Greatness deserves to be seen.
That is the philosophy that articulates the communication campaign that Lidl Ireland has launched to give visibility to women’s Gaelic football, which it has supported for a decade through sponsorship of the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA). The objective of the supermarket chain is to highlight this sport practiced by women at a time when, despite growing media coverage, there is still a significant gap in terms of perception.
Together with the Folk VML agency, VML’s office in the country, the company has launched a campaign based on the “hacking” of advertising spaces with featured images of women’s Gaelic football matches. Thus, the different pieces that make up the campaign show moments of great skill on the part of the players with the intention that they be seen and appreciated.
These images interrupt the brand’s own creatives, whether on television or social networks, and show the claim “Greatness deserves to be seen.” In this way, Lidl Ireland gives up its usual advertising space to dedicate it to promoting the sport and the players, thereby trying to promote a change around the prejudices that still exist about women who play Gaelic football in terms of quality and skill.
The campaign was activated on January 20 and is running on connected television and social networks, where the pieces follow the same dynamics and aesthetics: a supposed Lidl advertisement is interrupted by images of women’s Gaelic football. Media planning is carried out by WPP.
The campaign is based on research commissioned by Lidl Ireland and carried out by the analysis firm Red C. This indicates that four out of ten people say they would watch more women’s sports if it had the same level of coverage as men’s sports, which represents an important missed opportunity to boost participation. 53% of the Irish public agree that female athletes must achieve more than their male counterparts to receive the same level of recognition, and 63% believe that men’s sporting achievements in Ireland are celebrated more than women’s.
Furthermore, more than half of those surveyed believe that women’s sport does not receive enough attention in the Irish media, while one in three perceive a difference in tone between the coverage of men’s and women’s sport. As for women’s Gaelic football, only 10% of the Irish public surveyed watched an LGFA match last year.
In this sense, the campaign seeks both to give greater visibility to women’s Gaelic football and to enhance the performance and effectiveness of Lidl’s sponsorship of the competition. The brand, which holds the title rights of the Lidl National Football League, has supported the Ladies Gaelic Football Association since 2016 and this year has announced an extension of the collaboration until 2030 with a new investment of 7.5 million euros. This would raise the amount invested to 22.5 million euros.
“Our collaboration has helped increase the visibility of the sport. However, there are still too many brilliant performances, players and moments left unseen.“said Robert Ryan, CEO of Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland, in a statement.”Our new campaign will see our own advertising platforms dedicated to women’s football, celebrating the skill, dedication and excellence of players who deserve much greater recognition”.
