In recent days Nike CEO Mark Parker announced that the U.S. Women’s white home soccer jersey is the best selling soccer jersey men’s or women’s on nike.com. Outside of the team being on the brink of greatness. As they will play Sweden in the World Cup Final on Sunday; Nike and members of the U.S. Women’s team have pushed to social media to grow awareness. Below I wanted to highlight a few key moments within the past few months that I feel drive and fuel the fan engagement and success the women’s team sees.
Let’s start with a fight that did not start and will not end with the U.S. Women’s team. Equal pay. The U.S. Women’s team brought to our attention the disparity in wage between them and their male counterparts (even though the women’s team is better and garners more viewers, ticket sales, and has overall success— takes deep breath). Alex Morgan, worked with Secret Deodorant to bring a documentary about wage disparity in America and highlight why the two soccer teams should be paid equally.
Next, remember back in the spring Nike announced a partnership with Snapchat. Well that partnership used Snapchat Lenses and allowed users to ‘try on’ the U.S. Women’s Soccer kit. A great way to kick off fan engagement prior to the world cup.
The last highlight is Megan Rapinoe. No, not because of what she said recently but because she partnered with UNINTERRUPTED, the social and media marketing company owned by Lebron James. She and hoop star Sue Bird, Rapinoe’s girlfirend partnered and created a LOVE is UNINTERRUPTED hoodie ahead of pride month that drove huge interaction for UNINTERRUPTED and for Rapinoe and Bird.
The above highlights that fan engagement isn’t just data driven and doesn’t have to center around a team or even the sport. Members of the U.S. Soccer team are pushing their limits on social media in an effort to create change and with that engaging with fans in ways we haven’t seen before. The results are huge. the best selling jersey and Tuesday’s semifinal game against England. Saw an average of 7M viewers and peaked at 11M for a game that aired at 3:00. I can’t wait to see what this team has in store for Sunday!