How “Girls That Play Become Women Who Lead”
450 million girls are excluded from competitive sports globally. You saw that right – according to the teams at Game of Our Lives and 180 Amsterdam, this statistic was the starting point for a gamified impact platform to begin making a change. Launched during the Women’s World Cup, England footballers Nikita Parris and Gemma Bonner, as well as other players from around the world, come together to encourage girls to get into sports.
In the ‘She Has Fire’ team created by GOL, a football kit highlights the hidden lessons girls learn when playing sports, thus showcasing what they’re missing out on when they don’t. The motivational shirt and accompanying campaign film were created to encourage people to sign up, pledge their support and also learn how they can help to ensure all girls can have access to sports, wherever they are in the world.
The aim was to change the global numbers of women in sports, especially because of the potential it holds for the future. It’s proven that women who take part in sporting activities gain a sense of confidence, leadership, and learn life lessons that will change the statistics – 3.4% of leaders are women and 98.8% of money is controlled by men.
To share more about how the campaign was created, 180 Amsterdam’s executive creative director Katrina Encanto and the Game of Our Lives chief architect and co-founder Dylan Ingham speak to LBB’s Nisna Mahtani.
LBB> When did the teams from 180 Amsterdam and Game of Our Lives first get in touch and what was its goal for this campaign?
Dylan> The goal of this campaign was threefold. One. Get the message out there that 450 million girls are excluded from competitive sports, and then highlight the hidden lessons of leadership that sport teaches, plus point out that every country has a long way to go. Two. Show fans that there is a space where they can give their time to help fight for these girls. Three. The first opportunity for the nine world-class co-captains in the team to be unified in a message around the launch of ‘She Has Fire’ during the World Cup.
Kat> There’s a lot of discussion around the obstacles preventing girls from playing sports, but there hasn’t been a lot of attention on why getting more girls into sports even matters. We know that sport turns players into leaders, but we also know that globally, girls don’t play to the same extent as boys do. This means they are not being taught essential lessons that prime them to lead, which are especially crucial when girls’ confidence drops off at puberty.
Our goal was to draw attention to this fact, and demonstrate that any disparity we see on the pitch is only reflective of the leaders we see in real life.
LBB> Can you talk us through some of the ideas you had floating around during the ideation phase and how you landed on this one in particular?
Kat> The creative response that we saw from the teams was unbelievable, and it was obvious that as an agency, we care deeply about this subject. We whittled the shortlist down to three ideas. One focused on the obstacles excluding girls from sports. Another focused on the fact that most female leaders have a sports background. And this, the last one, focused on the leadership lessons that have been hidden from girls who are excluded from sports. We all felt this last approach could offer a fresh and unique perspective on the subject, whilst celebrating the learnings shared by the players we admire.
LBB> 450 million girls around the world are excluded from sports. What are some of the negative effects of this and why did you want to start changing the statistic?
Dylan & Kat> Namely that excluding girls from sports excludes them from leadership. There are many negative effects of excluding almost 50% of all girls from the potential of leadership. The biggest, although it may sound scary, is the threat of population extinction. That is scary. United Nations IPCC scientists agree, the planet is heating and the global population is accelerating towards huge suffering and eventual extinction. The United Nations state that one of the fastest ways to change this tragic path is to get gender parity in leadership, urgently. So, 50% of leaders becoming women would encourage new significant social and planetary-based policies. Today only 3.4% of leaders are women and 98.8% of money is controlled by men, so excluding 50% from the most productive leadership accelerator, competitive sport is disastrous for all our futures.
Kat> 450 million girls excluded from sport is a lot of wasted potential. In some cultures, sport can be a way out of poverty, hardship, and repression. But even at its most basic level, sport can make you feel like you belong, that you can contribute to a shared goal, and that your personal improvement matters. From my own experience with sport, I know the transformative effect it’s had on the way I’m wired. Like most teenage girls, I struggled with confidence growing up, and through football, I was not only able to overcome that, but I also picked up other values that have helped me navigate the often uneven field of life. Lessons like treating pressure like a gift, learning how to read teammates, and showing up even when it’s difficult. I treasure the sweat-drenched, mud-stained days I’ve shared with the teams I’ve played with, and I wish every girl could have this life-changing experience. Not just because it’s really fun, but also because nothing teaches leadership like sports.
