“There’s been a growing wave for women’s sport in New Zealand that’s been coming for a while, and what this was, was kind of the moment where it broke over and just crashed down on everyone. You can’t ignore it anymore,” columnist and Women in Rugby Aotearoa trustee, Alice Soper commented after an incredible year for New Zealand that ended with the Black Ferns securing a sixth women’s Rugby World Cup title.
The fan fervour must have had those involved in sports sponsorship salivating at the new opportunities opening up for brands to associate themselves with rising female sporting celebrities. With the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup kicking off this year in New Zealand, an abundance of new branding opportunities have opened up for sponsors to get into the game.
There is unsatisfied demand for women’s sport, where, according to a Sport NZ & Isentia report (June 2022) only 25 percent of sport coverage is dedicated to women’s sport. Other data, however, shows the gap in interest between men and women’s sport to be much closer.
“There’s still space wide open for brands to take an early ownership position in women’s sports within New Zealand be it via sponsorship, athlete or media partnerships,” says Team Heroine Founder, Rebecca Sowden. “Adding to that, sportswomen are providing new ways for brands to connect with customers via their passion for sport and in more relatable, fresh, content-led, personality-driven and authentic ways.”
On the website, Correct the Internet, Team Heroine, and others are trying to help make sportswomen more visible. “Many of the world’s best athletes are women,” begins the description of the project. “Many of the world’s sporting records are held by women, but due to human bias, our search engines have learnt to prioritise sportsmen in our search results, even when the facts put sportswomen first. We want to change that.”
This is an example of the push to bring women’s sports to the fore,
