Ryan Monson’s Post

⭐ Breaking Down UEFA's Business Case for Women's Football: Finding the Right Brand Messaging Effective messaging for brands in this space taps into the core values associated with women's soccer—entertaining, inspiring, and family-friendly, with players seen as good role models and recognized for their professionalism. Here’s how brands can successfully engage in this space. 💡 Effective Messaging Insights: • Brand and Club/League Alignment: Brand messaging should be in sync with the ethos and culture of the club or league. This harmonization resonates more authentically with existing fans and attracts new supporters who identify with those values. • Player-Centric Campaigns: Leverage the approachability and relatability of players to build campaigns. Fans appreciate when marketing focuses on players' stories and personalities, which enhances engagement and connection. • Emotional Resonance: Capitalize on the naturally inspiring aspects of women’s soccer. Emphasizing stories of perseverance and success can create powerful emotional ties with the audience. 🏒 Case Study: Molson Coors Beverage Company "See My Name" Campaign Molson demonstrated effective brand messaging with their "See My Name" campaign for the PWHL. By redesigning the team jerseys to feature player names prominently, Molson prioritized player recognition over brand visibility. Launched on International Women’s Day, the campaign effectively aligned with empowerment themes, enhancing the league's and Molson's shared values. Despite covering their logo, this strategy increased Molson's visibility, showcasing the power of value-driven strategies. 🧠 Conclusion: Effective brand messaging elevates visibility and optimizes ROI by resonating deeply with the target audience. For marketing executives, understanding how to leverage the unique attributes of women's soccer/sports can transform typical sponsorship opportunities into powerful engagement platforms. This strategic messaging draws attention and fosters genuine connections and loyalty, ensuring that these investments yield substantial and lasting returns. --- 2022 data from UEFA's 'The Business Case for Women's Football' report [https://lnkd.in/eBh-uEBd] is shared here for analytical and commentary purposes only, without claiming ownership. Credit for data goes to the original source. The analysis and commentary are my own and not endorsed by UEFA or any related entities. Molson's "See My Name" campaign: https://lnkd.in/eJ5jRTZD #WomensFootball #WomensSoccer #WomensSports #MarketingInsights #MarketAnalysis #Branding #SportsMarketing #SportsBiz #FIFA #UEFA #Sponsorship #SportsSponsorship #BrandActivations #BrandSponsors #BrandMessaging #WomensHockey

Years ago, I designed and created the visual identity and direction of the NHL’s uniforms. So naturally, when the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) launched this season, I was hyper tuned-in to each team’s uniform design and brand identity. For me, it’s much more than chosen colors and symbols—when design and empathy join together, they can create meaningful changes to existing norms. In the video below, you can see how a simple observation can lead to a powerful gesture of support: some PWHL players have longer hair that covers the traditionally designated area for last names. Noticing the need for change, sponsors switched the placement of their brand names, creating a new space for player’s nameplate underneath their number — a solution that both honors the brand and athletes. Simple, but effective. And it says a lot about the strides we’re making to finally give women’s sports the support and visibility they deserve. From the NCAA’s newest all-time leading scorer Caitlin Clark, the trailblazing USWNT, the incomparable Serena Williams, and so many more, their sacrifices, achievements, and names, should be seen (and known) by us all. #InternationalWomensDay #IWD #design https://lnkd.in/e2FqkvHE

On this International Women's Day, let's highlight a company that is doing marketing well through ensuring DEI is taken into account. Molson Coors Beverage Company recognized that traditional hockey jerseys designed for men didn't quite translate the same way to women. Since a lot of women have long hair, their names would get obstructed on their jerseys by the hair. So what did Molson do? Move the names on jerseys down. A simple solution, but an impactful one to make sure female athletes don't get shorted on the experience. Well done, Molson! https://lnkd.in/gxDAKnp6 #diversityisgoodbusiness #internationalwomensday2024 #dei #marketing

It's often in the broken things that genius occurs! And that's exactly what Molson Coors Beverage Company did when they turned a broken billboard into a brand home run. Baseball player Shohei Ohtani hit the ball into a Coors ad and caused a square in the screen to break and go black. Not the first time this has happened...but certainly the first time a company has masterfully made it work in the favor. Coors' marketing team went to work: → Changed their existing ads to include the black square → Released limited edition cans with the black square (sold out in 24 hours) → Changed signage at Ohtani’s home stadium to include the black square and a tagline “Hits the spot” Japanese fans loved the campaign so much, Coors even started importing there for the very first time. AND...Coors isn’t the "official beer sponsor" of the baseball league or Ohtani, and therefore, this cost $0 in sponsorships or endorsements. Smart marketing...understanding an audience group, tapping into a shared experience, and making the brand part of the community.

