After the success of the Women’s World Cup and the associated spiking interested in the women’s game, Nike and Gurls Talk launched a short film to combat the danger of the spotlight shifting away from women’s football.
The documentary was developed through a collaboration with the sportswear behemoth and Gurls Talk – spearheaded by its founder and model Adwoa Aboah.
Gurls Talk is an online community for women to discuss issues such as art, education, mental health, problems, relationships, selfcare and sexuality.
The docu-style video, called ‘Spit Fire, Dream Higher’, sets out to celebrate the women around the planet paving the way in a sport long dominated by men.
Their film, entitled Spit Fire, Dream Higher, celebrates girls around the world who are paving the way in a sport that has so long been dominated by men. Their stories represent the future of the women’s game and reveal how the sport has empowered them and their communities.
Among those featured in the film are 14-year-old Precious (from Accra in Ghana) who hosts mixed neighbourhood tournaments at which she makes speeches encouraging girls to take their education as seriously as they do football, as well as Ikranur (in east Turkey) who’s mum used to burn her shorts to stop her from playing football, as well as Londiwe, Rose, Odette, Zerina and Kristina who all, through the love of their sport, are breaking barriers and building relationships within their communities.
This film aims to offer something for everyone, to open up their worlds, their teams and their families and it and it sets out to learn from listening to these girls.
It spans various geographies and cultures, but is united through footballer sisterhood stories about sharing a simple passion for the game.
All of the countries featured have a women’s team that qualified for the World Cup while the men’s team did not.
The film was amplified across both Nike
and Gurls Talk digital and social channels.
GURLS TALK AND NIKE PRESENT – SPIT FIRE DREAM HIGHER
This documentary takes us on a journey into the lives of Gurls from all over the world with one thing in common, football. We hope you fall in love with this film as much as we have. Watch Here https://t.co/KVd6qbwbOJ pic.twitter.com/430P3mP5Uy
— Gurls Talk (@gurlstalk) July 9, 2019
To accompany the project, a women’s football book (published by Idea and designed by Fraser Muggeridge Studio) explores the grassroots game around the world and the girls who play it.
The film was helmed by Somesuch director Felix Cooper, with director of photography Spike Morris and it was produced by Isla Gordon-Crozier.
“It was important to me throughout to really listen to the girls and let them express themselves the way they wanted – what football means in their life and what effect playing the sport has on them. It’s a film that’s about so much more than football,” commented Cooper.
Comment:
The inspiration for the project came after Adwoa and Cooper visited a Ugandan refugee camp in 2017 where they met Betty who had started an all-girl football team in the camp.
Then, when Adwoa began working with Nike, she shared the story with the apparel company executives who were moved by Suárez’s tenacity in the face of adversity and felt the importance of telling more stories about inspiring footballing women around the world.
The Women’s World Cup certainly generated a huge spike in support (and sponsorship) for the women’s game and this work aims to build on this.
It also follows on from Nike’s impressive marketing programme activating around France 2019: which included ‘I Believe’ celebrating the USWNT’s win (see case study), as well as its global, epic blockbuster ‘Dream Further’ (see case study), its USWNT ‘Dream With Us’ initiative (see case study), as well as a shoppable Snapchat shirt promotion (see case study) and its brilliant ‘Before That’ spot in Argentina (see case study).
Links:
Nike
https://www.instagram.com/nike/
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+nike
Gurls Talk
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Community/Gurls-Talk
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