The Women’s State Cup Final

Sporta was selected to brand and execute the Women’s State Cup Final event for the 2022/2023 season. The State Cup in football is one of the oldest and most beloved competitions among fans in Israel, with a long and prestigious history. The goal was to visually convey the significance of the competition through graphic language, celebratory elements, and vibrant colors that evoke a sense of grandeur.

client

The Israel Football Association

Year

2023

Services

Branding

Strategy

Digital

Rebuilding

Templates

Video

background

“Out of difficulties grow miracles” – Jean de La Bruyère wrote, or at least that’s what ChatGPT told us he wrote.

In the digital sports marketing space, too, wonderful things can grow from difficulties. While haters may emphasize the shortcomings of your customer and mock them, there are cases where you can actually highlight these shortcomings (whether they are outdated beliefs, half-truths, or a distorted view of things), and by skillfully using them, emphasize your distinct advantages, shift the narrative, and create credibility that will eventually lead to conversion.

A different final promo

We were asked to produce a video for the Women’s State Cup final in the 22/23 season; our client, the Israel Football Association, invests heavily in promoting the event, and we were tasked with creating a promo to encourage fans to attend the match.

Our team took on the challenge, developed the concept, and after receiving approval and budget confirmation, we teamed up with a film crew at the venue where the game would take place. There, prominent players from both teams awaited us for the shoot, as they were set to compete in the final.

Who cares, what is this promo, are we Real against City?

Lee Falkon

Star Born

We immediately distinguished that Li Falkon, ASA Tel Aviv’s striker, is a true star (beyond being a football star) as she takes on the lead role and steals the show. The video opens with a banal, boring, and exaggerated football game: a tough football game with a ball passing quickly between the players and generic rhythmic music. Suddenly, the video is cut, and you hear Li Falkon shouting “Yalla.” The music stops abruptly, and Falkon continues, “Who cares about this promo? Are we Real against City?”

At this stage, after a few more hints, Falkon breaks the fourth wall and directly addresses the audience: “What do you think, that they didn’t tell us all these things?” while she lists stereotypes about women’s football, thus building credibility that adds to the interest and surprise created earlier.

At this point, viewers are already hooked on Falkon, and as she finishes listing the drawbacks, she challenges with a teasing rhetorical question: “But tell me, have you ever come to see us play? Sit in the stands? Experience something else for a change?”

The camera then shifts to the demonstrating players on the field, as Falkon builds up the players, showcases them, and talks about each one’s skills. Falkon concludes with a personal invitation to the audience while turning to the child star Dylan Dror (who speaks while the players spin him on the field), pointing out all the reasons to come to the game (except for Dylan Dror): Fanzone, free entry, excellent football…

Turning off the lights

Towards the end of the filming of the video, unexpectedly, the lights on the field go out. Falco does not get confused and directly addresses the camera, saying, ‘Look, they turned off the lights on us, always turning off the lights on us. Alright, I’m leaving.’ This unplanned comedic moment, somewhat sad and a bit annoying, concludes the video with a smile.

We are pleased to say that the considerable number of spectators who attended the game is a result of our video. However, if you’ve come to know us, we measure ourselves in numbers, not feelings. While we cannot prove that the video brought all the fans to the game, what we do know is that the video went viral with over 58,000 views, a record for women’s football. Even if it didn’t bring all the fans to the game, its reach and the messages conveyed served the broader agenda of the client. Among these were breaking existing stigmas and attempting to provide an opportunity for women’s football, as well as exposing the digital activities of women’s football to many other potential clients.

The results speak for themselves:

Views on the promo of the cup final
+ 0 k
Interactions with content
+ 0 %
Accounts exposed to the content
+ 0 %
Engaged accounts
+ 0 %

Sporta produces for The Podium House videos of selected clips from among the dozens of podcasts of the company to promote on various social networks. With our help, the number of clips produced each month has increased in quantity and quality.

client

The Israel Football Association

Year

2023

Services

Branding

Strategy

Digital

Rebuilding

Templates

Video

The Women Are Here to Stay

Despite the noticeable professional improvement, significant financial investment, and the tremendous increase in the number of registered players (which has more than doubled in less than five years), women's football still struggles to compete in interest and attractiveness with men's football for various reasons (which may be addressed in another post). This hinders its continued growth and makes it challenging to attract sponsors and raise rating figures.

The women's department of the Israel Football Association understood that improving digital presence is a crucial step in advancing women's football, and they reached out to us for assistance. From there, we embarked on an exciting journey in collaboration between the women's football department and the marketing department of the Israel Football Association, investing time, resources, and effort to enhance the digital presence of the women's football sector.

After a strategic definition process with the client, we focused on addressing the basic visibility of the league: constructing a visual language for the league, including the logo, font, color palette, graphic elements, and templates that would create a cohesive and visually appealing design identity for social media pages and various promotional materials.

Shining the Spotlight on the Players

From here, we turned to the content itself through the construction of various sections, highlighting franchise players, creating consistency in updates (results, tables, games), photomanipulations, and more. Content sections were built based on a predefined giant that anticipates key moments like game days as well as content that would fill the break period.

The work at this stage was more challenging when we had to rely on low-quality images of the players, most of them in a static sitting position. Regarding statistics, which is a central component in creating interest, we encountered difficulties and had to improvise – for example, we created statistical perspectives based on the basic information we had at hand, such as the titles each team won, goalkeepers who kept the most clean sheets, and the top goal scorers.

Knowledge is power

To our delight, the women's department at the Israel Football Association didn't rest on their laurels. Starting from the current season, they have implemented the use of professional and comprehensive statistics, allowing them to create more interesting content and increase engagement on their page. Additionally, video segments have been introduced, enabling them to develop additional content corners and enhance interest and viewership.

Media Day

Additionally, for the first time, a professional "Media Day" was organized for all the league teams. Media Day was a centralized photoshoot day created specifically for the Association. All the players arrived at a professional studio and were photographed against a green screen, capturing both official shoulder photos and various action poses, such as kicking a ball, celebrating a goal, or performing skillful moves.

Media Day was utilized for player engagement activities, including participating in exercises, humorous gestures, and even an iconic singing performance that the talented players of Maccabi Hadera performed together. The players enjoyed the experience, shared the content, and, as a result, increased the page's followers.

what's the bottom line?

You're asking, after nearly 400 words of beautiful stories, beyond the appearance, the passion, and the feeling of the athletes investing in them, you want the bottom line, and you're right. In a period of almost a few months, we nearly doubled (195%) interactions in posts, increased the number of followers by over 25%, and increased the number of engaged accounts by 218%!

These figures are before we implemented the use of statistics, video, and media day photos. We are confident that we can expect.

The results speak for themselves:

+ 0 % The number of followers + 0 % involved accounts + 0 % interaction with content

  • Another success story

Social media revolution of women’s football in Israel

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