ league apparel supplier, celebrated the young female football players through a campaign spearheaded by a six-minute short film called ‘Girls of Gwinnett: Flag Football’ which debuted online on 29 January.
This barrier breaking initiative from the sportswear behemoth drives home the message that “Girls don’t have to stick to swim. Girls don’t have to stick to track. Football is football. Whether it’s played with pads or flags, by boys or girls – passion, hard work and drive deserve recognition. Without limits. All they need is a stage.’
While Nike didn’t actually run any version off this spot (or any other ads) during the Super Bowl itself, this campaign was a core part of the sportswear giant’s Big Game marketing leverage programme and it ran in parallel to an event to showcase the players talent and the league itself ahead of the Super Bowl.
The Atlanta Falcons and the NFL invited Gwinnett County Public Schools’ football teams to play in a series of exhibition games on the Play Football Field at the Super Bowl Experience Driven by Hyundai.
The exhibition saw Peachtree Ridge High School, the 2018 Girls Flag Football Champions, and runners-up North Gwinnett High School, as well as semi-finalists Collins Hill High School and Duluth High School take the field inside the Georgia World Congress Center.
The inaugural girls flag football season for Gwinnett County schools wrapped up at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with four teams vying for the first championship won by Peachtree Ridge.
While back in late November, the local Super Bowl committee (which organises the on the ground practicalities, events and facilities around the Big Game in Atlanta’ Mercedes-Benz Stadium), hosted a rally to celebrate the athletes, coaches and fans who participate in the program.
The rally was held at Collins Hill High School and included food, activities and giveaways for attendees, as well as a girls flag football champions exhibition game.
Comment:
In the whole, Nike was fairly quiet during the Big Game itself: it chose not to run this (or any other) spot in the Super Bowl itself.
Although we did like it’s simple, opportunistic, real-time tweet congratulating its athlete ambassador (a long time Nike athlete) Rob Gronkowski on his and the Patriots victory.
One crazy dream turns into another.
And another.
And another.
And another.
And another.#justdoit pic.twitter.com/hJrofBCPav— Nike (@Nike) February 4, 2019
Despite not actually being a Super Bowl spot, this Nike video is yet another Big Game relevant marketing initiative in what is quickly being labelled the Women’s Super Bowl and its about time too.
Rival sportswear giant adidas’ Big Game leverage programme also included a strand promoting and supporting the women’s game in Atlanta.
PUTTIN’ IN WORK.@jwelter47 brought football to the girls in ATL & it don’t stop there.#teamadidas pic.twitter.com/wlpMwZfT73
— adidas Football US (@adidasFballUS) February 2, 2019
After all, last year’s television ratings show that 48.6m women watched the Super Bowl – accounting for 47% of the total audience.
The Big Game gender marketing mix is still some way from parity or equality, but there are signs of change across the Super Bowl marketing landscape.
For example, the percentage of female celebrities featuring in this year’s Super Bowl spots higher than ever before: 33% in 2019 compared to 25% in 2018), plus there are several notable female empowerment commercials leveraging this year’s game.
The campaigns and Big Game spots putting women’s sport front and centre of the creative include Toyota’s ‘Toni Harris’ college football commercial (see case study), the Girls Inc/CBS/NYGiants girls football public service announcement (see case study), plus the Serena Williams’ fronted Bumble campaign (see case study), as well as several other female-focused Big Game spots from the likes of Olay
and Michelob Ultra.
Stella Artois has even brought back fictional TV feminist icon Carrie Bradshaw for its Super Bowl commercial (alongside the return of The ‘Dude’).
The background to the Nike campaign emerged back in October 2018 when Gwinnett became the first school district in Georgia to adopt girls’ flag football as a sanctioned sport.
The Gwinnett County Public Schools debuted its first girls flag football league last Autumn with a tournament that spans five different sites and includes 20 teams.
As well as being backed by the public school system and Nike, the league is also supported by the Arthur M Blank Family Foundation and the Atlanta Falcons NFL team with the aim of helping close the gender gap in athletic participation between boys and girls.
“The state of Georgia has some of the larger gaps in male versus female athletics,” said Chris Millman, director of community relations for the Atlanta Falcons.
“Piloting the program is a pretty significant investment and we’re determined to do it right.”
“Our main focus is an attempt to increase the opportunities for female students,” said Jon Weyher, Gwinnett Schools director of athletics, student activities and community schools.
The program is a non-profit programme and for the Falcons is part of its ongoing community commitment that revolves around innovative approaches to increasing the time kids spend in physical activity and which aims to change the lives of children who traditionally are most likely to miss out or opt out of physical activity.
The girls flag football programme followed on from state research highlighting the disparity in physical activity between boys and girls.
According to the Georgia Department of Education’s own Annual Fitness Assessment, a smaller percentage of girls than boys reach a ‘healthy fitness zone’, which also means that most girls in Georgia have a lower degree of protection than boys against diseases that can result from sedentary living .
The Flag Football League is just one strand in a wider programme to help turn those numbers around.
The backers hope that the league spreads across the state and that in five years it hopes to see all 159 counties in Georgia run with girls flag football teams.
“This is a real sport,” added Millman. “There are uniforms, coaches, officials … We want to brag about the program and maybe spread it across the country.”
Links:
Nike
https://www.instagram.com/nike/
https://www.youtube.com/user/nike
Gwinnett County Public Schools
http://publish.gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Atlanta Super Bowl Organising Committee
Atlanta Falcons
https://www.atlantafalcons.com/
NFL
http://www.nflshop.com/source/bm-nflc…
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