A month ahead of the men’s FIFA World Cup kick off in Russia, UK based organisation Women in Football has launched #WhatIf – a fresh initiative that aims to change the landscape for women working in the football industry.
The campaign, sponsored by Betfair and supported by sport and entertainment agency Synergy, runs primarily across digital and social media and hopes to challenge companies, celebrities and consumers to identify a way to take action and contribute to ‘an improvement for women and girls within the football industry’.
In addition to the London launch event (hosted by Twitter), the campaign is being primarily promoted across digital and social platforms.
The campaign is led by the organisation itself through a spearhead video
and a rich set of supporting social assets.
#WhatIf we realised that we all, individually, in whatever way we can, have a role to play in solving the issue? pic.twitter.com/g1XXkKgfL4
— Women in Football (@WomeninFootball) May 16, 2018
Here are the first 10 #WhatIf pledges that helped #WomeninFootball kick-off a campaign that is making a change already. #WhatsYourWhatIfhttps://t.co/xjCSuTFFVf pic.twitter.com/DtxmwAoa9Q
— Women in Football (@WomeninFootball) May 17, 2018
Take a look at these #WhatIf pledges. Get inspired. Get involved. Make a difference. pic.twitter.com/h9VxboUQDo
— Women in Football (@WomeninFootball) May 17, 2018
ICYMI: Our #WhatIf campaign has already started to change the industry. Get involved and make a pledge: https://t.co/XBZdcKhscR pic.twitter.com/k0TVchpfEm
— Women in Football (@WomeninFootball) May 17, 2018
There is further backing from the sponsor Betfair,
Betfair are excited to partner with @WomeninFootball again for the #WhatIf Campaign. We are pledging to fund women's grassroots sports and create a brighter future for women in football. pic.twitter.com/WkAZV0uMXM
— Betfair (@Betfair) May 16, 2018
plus supporting agency Synergy
AMAZING night finally launching our #WhatIf campaign with @WomeninFootball tonight. A huge thanks to @Twitter for being fantastic hosts – we can’t wait to see the new emoji#itstartsnow pic.twitter.com/oluvPTMSvU
— SynergyGlobal (@this_is_synergy) May 16, 2018
and other various partners.
So good. Check out the brilliant #WhatIf campaign from @WomeninFootball.
Securing real commitment to action that will change the football landscape. https://t.co/bcKL74zkID
— Women's Sport Trust (@WomenSportTrust) May 16, 2018
The content pieces all carry the campaign’s #WhatIf tagline and drive viewers online to the pledge site at crowdfunder https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/wif10
The campaign initially emerged from a pro bono, non-profit competition Synergy launched with the objective of boosting support for grassroots women’s sports charities.
“On the anniversary of Women in Football’s tenth season I am extremely proud to see us launch the #WhatIf campaign, standing alongside industry leaders, corporations and individuals, working together to create real and meaningful change,” commented co-founder and chair of Women in Football Anna Kessel.
“Ten years ago gender equality was barely even a conversation in football. Now it is firmly on the agenda. Bring on the next 10 years, and an exciting new era for women in our sector,” she added
Jacqui Oatley MBE, Women in Football ambassador, said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be involved with the launch of the #WhatIf campaign. Over the past decade, we’ve had so many people in the game supporting WiF and wishing us well, and this is an opportunity to turn those good wishes into actions.”
A spokesperson for sponsor Betfair said: “We worked closely with Women in Football on our #FairerGame initiative with Rachel Yankey – aimed at addressing gender disparities within football – and we are delighted to be partnering with them again and on such a powerful and inspiring campaign. Fairer Game was all about removing barriers and increasing the profile of women working within the game and the #WhatIf campaign takes that mission to the next level.”
While Carsten Thode, the CSO of support agency Synergy, added: “We are totally blown away by the response to the #WhatIf campaign, so a huge thank you to everyone who has already made their brilliant #WhatIf pledges. The key insight for the campaign is that if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem so everyone has a personal responsibility to do whatever they can to make things better. It is not enough to just allow or enable women’s football to exist, you have to actively promote to make lasting change.
“Last year, Synergy made its own pledge to create 3 pro bono campaigns for brands or rightsholders to promote women’s sport and we’ll be doing the same this year. Now we issue the challenge to others in our space and beyond, what’s your #WhatIf?”
Comment:
The initiative has already begun to effect change across the football landscape.
The launch of Women in Football’s #WhatIf campaign is spreading internationally: with football governing bodies FIFA and UEFA among those pledging to get involved and help drive change.
A number of high profile businesses made commitments to launch the campaign on Wednesday, and are now challenging everyone to make a practical pledge of support that will help change the landscape forever.
Pledges already confirmed include:
> Synergy – #WhatIf Synergy pledged to create one pro-bono campaign per year for the next three years to promote women’s football.
> Betfair – #WhatIf Betfair ring-fenced 50% of its Cash4Clubs grassroots grants for women’s teams to help support their growth and sustainability
> Sky Sports – #WhatIf Sky Sports committed to including female talent as studio pundits on Gillette
Soccer Specials from the 2018/19 season onwards
> Twitter – #WhatIf Women in Football had its own emojil on Twitter to raise the visibility of women working in the industry, and celebrate their achievements
> Forza Football – #WhatIf Forza Football made live score updates and results for women’s football games easily accessible across the world
> Football Manager – #WhatIf there were more female staff members in Football Manager 2019?
> The Football Business Academy – #WhatIF The FBA offered 50% scholarships to help build the future female leaders of the industry?
> Spencer Stuart – #WhatIf Spencer Stuart ensure that 30% of candidates on all searches undertaken in football were women?
> Barclays – #WhatIf Barclays conducted a full scale research project to understand the position of women in the football industry?
Links:
Women In Football
https://www.womeninfootball.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/WomeninFootballOfficial/
https://twitter.com/WomeninFootball
https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-in-football-official/
Synergy
https://twitter.com/this_is_synergy
https://www.youtube.com/user/SynergyLondon
https://www.instagram.com/synergyglobal/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/synergy-sponsorship-ltd
Betfair
https://www.youtube.com/user/Betfair
https://www.facebook.com/Betfair
