Nike Holds the Mic as Women's Soccer Finds Its Voice

A brand doesn’t need an ad or sponsorship to prove its worth. Sometimes, it just needs a story. In 2019, Nike and Observatory partnered to ask themselves a question: Why not build an entertainment studio focused on sports and culture? Instead of trying to wedge diverse, relevant stories into 30-second ads selling products, why not make feature films, documentaries, TV series and podcasts devoid of pitches, gear and the Swoosh? Nike’s Waffle Iron Entertainment sprouted from that discussion. Named for the kitchen gadget that University of Oregon track and field coach Bill Bowerman used to make Nike’s first running shoes, Waffle Iron Entertainment sought to tell sports stories through the lens of larger cultural events. One of its earliest efforts, the Crackle series Promiseland, followed Memphis Grizzlies rookie Ja Morant as he navigated the National Basketball Association, Covid-19 and the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. It next project, HBO’s The Day Sports Stood Still, followed basketball star Chris Paul during the NBA’s reaction to the pandemic and social justice protests in 2020. In June, Waffle Iron and Observatory teamed with AudioUp Media, Range Media Partners and iHeartMedia to create the documentary podcast Hustle Rule. Based on the book Under the Lights and in the Dark: Untold Stories of Women’s Soccer by journalist and award-winning filmmaker Gwendolyn Oxenham, Hustle Rule tells the stories behind professional soccer players’ rise to their sport’s upper echelons. Hustle Rule trailer It launched on June 23, the 50th anniversary of the Education Department’s Title IX rule prohibiting schools from discriminating based on sex, and concluded on July 28 just before the Women’s Euro 2022 final. “There was never a sense that this was an advertisement for Nike or anything like that,” Oxenham said. “What blew my mind was that Waffle Iron, from the beginning, was just interested in telling these stories because they thought they were meaningful. “These are stories that no one had ever heard of, and that didn't deter Waffle Iron for a second.” From professional soccer to hockey, from football to boxing and mixed martial arts, storytelling across multiple mediums is now critical to sports marketing. Fans want to hear their favorite athletes’ stories in the own words on familiar platforms without being asked to buy a product. To get there, sports brands must be willing to forego sales in the short term to create fans and athletes who’ll come back with more expendable income later. “You can only say so much in a 30-second commercial or a 60-second commercial, but the true storytelling can come through in a podcast series, in a television series, in a film,” said Brendan Shields-Shimizu, Observatory’s CEO. “If you can get consumers saying, ‘Wow, I want to go watch this content because it's actually interesting and doesn't feel like an advertisement, but I've learned something from it or I felt happy from it,’ that's where I think brands are going to be playing in the future.” New Women’s Soccer CMO Sees ‘Hypergrowth’ Potential Finding a reliable narrator Waffle Iron, AudioUp, Range Media Partners and Observatory sought a tone that would resonate with fans. They gave the series its own anthem—”Won’t Stop” by producer and songwriter A1 Le Flare—and searched for a voice to connect the stories while contributing a narrative all its own. They landed on Hannah Waddingham, the veteran actor best known to American fans, at least, as AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Welton from the AppleTV+ series Ted Lasso. Samuel Brennan, Observatory’s brand supervisor, noted that Waddingham’s experience on screen as well as in West End and Broadway productions gave her command of the podcast’s audience. At points throughout the series, she intersperses stories about her stage career, her Ted Lasso-influenced love of soccer (and the Euro 2022 champion English women’s national team) and her daughter’s love of the game. “All our eyes lit up, and we all jumped when her name came up, said Observatory's Chief Creative Officer Linda Knight. “That's when you know you've got the right person, when everyone's like, ‘Yes, she would be perfect for this.’" The Future of Women’s Football Is Wide Open for New Brand Partnerships The view from the pitch But the stories Waddingham shares don’t come together without a great deal of legwork from Oxenham. The youngest athlete in collegiate Division 1 history when she joined the Duke University women’s soccer team at age 16, her career was effectively over four years later after the Women’s United Soccer Association folded and she didn’t make the U.S. national team. A one-year stint on a pro team in Brazil ended