Cannes Lions

The Other Dream

LA COMUNIDAD, Buenos Aires / JOHNNIE WALKER / 2024

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Overview

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OVERVIEW

Background

Gender inequality in football is very high: worldwide, female players do not receive the same salary, visibility or resources as male players.

In Argentina, things aren’t any better: only 5 of the 21 teams that currently make up the top category of women's football have more than 20 professional players (while in the Men's Football League, clubs are composed entirely of professional players). There are no contracts for all of them or salaries above minimum pay. Most of the players must have another job to make ends meet.

In terms of visibility, media coverage remains very low, with only 4% of air time devoted to women athletes worldwide. Pleas for increased coverage, visibility, and equal access to media distribution have been voiced by female football players from Argentina’s National Team prior to the Cup.

In this context, the comparison against the Men's Cup is stark and dark. The timing was right to spark a much needed conversation about equality in sports, in a country filled with pride for its male national team, but absolutely indifferent to its female one.

Idea

6 months after the Argentine men's national team won the cup and in the year of the Women's Cup we decided to take a first bold step. With the most recognized player of the women's Argentine national team, Estefania Banini, and the most influential female sports journalist, Sofi Martinez, we dared to start a conversation that no one expected with a public statement: "My dream is not to win the Football Cup".

After capturing everyone's attention (and a lot of repercussions in social media) we launched our 360 campaign, revealing that the real dream had nothing to do with sporting success, but with promoting a more equitable football. The campaign included a hero film and inspirational stories; digital reminders for people to watch the matches; and sponsorship of the radio news segment for the Women’s Football Team, among other actions. In sum, we invited the audience to join the dream.

Strategy

Johnnie Walker has long aspired to capture more share within a vibrant, modern and aspirational world of whisky, particularly with women.

That's why we partnered with two of the most recognisable figures in female sports in Argentina, creating an “organic” momentum where Banini (top female player) disclosed to Martínez (top female sports journalist) that her biggest dream wasn’t to win a Football Cup. In a country ridden by football passion, that statement sparked a heated discussion, and the opportunity to show the inequality gap in the national sport. Our approach was twofold:

To create a conversation about male and female football (engaging the audience and their biases), and shed a light on the deeper dream women players have: to be equal on the field and out.

To spike interest for the Women’s Cup that would happen a week after the launch of our campaign, contributing to bridge the visibility gap.

Execution

Initially, we conducted a revealing interview with Estefanía Banini and Sofi Martinez in one of the top streaming radios in Argentina, during which Banini disclosed that winning the Football Cup wasn't her ultimate dream. This revelation sparked a heated online debate, questioning Banini's ambition. That's when we stepped in to launch our 360 campaign.

Starting with a hero film (by female director Malu Boruchowicz), in which we revealed that the real dream had nothing to do with sporting success, but with promoting a more equitable football.

We complemented the campaign with deep, inspirational stories, as well as a brigade of influencers and key opinion leaders amplifying the message in their own voices. Additionally, we created digital match reminders to encourage people to watch the National Team's performance (which happened during early morning hours). And we achieved branded media coverage from New Zealand during the championship, boosting visibility alongside our protagonists.

Outcome

The Women's Cup presented a significant opportunity to make a bold statement highlighting what still needs to be accomplished on the path towards gender equity.

The impact was phenomenal across platforms: we achieved +91M impressions, +9M reach, +7M interactions, +540 TRPs and +6M views. Coverage of the campaign was overwhelmingly positive, reaching a wide range of consumer audiences across digital channels, traditional media (TV and radio) and both general and specialised press (national newspapers such as Infobae, La Nacion, Clarin) and entertainment publications (such as Playground and Marketing Registrado).

In Argentina, JW increased its brand performance in the attributes “Inspires me to push boundaries” (+4pp vs LY) and “It’s modern and vibrant” (+3pp vs LY) according to BGS study by Kantar World Panel.

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