Women’s sports teams suffer from being looped in with their male counterparts when it comes to sponsorship – despite having almost entirely different audiences, according to industry insiders.
Attendees gathered at the Kia Oval in London this week (16 October) to learn about the role brands can play in advancing women’s sports.
The session, ‘Women in Sport’, was hosted by the sports marketing agency Synonymous Sport and featured guest speakers from Crystal Palace Football Club and Surrey County Cricket Club.
Speaker Grace Williams has previously worked in women’s football for Watford FC and Bristol City FC and currently heads women’s football at Crystal Palace.
She said: “The biggest challenge in women’s sport is that it still compared to the men’s game on and off the pitch, but crucially in the marketing.
“Only 5-10% of our audience is the same as the men’s, so why would our marketing be the same? When we are pitching to brands for sponsorships, we make it clear that sponsoring women’s sport is an entirely different product.”
Williams told the audience she had taken this approach at Crystal Palace to great success.
“We have seen commercial growth of new assets at 300% with just 50% of assets sold, and Crystal Place Women are the only team in the Super League to have a different front of shirt sponsor to the men’s team,” she said.
Emma Calvert, a former investment banker who has been director of Women’s Cricket at Surrey County Cricket Club for over two years, offered her perspective on the success and challenges in women’s cricket.
Calvert said: “Success for us has been beyond lifting silverware. Since the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) regionalised women’s cricket in 2018, we have seen a clear growth in popularity and match attendance.
“However, the biggest issue remains the buy-in from brands. They still try to compare the women to the men’s game, but you have to take it for its merit.”
Calvert reiterated the difference in audiences for men’s and women’s cricket. “
People sponsor the men’s game because they want to reach a certain audience and think they will get the same with women’s sport, but our audience is so different – it is families and young people instead of men in their 40s and 50s,” she said. “Brands have to remember that to sponsor women’s sport is to connect with a different audience.”
Panel host Darrell Fox, founder of Synonymous, asked the speakers about the value of sponsoring women’s sports and any advice that they had for brands wishing to reach those audiences.
“My advice to brands considering sponsorship would be do it!” said Williams.
“By sponsoring women’s sport, you get to be a part of a community and help shape the legacy of something bigger than the game. For the women’s team, those brand sponsorships can make so much more difference than a drop in the ocean.”
Calvert added: “Brands create so many opportunities when they decide to be a part of the women’s game, where it’s more family oriented and you get to make a different generational impact. Think about it – the next generation coming up will never know a world where women’s sports don’t exist, and brands have a chance to be a part of that.
“It’s so much more than a box-ticking exercise; it’s a chance to be a storyteller and make a legacy for a brand.”
The panelists provided insight into the types of brands that sponsor women’s sport, which go far beyond women-owned and women-focused ones.
Williams said: “Initially, people think that it is women-owned and women-focused brands that partner with women’s sports, but it’s more than that. The majority of brands involved with women’s sport are financial service companies.
“For example, Barclays, Metro Bank, LV=, Vitality and others now want to sponsor the women’s teams because of the value it provides and not just because it’s a nice thing to do.”
She added: “The marketing of the women’s team has been so important for sponsorships. By showing that the value proposition and assets of the women’s team is different to the men’s, we have been able to showcase that it is more about brand credibility and having an impact on growing the game than a numbers exercise.”
The event was sponsored by Mills & Reeve and gathered attendees from Aon, Ambassador Cruise Line, Liverpool FC, Ziegler UK, and Helly Hansen.