without her being paid a cent. Instead, she obtained a degree in creative writing from the University of Notre Dame, wrote about soccer for numerous publications (ESPN, The Atlantic, Sports Illustrated) and took a group of friends to 25 countries in three years while exploring the roots of pickup soccer. The trip resulted in the 2012 book Finding the Game, but it also yielded the award-winning, exhaustive 2010 documentary Pelada. Almost a decade ago, Oxenham was approached by a British publisher to write a book of women’s soccer stories from around the world. Having just hitchhiked around Brazil as a professional soccer player—and having written stories about mothers in professional soccer and Brazilian superstar Marta—she went to work on what became Under the Lights. A copy found its way to Observatory and Waffle Iron, whose representatives emailed Oxenham to say they were big fans of the book. “That's one of the more awesome emails you get as a writer—and I've gotten lots of those emails—so you're hesitant to believe that it's real,” she said. “But Observatory and Waffle Iron were as real as it gets. ... They read the book, they believed in the stories, and they wanted to do whatever it took to shine the light that these stories and these women deserve.” Nike’s Exuberant Anthem for UEFA Euro 2022 Calls for More Backing of Women’s Sports The real storytellers In Hustle Rule, Josephine Chukwunonye (aka Alinco) traces a path from her family’s one-room home in Lagos, Nigeria, to the Women’s World Cup. A member of the Racing Louisville women's soccer team who plays for Denmark at the international level—oh, and soon-to-be surgeon and Afghan refugee—Nadia Nadim introduces listeners to her family of boxers, singers and women’s rights activists. Gotham midfielder Allie Long takes listeners into the underground indoor soccer leagues of New York City, while Episode 7 finishes the series by using three generations of players to chart the evolution of professional women’s soccer. While some of Oxenham’s stories from Under the Lights were cut—once-homeless England player Fara Williams had little availability, while Covid-19 hampered other interview opportunities—others received extra attention. For Oxenham, that meant making some necessary updates to both the narratives and her line of questioning. “It was finding the questions that could trigger, and it had been a few years so it wasn't like they were just regurgitating what they'd already told me,” Oxenham said. “Lives change in three years.” Often significantly. In Under the Lights, players shared the story of how they were turned away from the semi-pro Charlotte Eagles, an evangelical Christian team in North Carolina that believes homosexuality is a sin. Three years later, the exiled players became part of another team—the Asheville Blues—composed of LGBTQ+ players and allies. The story shifted from the Eagles’ actions to the Eagles-Blues rivalry. Revisiting a story about Brazilian soccer added more voices to the story and some hopeful notes, including 1,000 girls showing up for a tryout with Santos FC. The most important change, however, came from the players and coaches. There's just a wider spectrum of heroes available now, where so many more little girls can see themselves in the players who are playing today.Gwendolyn Oxenham, author, Under the Lights and In the Dark There’s inherent value in the stories behind women’s soccer. At a base marketing level, they speak to the 26.7 million viewers of the 2015 U.S. Women’s World Cup championship match against Japan that is still the most-watched soccer match in U.S. history. They speak to the more than 87,000 fans who packed Wembley Stadium for the Women’s Euro 2022 final and the 17.4 million viewers in England who tuned in. They speak to the consumer who the Union of European Football Associations said will give European women’s soccer monetary and marketing value close to $700 million. But to Oxenham and her partners at Waffle Iron, Observatory, AudioUp and iHeart, those stories speak to the heart of the sport. They go beyond the field, capturing the passion of those who devote their lives to the game and displaying the breadth of cultures contributing to the sport. Oxenham calls soccer “my relief,” and the stories of Hustle Rule give those listening—including brands and companies—some idea of how many others find similar solace in the game. “Especially in Episode 7, the message that came through was that there's just a wider spectrum of heroes available now, where so many more little girls can see themselves in the players who are playing today,” Oxenham said. “You have way more diversity, and telling stories that reflects that matters.” Euro 2022 Sponsors Are Playing the Long Game When it Comes to Women’s Soccer