Kicking It Up a Notch

Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), based in San Francisco, is kicking off its 2010 season in April with building-side projections. Large-format projections of star players Abby Wambach of the Washington Freedom, Natasha Kai of Sky Blue FC and Megan Rapinoe of the Chicago Red Stars will be seen in Washington, D.C., New Jersey and Chicago for three nights leading up to their home openers on April 10, 11 and 17, respectively. The large-scale images will be projected from a custom-built marketing vehicle.
The “Defend Your Turf” campaign, created by Pereira & O’Dell, includes TV, social media, OOH, online advertising and media planning. The campaign will be used within the league’s “See Extraordinary” brand message throughout the 2010 WPS season. Following its WPS Kick-Off Week 2010 debut, the campaign will then drive awareness for the 2010 WPS All-Star Game, presented by the U.S. Coast Guard, and the WPS Championship, the league’s two national events during the season.
PJ Pereira, Pereira & O’Dell’s chief creative officer and co-founder, said, “The gigantic projections will seem as if the players’ warm-up exercises are actually shaking the foundation of the building. And that is what we’re looking to do. Shake things up.”
The imagery encourages fans to “Defend Your Turf” by texting messages of team support to a number that will transpose the messages onto the projections. An auto-reply text will send the fans special ticket offers for their home team.
Additionally, a 30-second TV spot will begin airing on Fox Soccer Channel on April 11 during the first “WPS Sunday on FSC” broadcast.
“Our 2010 campaign includes more guerilla marketing and grassroots promotions with new media elements to energize hardcore fans and build buzz for the league on a broader scale,” said Rachel Epstein, WPS’ director of marketing.
Entering its second season, WPS comprises eight U.S. teams, which include players from 19 countries. Since launching, the league has nearly 250,000 Twitter followers, a dedicated Facebook following and other, new media integration, such as player tweets from the sidelines and the WPS Fan Corner, a fan resource section for forums, blogs and chats. The league has also launched its WPS Fantasy Challenge.
In 2010, eight teams will each play 24-game schedules from April 10 to September 12, The six original WPS teams – Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, FC Gold Pride (Bay Area), Saint Louis Athletica, Sky Blue FC (NJ/NY) and Washington Freedom – have been joined by two expansion teams, Atlanta Beat and Philadelphia Independence. For more information, visit www.womensprosoccer.com.