Adidas FIFA Women’s World Cup Sports adidas Australia
The Brief
When Australia and New Zealand won hosting rights for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, fans celebrated. But for adidas, the tournament’s lead sponsor, the challenge was clear: most Aussies weren’t watching. In a crowded sports market, how do you make football impossible to ignore?
OUR INSIGHT
Despite being a global phenomenon, football still sat on the sidelines of Aussie culture. We needed to shift perception and build momentum and visibility for the tournament, turning casual spectators into die-hard fans.
The IDEA
We used talent-led storytelling and bold, social-first activations to pull football into the mainstream. From the pitch to the streets, adidas made noise that couldn’t be missed.
We kicked this off by helping adidas launch the official match ball, OCEAUNZ, in a way no Australian could miss. A giant replica of the match ball was towed across the Sydney skyline by helicopter before landing at a star-studded opening party, attended by the likes of influential athletes Cortnee Vine, Claudia Bunge, Jess Fox OAM, Ian Thorpe, Dan Carter ONZ and more. At the reveal event, a panel discussion focused on the ball’s design, championing female athletes, and the countries’ hosting of the event. Our content about the event transformed the launch into a global spectacle that played out across social channels.
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Momentum mattered. We brought in high-profile Aussie athletes from other sports (Nathan Cleary, Ellyse Perry, Jess Fox) to show their support for the Matildas. We activated adidas’ Sydney fan zone with influencer content that captured real-time energy from the watch parties. To keep pace with the games, we created digital sticker drops celebrating big-player moments, and produced a recap series hosted by UK influencer Miriam Walker-Khan to connect global audiences to the tournament story. In the knockout rounds, we followed creator Dani Pirrello through fan zones and stadiums, capturing the raw emotion of fans on the ground. And before the final, when Billie Jean King landed in Sydney, we produced a heartfelt open letter from her to the players, scripted and filmed in 48 hours, that echoed around the world.
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