This World Cup has set a grateful nation on fire. Emotions have soared, young and old. Few things unite us, capture the attention of the whole nation at once. But our team did. So imagine, just imagine, what it might have looked like with pre-hype.
Consider this: my kids still have a Sam Kerr sticker we got from a Woolworths Olympics 2020 sticker pack. But was there a Woolworths sticker pack for the Women’s World Cup? No. Instead, they’re giving away Disney collector cards and Coles is selling cartoon superhero figurines.
Was there yellow-and-green bunting down Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall? Nope. Are the airports abuzz with green-and-gold posters? Not at all, and they didn’t light up the Sydney Harbour Bridge either.
Did big Australian brands get behind a Women’s World Cup tie-in? Cadbury, VISA and Rexona, and that is pretty much it. Other football-themed ads on TV during last night’s broadcast came from Adidas, Hyundai and Powerade, and were global ads, not local ones.
You should be able to buy a Coca-Cola with Hayley Raso dynamic ribbons on it, but you can’t. Weetbix should have a Matildas Heroes pack for sale, but apparently they didn’t think of that. Commonwealth Bank sponsored the Matildas, but couldn’t manage a half-time ad.
An opportunity squandered
The semi-final last night was the biggest TV event in Australian history. And powerful decision-makers in Australia just didn’t see it coming. A gigantic opportunity to build fandom, engage fans, win viewers, build brands — all of it squandered.
Ticket sales should have been a clue. The country was desperate to go and see the Matildas, which is why they sold out before the tournament even began.
To be fair, there were not a lot of signs in the Google Trends data that we were thinking about the World Cup before the first match kicked off on 20 July. This chart includes searches for the World Cup, the Matildas and, as a reference point, the Collingwood Magpies of the AFL, Australia’s most popular sporting club.
You can see that online interest in the Matildas and the tournament itself was pretty quiet until the event began.
The chart shows that interest peaked recently, far higher than pre-tournament.
Of course, this is a self-reinforcing cycle. If the world doesn’t remind us the event is coming up, if news helicopters aren’t circling over the training camps of the various teams, if influencers don’t realise they can get likes with Matildas content, etc, etc, then there is scant buzz.
What the past three weeks really shows is latent demand for the Matildas. A market with demand, and a product, but not enough marketing and distribution. The fact Optus Sport could win the rights to the World Cup and then sub-license games to Channel 7 shows that nobody expected interest to amount to much. If Channel 7 had known it was holding a powder keg of Australian enthusiasm, it might have won the bidding itself. And if Optus Sport realised how valuable those Matildas games were, it would have held on to them, rather than onselling them for a reported $5 million.
There’s going to be a lot of desperate catching up as brands try to associate themselves with these fresh national heroes. Someone is probably hanging up a Cortnee Vine billboard on an intersection near you today. One more match is left in this tournament for the Matildas — on Saturday we have a chance to grab third place by beating Sweden. But the best chance to do tie-in marketing is past.
Lessons learnt
Australia’s experience will teach broadcasters, host nations and brands not to ignore women’s sport in future. The next Women’s World Cup will be a very different affair. Bidders include Brazil, South Africa, USA/Mexico, and Germany/Netherlands/Belgium. None of them are likely to fail to notice the event is coming up. The fact this World Cup features a final between two big soccer nations — England and Spain — is also very good for the sport.
A lot of eyeballs will be on the final. A lot of other soccer nations will be burning with envy. When the Lionesses or La Roja hoist the cup amid an explosion of tickertape, marketing teams from major brands will be watching. This is the last time women’s soccer will be ignored.
Young Matildas — Mary Fowler, in particular — could be looking at a lifetime of much higher pay than the older ones. She’s only 20 and has an absolutely sublime ability on the ball. She is likely to feature for the Matildas in not only the next World Cup but the one after. She has a seat on what is likely to be a rocket to global superstardom.
After her? An even bigger generation of women’s soccer will follow.
Morrison gave Murdoch millions to supposedly promote women’s sport. Nobody knows or even asked where the money went.
It went into thin air, $30M as I recall.
There were TWO tranches of $30M – allegedly not sought and not even acknowledged.
One might assume that they were just refresher fees to esnure the continued support for the Reign of Misrule from Moloch.
In perpetuity it would seem.
Apparently $40M total. $30M from the Turnbull govt in 2017, another $10M from Morrison in 2020. Which didn’t buy either PM much time. Our governments repeatedly fail to learn that a certain media mogul can never be trusted.
Possibly methane? Another brain fart by the former PM…
I understand they built a women’s change room somewhere (not at the rifle range that what’s her name got gifts from, but somewhere. And there was that gold trophy for a rowing team?
So obviously, the money was well spent!
Close bracket)
Absolutely great article Jason and you’re so right in everything you’ve said.
I made the same remarks yesterday, about signage/banners – hadn’t been “out” for a week but expected to see something/anything cheering on our Matilda’s but nothing, nada, zilch that I could see in the streets of Goulburn where I now live …until we got to Bunnings.
There in faded green and yellow chalk on the ground at the Entry door…”Go Matildas”.
Not sure how long it had been there, but it didn’t look like it had been specifically done for last night’s match….but at least it was there at all.
I’d honestly thought we’d see banners on houses, trees, whatever and even though I’ve never watched any form of footy (male or female), I did last night.
Imagine if if had been a male-dominant match though, with the hype these great players have had for weeks?
It would’ve been guaranteed to have had colours, banners, flags on every corner, tree, building as you said Jason.
Having read the hype for weeks myself, not just about Australia, and seeing how much other countries react to a Round win or loss, it’s staggering how little these companies you refer to, have done for their own.
Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
I read that the matches featuring the Matilda’s on Saturday and Wednesday were the most viewed since Cathy Freeman’s run in the 2000 Olympic Games. And I remembered that in 2020, during the 20 year celebrations of those Games, no shots of Cathy Freeman running were able to be shown as they remain the property of the IOC.
Sports sponsorship? Skewed in a million ways, not just in failing to foresee what viewers are interested in.
The most being skewered are the loyal fans who put their hard earned dollars into merchandise, seats and pay for overpriced beverages and food at sport stadiums every week, win loose or draw. Greedy TV execs expect fans to pay for subscription TV and watch their sport of choice or watch it sandwiched with shouty adverts.
The girls soccer was so refreshing and thrilling to watch, in part due to the lack of annoying uninteresting adverts. Could it be it the Codes that get too greedy?
I was reminded today that Australia spent around $60 million on a tender for the last men’s soccer clash, which Qatar won. The danger is that sports administrators have become so corrupt that everyone pays, sponsors and fans it really has become a house of cards, I think there are a few administrators that need a drug test.
Remember the furore about her doing the Lap of Victory with the Aboriginal flag?
Good times…
Verily, we must lament the spruiker’s lost opportunity. All that hype never launched, never cashed in. All that sense of proportion not lost, all that modesty still with us.
Ahhh…. But some religions protect the fragile female from the deprivation of society etc etc.
Perhaps this is the wrong page for theology?
Sorry!
Agree with GW below. Governments, big biz etc. would have contaminated the thing with their own selfish agenda. Good that it was organic. The women will still be able to leverage their success for higher pay.