Galvanized by WeAreFearless’ psychology-led approach, the new division will help brands, rights-holders and sponsors solve real business problems and unlock new value by creating fresh opportunities to propel women’s sports forward.
The launch of the division will further boost the impact WeAreFearless has already made in women’s sport.
This includes award-winning work with Bridgestone and Caster Semenya (South African middle-distance runner) and Kristina Vogel (former German track cyclist). Most recently the agency created a pan-European women’s football strategy for Visa Europe, helping them achieve their business and brand objectives through multi-market football rights and a new brand purpose. The agency are also proudly working with Sue Anstiss and Kate Hannon on a project to expand the Women’s Sport Collective.
Since 90% of people’s decisions are made at an unconscious level, the only way for brands to truly resonate with women’s sports fans is to understand their deeper psychological motivations. It is no longer enough to just understand people’s attitudes and behaviours; it is their values that determine the true motivations for their decisions.
This game-changing division will do that through WeAreFearless’ proprietary psychology tool HumanValuesTM, enabling brands to develop more emotionally engaging and relevant products, strategies and communications through the creative power of women’s sports.
The team will be led by Women’s Sport Directors, Rebecca Sowden – international speaker, influencer and former New Zealand footballer – and India Thomson, who initiated and continues to drive the new division with her irrepressible love, expertise and knowledge of all things women’s sport. Both have formidable experience as fans, players and marketeers, not to mention lifetime advocates for gender equality on the playing field.
Rebecca says: “I’m a big advocate for the need for sponsors to take bold action to fast-track women’s sport to its rightful place. And I believe WeAreFearless are uniquely placed to do just that.”
India comments: “The world is waking up to something we’ve known for decades – women’s sport is awesome. It’s wrongly been treated as the men’s game played by women for far too long. Our HumanValuesTM psychology-led approach to fan understanding enables us to play a better role in harnessing the power and opportunities that Women’s Sports presents. ”
Founder Garry Dods says: “This is a hugely exciting moment for us as an agency. There is a distinctiveness to women’s sport and the psychology behind it and so we want to encourage businesses to approach it in a smarter, bolder way to unlock its incredible business value. By being more courageous we can all make a difference, quicker. For our clients and society as a whole.”
The opportunity and momentum currently surrounding women’s sport is thanks to a brave community that has worked tirelessly for decades. WeAreFearless are here to join in and help inspire brands to be part of the much-needed change.
Be part of that change. Connect with the WeAreFearless team.
-ENDS-
About WeAreFearless: WeAreFearless is a fully integrated sports, esports and entertainment agency committed to solving business challenges differently, by harnessing the power of psychology and behavioural science.
We help build more courageous brands through channel agnostic strategies and campaigns that engage people’s passions at a much deeper level. For us, every challenge is a human challenge. Using our HumanValues™ insight tool, experts and models, we find the unconscious human truth that will get people to pay attention and care. We call this boldness with backup. And we bring this promise to life every day for clients such as Bridgestone Europe, UEFA, VISA, Kia Worldwide, Hays/Man City and LDN UTD.
Contact: For more information, please contact Matt Rapinet on +44794987094 or matt.r@wearefearless.com
For more information on WeAreFearless: Please visit https://wearefearless.com/fearless-womens-sports/
Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About Rebecca Sowden – Women’s Sports Division Director
- A former New Zealand footballer and USA college footballer
- Spent the past 20 years across New Zealand, Hong Kong and Europe marketing and working alongside sponsors on some of the globe’s most exciting sport and entertainment properties; including the Hong Kong Sevens, Volvo Ocean Race, Idol, Masterchef, FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and Rowing World Champs
- And she also ran her own national beach soccer series
- As New Zealand Women of Influence finalist, Rebecca founded Team Heroine to provide inspiration and insight around women’s sport sponsorship and marketing which saw her involved in the advisory team for the likes of Xero around their FIFA women’s football partnership and ANZ around Cricket World Cup.
- She’s also worked with broadcasters to develop their women’s sport commercial proposition, within agencies on women’s sport pitches and with technology platform, Areto Labs to track and analyze social media sentiment around the National Women’s Soccer League teams and players.
- Rebecca also does keynote speaking around DE&I using sport as a vehicle to highlight inclusive leadership.
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About India Thomson – Women’s Sports Division Director
- Lifelong football player and fan
- Her MSc dissertation focused on women’s football (in Argentina)
- Subsequently India has 12 years experience in the advertising industry
- Most recently as Senior Account Director on the UEFA Europa League Nothing is Written Campaign (20-21) and the Gone Europa Campaign (21-22) dedicated to highlighting the most epic moments of skill and class in the UEL
- India also launched the Europa Conference League in the first year of the competition with the Make it Yours Campaign (21-22) focused on engaging new fans with UEFA’s new top-flight football competition
- India has worked with a range of sports clients and in particular women’s sports in football, volleyball and rugby.
- Has worked across governing bodies, sponsorship activation, strategy and comms planning.
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