Gaelic Football is Ireland’s national sport. It’s not just a pastime; it is rooted in the very fabric of Irish culture. It is more than just part of the community, it creates communities.

Like most major sports around the world, the focus is on the men’s game. This is reflected in its support, media coverage and sponsorships (the national championship is so big, it has three title sponsors.) In other words, the men’s game is the game.

Women also play Gaelic Football. They work as hard, train as hard and are just as committed. But they don’t get the same recognition.

In late 2015, Lidl signed up as sponsor of Ladies Gaelic Football. Being a discounter and a somewhat alien concept for a mostly female Irish consumer, Lidl were once themselves a side-show to the main players in the grocery sector. They themselves had fought hard to be taken seriously.

We saw this sponsorship as an opportunity for Lidl to assert its challenger brand position and also to challenge accepted norms, however wrong, within Irish culture. This, we hoped, would achieve the broader objective of encouraging more women to play sport and be taken seriously doing so.

Phase 1 – Launching “Ladyball”

We created a pink ball that was soft and easy to play with. We marketed it like a real product, with its own website, a soft launch through PR and social media, followed by an above-the-line campaign. Although weeks in preparation, this phase was only live for 3 days. Social media and digital were integral as we needed to create a massive pool of negative support to re-target with positive support in Phase 2.

Phase 2 – Demonstrating Serious Support

We then revealed that Lidl were behind Ladyball. We quickly followed up with a large scale advertising campaign designed to portray Ladies Gaelic Footballers as the true heroes they were, a custom normally associated with men. We hijacked a high profile international men’s rugby match to launch our 60 second TVC and supported this with large format outdoor, high impact digital and social media.

Ladyball did what it was designed to do – it agitated:

• 8.5 million social media users were outraged

• 116 publications globally reported on the negative issues raised

• A previously passive audience was now incensed.

Increased profile for the players:

• Ladies Gaelic Footballers achieved a national media platform - over 2.5 million people during launch weekend alone, a stark contrast to the previous year’s “record attendance” of 30,000 to the Championship Final

Our Serious Support campaign connected:

• Engagement almost 9 x higher than normal

• 450,000 views on Facebook during the launch weekend without media push

Serious Support at community level:

• Over 1 million Lidl shoppers supported 147 schools in getting €250,000 worth of kit, rejuvenating the sport amongst young girls

The Ladies Gaelic Football Association now spend 50% of their week fielding media calls where before they were knocking on doors trying to get coverage.

But most importantly, we’ve changed the conversation!