The 8th FIFA Women’s World Cup (WWC) kicks off on Friday and the Seven League team will be right there in France alongside the organisers, teams and players.
In addition to the award-winning FIFA Fan Movement, we developed and launched a creative campaign for the WWC ambassadors, the Legends Squad, and we’ve worked directly with some of the teams and athletes including the England Lionesses.
Whilst the opening game is tonight – between hosts France and South Korea at a sold-out Parc des Princes – the Women’s World Cup effectively began earlier this week with the first FIFA Women’s Football Convention. Again, the Seven League team was on-site in Paris to assist with social media content.
There was also a proud moment for everyone involved with FIFA Fan Movement when for the first time at such a convention, football fans were actively represented and involved.
The first steps towards Fan Movement (FM) were taken in 2016 when the President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, unveiled the new roadmap for the future of football: FIFA 2.0. In 2017 there was a need to fundamentally change the relationship between FIFA and the billions of football fans around the globe.
The bold and pioneering internal team at FIFA created a brief that would sow the seed for real change. In response, we laid out our vision to create a global community of fans on a scale never witnessed before. In 2018, on the 1st day of the FIFA men’s World Cup, Fan Movement by FIFA was launched.
In the months leading up to launch we researched, recruited and empowered 449 football fans from every imaginable area of the game and fan culture, with 44 countries represented in a truly authentic community. Far from being yet another packaged influencer or creator network, these were genuine fans who believed in FIFA’s desire to create a new relationship with them and represent their voices both inside and outside the organisation.
The fans are unpaid and add their efforts for the good of the game. Which includes talking at this week’s convention, creating content, reporting from the FIFA Best awards, attending World Cups, and more.
Content from the Fan Movement is published on FIFA.com and organically on social via the #WeLiveFootball hashtag to a global audience.
Alongside the Fan Movement, FIFA engaged Seven League in 2018 to develop a strategy for their WWC ambassadors, the Legends Squad.
The ambition was to elevate 23 former professional players above the traditional role of attending matches, press engagements, and enthusing about the tournament.
Instead FIFA wanted to drive both online and offline engagement, and use the Legends to tackle preconceptions of the game and players.
Seven League developed a creative concept rooted in the Legends’ role as superheroes; the ability to fearlessly and positively change the world.
This became: #LegendsAssemble.
Rather than re-tread old ground (“what was the greatest moment in your career?”) the campaign approached from the opposite direction: Who told you that you wouldn’t make it? When did you have to dig deep to overcome failure? Who was the female inspiration in your footballing life?
The output was a 25 video campaign executed over six months and filmed in London, Boston, Beijing, Liverpool and of course Paris.
While the campaign is still live, by its conclusion its messages of ambition, tenacity, and ultimate achievement will have reached millions across the globe.
As indeed will the tournament itself – with nearly a million tickets sold and set to play out to packed houses all over France.
We can’t wait: #SevenLeagueAssemble!