The England Women’s team successfully brought it home for a second time over the weekend in a nail-biting Euros final against Spain that hit record viewing levels.

On and off the pitch, the players are writing a new chapter in women’s sport. Ruth Hooper, Chief Marketing Officer at Women's Super League Football, is writing the rule book for culture-first marketing. Building on the Lionesses' legacy, Hooper is a marketing leader at the forefront of redefining women’s sport. 

Last year marked a milestone for women’s football with the creation of the Women’s Professional Leagues Limited, a new corporate entity which took charge of the Women’s Super League and the Women’s Championship from the Football Association. The organisation, which recently rebranded as the Women’s Super League, is leading a new era of women’s football.

The Women’s Super League, which appointed Anomaly this year and launched a distinctive new brand, has big ambitions to sit alongside the biggest sporting brands in the world and do things differently.

Nicola Kemp, Editorial Director at Creativebrief, sat down with Hooper as she shared how she intends to maintain momentum and build a lasting brand that reaches fans far and wide. 

The lasting legacy of the Lionesses

Returning from Zurich to an influx of media requests and a buzz of excitement around the Lionesses' momentous achievement, Hooper intends to harness the momentum surrounding this historic Lionesses team to ensure the growth of women’s football as a movement, not a moment.

“We talk about legacy and inspiring a new generation, we saw that in 2022 and now we are in an even stronger position to really capitalise on that,” she says, adding: “We want these new fans to come to games and support their favourite players week in week out.”

In sport, where tournaments quite literally earmark new chapters, between now and a potential home World Cup in 2035, Hooper has big goals: to increase investment, increase visibility and increase participation.

Huge achievements like the Euros galvanise action. On the back of the success of the Lionesses, the government has announced it will commit to doubling the number of spots available to women and girls at grassroots level. Making space for the next generation of talent who will appear at a home World Cup is top of the agenda.

As Hooper explains: “Success over the next few years is about driving a highly visible, culturally relevant brand of women's football,” says Hooper. She adds: “We want full stadiums, players to be recognised and the game to be talked about. That shift is underway.”

Rewriting the rule book

At this exciting moment of change, the Women’s Super League is embracing a challenger mindset to harness a new era of women’s football. 

“We’ve been a company for nearly a year. So we are a startup, with years of legacy behind us and with huge ambition,” says Hooper. 

She continued: “In sport things have been done a certain way for many years, and we have the opportunity to come with a challenger brand energy and do something different, because this is a different brand of football to the men's game.”

She points to the fact that the game is different because the female body moves differently. There is a different pace, different strength and different tactics. There is also a different audience and an opportunity to craft a different fan experience. 

“We are sitting on a product that is entirely different. We need to make sure we package it this way and that we are bringing new distinction,” says Hooper. While in the past the women’s game has been presented in the same way as the men's with similar colours and visuals, the WSL is committed to crafting its own unique brand and voice. The rebrand aims to connect with new fans as well as the core fan base. 

The WSL appointed creative agency, Anomaly, off the back of a progressive pitch process run by Creativebrief. As part of its commitment to do things differently both on and off the pitch, the creative pitch process prioritised strategy, principal alignment and relationships over creative work.

“Designing a process that allowed us to get to know the people better and how we would work together was so much more important than the creative work,” says Hooper. The pitch led to a relationship based on mutual respect and with an understanding of shared values and ways of working at the core. 

“Part of the reason for Anomaly’s appointment was the understanding of our purpose and principles. Our definition of purpose is our North star that guides us, it's making sure that our business has a sense of being that is bigger than the sport itself,” says Hooper. A purpose built on leveraging the power of women’s football to drive a more equitable society, but also transforming the game and building the most engaging football tournament in the world.  

Hooper sees purpose as an underlying ethos rather than a creative idea in its own right. Her priority is showcasing the elite level of competition and entertainment on the pitch. “We have the very best athletes playing our sports; it's phenomenal, and that's what we need to demonstrate,” she adds.

Playing the long game

At the epicentre of sport, culture and entertainment, in many ways, the WSL rebrand was a dream brief at a time of a new era for women’s sport.

Working with Anomaly to solidify values, new branding, playbooks and a soon to be launched new long-term creative platform, the past 12 months have been essential for Hooper’s team in laying strong foundations. 

“We need to make sure that we are being clear in our communications in the reasons for our change, the why and how it's going to benefit the community around women's football,” says Hooper.

Creating the WSL and WSL2, visibility and discoverability were key. “Creating one brand, two leagues allows us to raise the value of both of those products,” says Hooper. The aim is to drive value, which in turn drives investment, to tackle the challenges women’s sport continues to face.

When it comes to her ambitions for the WSL, Hooper shares: “Next season you’ll be able to watch all of our games live somewhere for the first time.” Building social, launching new digital platforms and strengthening the entire ecosystem, Hooper is embracing a test and learn, start-up mindset to continuous improvement in the push for progress. 

With the Women’s Rugby World Cup around the corner, Hooper is passionate about maintaining momentum across women’s sport as a whole to build cultural currency at scale. “What is happening on the pitch is busting stereotypes; it is my job to tell those stories,” she explains.

With the players writing history, sports marketers have an exciting job ahead. Hooper and the WSL are integral to building a new long term legacy that continues to change the game.