As a long-standing sponsor of soccer in Canada, GE Appliances wanted to celebrate the women’s team during the World Cup. GE’s brand promise is ‘good things for life’, but that can’t be true until it is true for everyone. We knew that putting out another campaign that just highlighted sponsorship ties wasn’t going to address the inequities in soccer, nor affect the pay disparity between the men’s and women’s teams. So, we set out to:

●      Drive awareness of the inequity in soccer among Canadians with +40M earned impressions.

●      Start a national conversation with engagement and advocacy coming from across the country.

●      Get Canada Soccer to take action and fund both national teams equally.

After a deep dive into the history of inequity in Canadian sports and real-time cultural tracking, it became clear that the inequity in women’s soccer affected far more than professional soccer players.

While injustice was harming the team, it was also harming the future of the sport. As the next generation of female athletes and future fans were watching as the women’s national team fought for equity, they were learning a harsh lesson: talent, ability and hard work were not enough.

They were disheartened, but largely passive, not knowing how to turn their passion for the sport into support for an issue. Just as in sport, we knew the impact of Canadians’ collective support was needed to have a meaningful impact. So, in addition to taking a stand themselves, GE launched a forum for fans of the team to express their desire for equity as well.

We knew the inequities facing the national team today would compromise the future of women’s soccer in Canada. So, we set out to turn fans of women’s soccer into activists for equity in the entire sport.

 GE Appliances was invested in taking their ‘good things for life’ brand promise and translating it into ‘good things for everyone’ in their sponsorship initiatives. To deliver on this commitment, GE needed to act as a true ally and not just a sponsor. GE had to take a stand themselves and provide a forum for Canadians to express their desire for equity as well.

 ‘What’s On the Line’ put a spotlight on the impact of inequity in the sport and asked Canadians from across the country to share their ‘one day’ hopes for women’s soccer: from ‘one day’ having a professional soccer league in Canada to ‘one day’ having women’s soccer injuries equally researched.

With our On-the-Line campaign, GE Appliances created positive change today by sparking a conversation around the future of the sport. Canadians across the country took notice and made their voices heard in the fight for gender equity. 

The campaign connected with Canadians:

●      National reach and engagement: ‘One day’ submissions on whatsontheline.ca came from 120 cities across Canada.

●      200 Pieces of coverage

●      64.6M earned impressions.

And most importantly, Canada Soccer finally agreed to raise the salary of the national women’s team to be equal to the national men’s team.

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