I do not want to overlook a big congratulations to all the people involved in making this a success, firstly to Mariana Gutiérrez, Director of the LigaMX Femenil and to her entire team who each year show us much progress, but above all much love and passion. No less important, to the directives of both clubs, I do not want to leave anyone out, but from the American side to Santiago Baños, Claudia Carrión and Héctor González Iñarritu, and from the side of the five-time champions, Mauricio Culebro, Antonio Sancho and Carlos Valenzuela. Obviously also to their work teams that make the sports projects that each Institution proposes a reality.
Obviously, in the end, we will always have the original factor of sport-show: soccer players who play and fans who want to see them play. My greatest appreciation to the most important part of the equation that the sports industry has.
And we also already see that the other players are also reaping dividends. Several records were broken. Televisa Univisión announced that the LigaMX Women’s Final reached a historic audience thanks to the decision to broadcast the round-trip matches on open television on Canal NU9VE.
The first leg final, held at the Azteca Stadium, reached 2.48 million people, while the second leg held at the Universitario Stadium exceeded 2.88 million viewers. More than 5.3 million people adding both parties! And this is just beginning! Can you see the size of the opportunity?
Not only there were records. In terms of attendance at the stadium, this Grand Final broke the previous record by registering 52,654 spectators at the Azteca Stadium, and adding the attendees at the Universitario Stadium, the final was physically witnessed by 94,269 people. What BTL activation has a potential audience of almost 100 thousand souls?
The numbers keep growing. The marks that are already there, congratulations. And those that do not, should be considering. And if you’re not convinced, look what Qatar is going to do. Sport has a great capacity to convene, but also to inspire. It is known that the consumer (fan) appreciates the brands that support his passion. Women’s football is present and future.
Qatar 2022. We already started the week before the World Cup. The campaigns are launching and we are starting to feel that excitement. There is controversy, there is a lot of media noise, and there is a lot of conversation about it. Only a few brands are going to be able to take advantage of it. Who will they be? Let’s start with two: Nike and Lays (in Mexico, Sabritas). And for further reference, I leave these great pieces of Advertising.
Lays / Doritos “Soccer vs. Soccer”
In this piece, we can see many sports superstars, starting with David Beckham (England, Soccer) and Peyton Manning (NFL, American Football) discussing whether the correct thing to say is “Football” or “Soccer”. This is nothing more than a great nod to the 2026 World Cup to be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Lays went big. The piece needed to be masterfully directed and for that they turned to Michael Bay (Transformers, Armaggedon, Pearl Harbor, etc). To reinforce the message, the director uses personalities such as Javier “Chicharito” Hernández, Tim Howard, Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and Brandi Chastain. This idea was created by Lays’ in-house agency and was launched this past November 15 and comes accompanied by various tactical actions in packaging and product.
Nike “Footballverse”
And as it usually does, Nike goes out to show itself as it has done since 1994 when it launched the first ad featuring soccer players from around the world. Now, in 2022, he launches “Footballverse” and it blew our minds.
In this ad, Nike asks us who is the best soccer player of all time? And a group of scientists are working to get an answer for what players from the past, current and future “bring” to the present. Obviously plenty of stars have worn the brand, so we see Alex Morgan, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé, Ronaldinho and Sam Kerr in action. And if Lays was to hear Michael Bay, here the soundtrack is serious: Danny Elfmann was in charge of creating “Weird Science” and played by Oingo Boingo. The idea is developed by Wieden & Kennedy (Portland) and they accompany the campaign with an invitation to visit “Nikeland” on Roblox. It’s a great piece, a great idea and a great lowering. I repeat, not only with TikTok can you connect with the new generations of fans.
And also, once I said it, the Metaverse thing is not new. Roblox already exists, but many aren’t ready for this conversation.