Leo Burnett Australia and Johnnie Walker Celebrates AFLW With Boots From Past Trailblazers

Partners and sponsors of the AFLW, Johnnie Walker, have worked with Leo Burnett Australia to celebrate the progress made in women’s sport through the creation of five pairs of handcrafted footy boots made from the boots of past icons of the women's game. The boots are being gifted to current players, inspiring them to Keep Walking Boldly, representing the resilience, courage and bravery of the women who have walked before them. The campaign tells the stories of progress that got the game where it is today.

The boots, designed by artisan shoemaker Matea Gluščević from Naarm/Melbourne, will be gifted by Nicole Livingstone, AFL general manager of Women’s Football, to rising stars: GWS Giants player and Olympic Gold Medallist Chloe Dalton, Hawthorn’s Emily Bates, Brisbane Lions’ Ally Anderson, and Collingwood’s Ashleigh Brazill at a media event at RSEA park in Melbourne. The four women represent the next generation of female AFLW players, and it is hoped that they one day pass the boots on as the game progresses.

Jodi McLeod, Johnnie Walker marketing manager, said, “Keep Walking has been an incredible rallying cry for progress for more than two decades now. Johnnie Walker is committed to continuing its support of the trailblazers who push for progress every day by partnering with those who took bold strides and those who will continue striding to push Australia forward. These boots are a homage to the 150 years that it took for a women’s footy competition to be established and a celebration of the eighth AFLW season.”

Rosie Stone and Stacey Karayannis, associate creative directors Leo Burnett, added, “When we look at the pages of sporting history, we seem only to acknowledge the giants of the game – the top scorers, the record-breakers, the superstars. What’s rarely recognised, though, is the incredible strength and decades of determination it takes to get women’s sport onto the field in the first place. With the AFLW still in its professional infancy and with so much progress to be made, we wanted to celebrate the wins we’ve had along the way and shine a light on the women who walked the game to where it is today.”

The campaign is supported by a film directed by Good Oil’s’ Renée Mao, which documents stories of the women’s game. It features sporting icons like Debbie Lee and Erin Phillips, talking about their experience growing up playing a game that was never ‘meant for them.’ It was shot on location in Sydney and Melbourne and uses never-before-seen archival footage, tracing the history of women’s football in Australia.

The integrated campaign, a reinvigoration of Johnnie Walker’s ‘Keep Walking’ philosophy, will run nationally across digital, social, OOH and influencer, with PR led by Leo Burnett’s Publicis Groupe stablemate Herd MSL.

To see the boots and learn more about the people and stories that made them, visit www.walkboldly.com.au.