LBB> Why did you want to initially launch and promote this campaign during this time? What impact does the Women’s World Cup have on the campaign?
Dylan> The Women’s World Cup gives relevance to the message. It’s a time when minds and media are focused on the subject, so, this makes it easier to get a message out there. The true test is to keep the message alive and continue to actively support post event.
Kat> The players that we admire at the World Cup represent all the leadership lessons that girls worldwide are not getting. We see teams embrace the pressure of playing extra time, where a single millimetre determines if you win or go home. We see the determination of teams to even make it to the World Cup, like Jamaica starting a crowdfunder just to participate. We see England’s Chloe Kelly comforting Nigerian goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie instead of celebrating her winning penalty, Michelle Alozie’s generosity towards Lauren James during a red card call, and the latter owning up to her mistake. We witness the different expressions of confidence, from Sarina Bolden to Hinata Miyazawa to Salma Paralluelo to Mackenzie Arnold to Zećira Mušović. All these players demonstrate the kind of leadership we long to see more in society.
LBB> Talk to us about forming the She Has Fire team and why it was important to include women from around the world within it.
Dylan> Nadia Nadim is the originator of the team. Game of Our Lives supports and enables her inspiration and wishes. From day one, she wanted a team of leading women that reflected the challenge. And, seeing as the challenge is global, the team needed to reflect it. The challenge is also huge, so each co-captain needed to both already be active in supporting girls’ rights, and be a strong, powerful example of leadership themselves - fighters who are not willing to bow down to pressure. Ready to fight and win!!
LBB> Where did you shoot the campaign video for the spot and what was the timescale on the project like?
Kat> The entire project took two months from brief to break. By June we had a script, which we knew we needed a female lens on. Luckily, I met the amazing Iman Whitfield (director) earlier this year, and I was impressed by the evocative nature of her work, as well as her dedication to detail. We spoke about the project, and it was obvious that it was a cause we both had a heart for. This enthusiasm grew with Eyeforce, Massive Music and The Mill on board too. On top of the timings, we had numerous challenges to overcome, including horrendous weather on the day of the shoot. But, the team was determined as ever, and somehow we overcame the obstacles that came our way!
LBB> How did you create an impactful narration to go alongside the video and tell us about some of the main things you wanted to focus on conveying within the spot?
Kat> The message we wanted to convey was very clear: the more girls play, the more they learn how to lead. We focused a lot of our efforts on craft to express this in an impactful way, embedding the lessons into the patterns of the shirt, and working with the Mill to make them appear as if a girl keeps playing.
I think we also wanted to imply that these lessons aren’t just key to take on upper management positions in the future. It’s really that every girl has the potential to lead, in whatever situation she finds herself in life. And so we opted for honest storytelling, told through the eyes of a teenage girl practising on her own.
LBB> What was the impact of using all of the different voices to make up the campaign? How did it create a message of unity and togetherness?
Kat> The common perception is that exclusion from sport only happens in less developed countries with obvious obstacles like a lack of resources or mentoring. The truth is, the challenges may differ in every country, but they exist in every culture. There are cultural biases, gender stereotypes, unequal funding, and bullying, even in more developed countries. That just drives the point that there is a huge amount of leadership potential we are not unlocking globally.
LBB> “Girls who play become women who lead.” Why did you want to make that the clear and underlying message?
Kat> It’s a celebratory time for women in sports, and so despite the staggering reality we are working with in terms of exclusion, we wanted to end with a positive point of view. If we come together to get more girls into sport, we will see more female leaders, and a kind of leadership that is resilient but respectful, confident but compassionate. One that is so necessary in our society.
LBB> What else can we expect to see from this campaign? What’s next?
Dylan> You can expect to see a growing list of world-leading athletes joining the team throughout 2023 and 2024, working on three levels:
1. Activating their communities to join in and lobby leaders for change.
2. Speaking and lobbying on a global stage to inspire and force change to make girls playing competitive sports a human right.
3. Working on the ground with excluded girls using the She Has Fire ‘Lesson Shirt’ as a tool to teach each and every girl the lessons of leadership she deserves.
You can join them at: https://www.gameofourliv.es/team/She-has-fire-team
Kat> We are now focused on activating this globally, working with teams on all levels to ensure these lessons don’t remain hidden from girls. We are also working towards change to make sport a right for every girl in the world. After all, if sport is essential education for leadership, then every girl should be able to access it.
