Tennis super star Serena Williams fronted Bumble’s Super Bowl spot which spearheads the social networking app’s new year-long marketing campaign themed around female empowerment.
The main launch phase of the campaign – ‘The Ball Is In Her Court’ – debuted during the Super Bowl on 3 February and sees Williams encourage women to make the first move in all areas of their lives (from their love lives, their friendships and in a work environment).
The 30-second spot sees Williams tell her own story about how making the first move resulted in her being where she is today. It opens with Williams as a young girl making the first move to join a tennis competition and then the narrative arc follows her career from on court success, to creating her fashion line and an image of her and her husband Alexis Ohanian.
The Williams voiceover says: “The world tells you to wait; that waiting is polite and good things will just come. But if I waited to be invited in I never would have stood out.”
The commercial, created by a mostly female team at agencies FlyteVu and VMLY&R, includes Rita Ora’s ‘Soul Survivor’ track and aired in the first quarter of the game.
“At such a pivotal time for women across the globe, this commercial seeks to inspire all of us to seize opportunity wherever it presents itself,” said Williams about the campaign of which she is the co-creative director.
“I want women to feel empowered to find their voice and use the power within to create change, to lift each other up, and to never let the world tell us we can’t–because we can, and we will.”
Part of the campaign sees Bumble try to declare 4 February as ‘First Move Day’ and for every first move made on Bumble next week the company will donate to Yetunde Price Resource Center – a charity selected by Williams.
While the hero commercial didn’t launch until 3 February, the date of Super Bowl LIII, it actually kicked-off at the start of the year with a PR phase introducing the tie-up which was spearheaded by a 3 January social spot called ‘Serena Williams x Bumble – In Her Court’.
The video was supported and amplified across the brand’s digital and social platforms.
We’re teaming up with @serenawilliams to remind women everywhere that the ball is in their court. https://t.co/9uiFku83z0
— Bumble (@bumble) January 3, 2019
This was followed by a three-part, Williams fronted online video series called ‘#InHerCourt Anthem’
Williams has been named as Bumble’s global advisor to “reinforce the brand’s mission to end misogyny and empower women”.
“Society has taught us as women to kind of sit back and not necessarily be the first one to speak up. We want to take that and flip the story,” said Williams (who will act as a global advisor to the company as well as simply a spokesperson).
“We are letting people know we are not afraid. We no longer want to cower. We want to stand up. We want to make noise. This is the best and perfect place to make the biggest noise that we can.”
Bumble founder and chief executive Whitney Wolfe Herd, who originally conceived of the ‘ball is in her court’ concept back in 2014, wants to use it to promote the different features of the social networking business: Bumble Date, Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz.
“In just over four years, Bumble has evolved into the only female-first, global social networking platform for love, friendship and professional networking, empowering women to make healthy and rewarding connections in all areas of their life,” explained Wolfe.
“Partnering with Serena Williams has been a dream of mine since we launched Bumble, as she is one of the most inspiring women in history and a shining example of someone making the first move in all facets of her life.
“She is a role model, a mom, an entrepreneur and a fierce athlete. She is the epitome of strength, integrity, kindness, empowerment and every thing Bumble stands for.”
Comment:
Bumble began its existence back in 2014 as a dating platform for women and men: with a primary focus on women to make the first move when meeting men.
The company has now evolved and expanded into promoting functions like Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz – which help women seek friends and build business networks.
According to the launch press work, Williams herself with help create the Bumble campaign: one which has been developed and produced entirely by women.
Serena Williams’ marketing work has expanded rapidly in recent years.
Recent notable campaigns range from the female empowerment and motherhood focused campaigns for Berlie/JWT (see case study), to the Allstate Foundation (see case study) and from Beats (see case study), to Nike (see case study), JP Morgan (see case study) and Gatorade (see case study).
Bumble and Williams, who will be seeking a record breaking 24th Grand Slam singles title in 2019, believe that the timing of the launch of the campaign during the biggest sporting event in the USA as “a great opportunity for women’s voices to be heard louder.”
Like with her work with Gatorade and Nike, Williams stresses that her brand and marketing partnerships are primarily based on authentic brand relationships.
“When I’m looking at different products and companies, it has to be authentic,” she said.
“It’s not something I’m doing for more exposure. It’s about that real connection I have to the product. When things aren’t real, people can see right through that.”
As a long-time advocate of female empowerment this new tie-up with Bumble certainly fits in line with her stated authenticity objective.
Links:
Bumble
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCERo8J7mug7cVcwIKaoJLww/featured
https://www.instagram.com/bumble/
https://www.facebook.com/bumbleapp
https://www.pinterest.com/bumbleapp/
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