Orange is the leading telecommunications provider in France and a historical sponsor of French football. As a former public service, its mission has always been to unite people. However, while Orange equally supports both the men's and women's national football teams, women's football still faces significant gender bias among fans. Orange has chosen to confront this prejudice and capitalize on the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup to spark a global conversation. More than an ad, this film became the most shared educational content to fight against gender bias.

In France, football is king, with a popularity that has been fueled by the success of the men’s national team : 2-times world champion, finalist of the last edition in 2022. But women's football is left out of the fervor, partly because it’s still a young sport (officially recognized by the FFF in 1974). This 2023 Women’s World Cup was only the 9th edition, whereas it was the 22nd for the men’s. But this doesn’t mean the women’s team’s drive is less than the men’s : they have been #5 in the FIFA ranking for years, have reached the semi-final during the last Euro…

Before the WWC, the French should have been cheering for their determined team. Yet, 3 weeks before its start, no TV partner had agreed to cover it. This was a painful reminder of the lack of institutional support to the sport in France, while other countries have succeeded in bridging the gender inequalities in football, by investing. In this panorama, it was important for brand sponsors such as Orange to step in.

For Orange, the leading telecommunication company, as a former state-owned company, public service is a core value. It is one of the first French brands to provide extensive support for football, with a track record of 24 years backing amateur, professional women and men’s football. Since 2018, the brand has held the status of a Major Partner of the French Football Federation, supporting both the Men's and Women's National Teams with equal resources.

The film shows a never-before-seen compilation of actions from players of the French football national men's team. For the first minute, the play of Mbappé, Giroud, Griezmann... is displayed, in a sequence that borrows from the codes of best-of sports videos, with a fast-paced editing and adrenaline-inducing soundtrack.

The reveal unveils the ruse: the video is in fact a compilation of women’s technical moves. Thanks to VFX, the appearance of the French woman's team has been faked in the 1st part of the compilation, to serve a strong message about their skills. These beautiful actions, without VFX, are replayed in the 2nd part of the video, so the audience can admire them, stripped away from the filter of their gender stereotypes.

Our idea relied enterely on the craft of this visual trick. Without craft, the illusion wouldn’t have been perfect, and wouldn’t have provocked the intended effect on our audience.

Last summer, the French women's football team played in its 5th World Cup, in a unique context. Up until a few weeks before the competition, no media organization had stepped in to buy the broadcasting rights for the event.

In a country where football is a passion, women's football is left out of the fervor. One of the reasons is prejudice about its lack of technical skills. Many fans have a strong opinion about it, without ever having watched a match, or having looked at biased compilations ("The worst of women's football", "100% fails women's football”…)

This is why the WWC was a key moment for Orange, a committed partner of football for 24 years, to go beyond its usual support for the French Women's Team, via a CSR brief whose main objective was to tackle the prejudices that women's football suffers from.

The video went viral in only days, and successfully fueled debate the biases women’s football suffers from.

> +2B impressions

> +200M organic views, with a high complexion rate.

> Estimated organic reach: 800K$

> +450 cross-media PR coverage in 91 countries: articles, TV & radio, podcasts…

> Influential relays from opinion leaders of all sectors: the French Minister for Sport Amélie Oudéa Castera, Alexis Ohanian (Reddit CEO), Daniel Storey (football365) Gary Lineker, Dan Povenmire. Football players, both men and woman: Delphine Cascarino, Blaise Matuidi, Eugénie Le Sommer, Matteo Guendouzi, Amandine Henry, Oussmane Dembélé, Antoine Griezmann...

> Attribution: 92,5% of media coverage pieces mentioned Orange.

> Reactions were overwhelmingly positive, and to this day, the video continues to be relayed, as a piece of content materializing the issue of gender bias in sports and helping overcome it.