Youth Sports Marketing Case Study | Soccajoeys Women’s World Cup Campaign Success
- The Change Starter
- Jul 7
- 5 min read
Empowering the Next Generation: A Youth Sports Marketing Case Study from Soccajoeys’ Women’s World Cup Campaign
In a monumental year for women's football, Australia and New Zealand took centre stage as the proud hosts of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023. All of the matches held at Sydney’s Stadium Australia sold-out, becoming five of the top ten most attended games ever at a FIFA Women’s World Cup.
For Soccajoeys, the tournament was a unique youth sports marketing opportunity to inspire the next generation of female soccer players. As a brand dedicated to nurturing a lifelong love for the game, Soccajoeys saw the profound potential of leveraging this moment to empower young girls across the country.
Soccajoeys briefed us to design and execute a strategic youth sports marketing campaign aimed at creating a groundswell of excitement and encouraging more girls to take up soccer; both during and beyond the tournament.
Objectives
Recognising the transformative power of sports in shaping young lives, the upcoming Women’s World Cup presented the perfect opportunity to drive positive change and served as an ideal platform for a purpose-driven youth sports marketing campaign. The Women's World Cup presented the perfect opportunity to drive positive change.
Our campaign objectives were threefold. First, we aimed to increase Soccajoeys' brand visibility, positioning them as the go-to destination for parents seeking to nurture their children's love for soccer by aligning their brand with the values of empowerment, inclusivity, and excellence embodied by the Women's World Cup.
Second, we were determined to capitalise on the surge of interest in women's soccer to boost girls' registration in Soccajoeys’ programs. We recognised that the Women's World Cup would inspire a new generation of female footballers, and we wanted to ensure that Soccajoeys was at the forefront of providing them with the support, guidance, and opportunities they needed to thrive.
Finally, we aimed to foster an engaged community of soccer enthusiasts around the Soccajoeys brand. By creating compelling content and facilitating conversation around the tournament, we strengthened emotional connection and trust. Key outcomes of any effective youth sports marketing strategy. This community-building focus was critical to Soccajoeys’ long-term success, helping them retain and grow their customer base well beyond the conclusion of the World Cup.
Ultimately, our objectives were rooted in Soccajoeys’ commitment to empowering children, promoting gender equality in sports, and driving positive social change through the power of soccer.
Strategy
Soccajoeys is uniquely positioned to empower girls to pursue their passion for soccer. Whilst Soccajoeys does have many female students, girls often feel isolated and unsure about participating in what has traditionally been considered a boy’s game.
The upcoming Women’s World Cup presented a timely opportunity to challenge that perception and implement a youth sports marketing strategy that would inspire a new generation of female soccer players. These players could then become role models themselves, contributing to a lasting legacy of empowerment and equality in sport.
We developed a targeted social media campaign that would showcase Soccajoeys as a supportive and nurturing environment where girls could thrive both on and off the field. This youth sports marketing approach focused on highlighting real benefits, not just from a skills perspective, but also in terms of confidence, leadership, and teamwork.
Through carefully crafted messaging and targeted outreach, we emphasised how soccer helps girls build confidence, develop essential leadership skills, and cultivate a strong sense of teamwork.
Our strategy focused on engaging with the existing Soccajoeys community while also reaching out to new audiences. By creating a buzz and engagement with the existing followers, the strategy was to demonstrate to new parents that the Soccajoeys community is a safe space for their daughter to participate in soccer.
By communicating the benefits of soccer lessons beyond the game of soccer itself, we aimed to create engagement with Soccajoeys that would extend beyond the duration of the Women’s World Cup.
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Deliverables
Our campaign focused on Instagram and Facebook to create significant groundswell around the event and deliver tangible results through targeted youth sports marketing efforts.
We created a campaign using a “green & gold” grid takeover to run over the period of the tournament. We designed branded templates that brought the ‘Green & Gold” of the Australian Women’s Soccer Team to the forefront and showcased Soccajoey’s support for Australia and the WWC overall.
All posts during this time period used the green and gold templates, with stories also following this theme in the lead-up to and throughout the event.
We ran a weekly competition with a new question each week, and posts scheduled accordingly. In week 1 we asked; “which team is your family cheering for and why?”, week 2 focused on; “who’s your favourite WWC player in this tournament?”. For week 3, we asked; “what’s your favourite moment of the WWC so far?” and in the final week we wanted to know “which team do you think will win the World Cup and why?”
A promotional carousel was designed for each week, showcasing the prize and competition details, as well as reposts and winner announcements. The carousel included a stadium image with merchandise and prize details overlaid.
A strategically curated selection of posts were boosted with an allocated budget.
These included posts promoting the weekly competition as well as posts supporting girls' participation in sports with no direct link to WWC. These posts were intended to simply leverage off the trending topic of women’s soccer.
Creative Showcase
Outcomes
At The Change Starter, we're delighted to report that our strategic youth sports marketing campaign for Soccajoeys during the Women's World Cup yielded strong, tangible results.
Soccajoeys experienced a massive surge in registrations both during and following the Women's World Cup, as eager players and their families recognised the value of joining a community dedicated to fostering a love for the game.
Thanks to this targeted youth sports marketing approach, Soccajoeys is now better positioned than ever to empower the next generation of young female soccer players, providing them with the tools, guidance, and support they need to reach their full potential both on and off the pitch.
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