Beer and sports!? Happy International Women's Day! I thought I would share this short marketing video from Molson Canadian. This really struck home to me as we celebrate amazing women today. As someone in marketing, this gives me so much happiness to watch and pride. We know beer and sports, is something in the past, that stereo-typically has been mainly targeted at men and also the disparity of professional woman athletes vs the men. Not only that, there was barely any representation of women drinking beer, as again stereo-typically "only men would drink beer". The advert tagline is "Molson is covering our name, so hers can be seen" . Read that again. https://lnkd.in/eSbym2n9 Let's be clear here, this company is Canada's second oldest company, and the also has the oldest brewery in Canada. It is a huge brand, now also part of the Coors group, another huge brand for beer and drinks in the USA as some of you know. It's a short advert that makes its point, and I think you should quickly watch it, as it definitely made an impact on me as I am sure it will on both women and men who are proud to be allies. Fun fact, I was born in Canada but moved to England when I was 10 years old. I still have family there. I'd like to think had I continued to grow up there I would have loved to play ice hockey. I used to watch Canada play on the TV as a kid, both men and woman were equally represented on the screen! I used to want to wear the women's jersey so much. Here's to us women, may we continue to have our names seen 😜. #iwd24 #internationalwomensday #womeninsport #marketing #InclusionandDiversity

What if Your Team Culture Was Obsessed Like Fandom-hood? I often tell people there's an obscure religion in Canada, and it's called hockey. All that aside, it got me thinking. What can we learn from sports fandom and reapply to our team culture and raving fan base? Molson Coors Beverage Company nails this with their Molson Canadian brand. The beer is a catalyst for something bigger than the liquid itself. This brand has caught my attention ever since they released 'The Rant' commercial in 2000. That ad didn’t just change the trajectory of a declining beer brand; it changed an entire country 🇨🇦 . (Link to the ad in comments if you want to see it.) So, how can you reapply fandomhood strategies to level up your team chemistry and ignite passion from your raving fans? Let’s Go! PS: Let’s go Edmonton Oilers! #cultureFIRSTleadership

Enter today

My thoughts on the topic of investment in Non-Alcoholic brands. I don't think NA investment has hit a tipping point, but it will be much harder as the established brands just gain more traction in the NA sector and these brands will probably need 2 or 3 more funding rounds which as long as they show continued growth and route to profitability will still get funding. BERO launching is the outlier as very few brands, unless also tier 1 celebrity backed, will have the resources and connections to launch the way Bero did. Your typical bootstrapped brand will have a slower growth rate with launching 1st DTC then B2B where getting distribution in other states is difficult. These brands I see having a hard time with getting investment unless the team involved has a proven track record. As an example is Best Day who are all seasoned beer professionals with a lot of connections in the industry so as long as the liquid is good and pricing chain is set up correctly should also get funding. Most newer NA brands like Bero or Best Day could also find investment easier, but 90% of new NA brands don't come from this pedigree and these brands will have a harder time unless they can bootstrap to profitability and then get interest from investors as they are in the black already and need the money to scale their model which is already profitable.

💡 The day you have all been eagerly awaiting - the next instalment of our Trade Mark Round Up Report, carefully curated by my brilliant colleague, Abigail Wise and contributed to by many of our IP team colleagues. Click below ⬇ to access the report. 📢 If you missed our Webinar discussion on some of the key cases, you can access it here: https://lnkd.in/e5-Bjy2a. For any burning trade mark questions, please get in touch with myself, Abbie or any of the IP team! #trademarks #intellectualproperty

Are you a brand owner or trade mark attorney? Building on the insights shared during our recent webinar, we are pleased to present the third edition of our Trade Mark Round Up Report, covering important trade mark cases and thought provoking filing practices from 2024. Our report has somewhat of a majestic thread running through it, including cases of confusion between ‘Royal’ alcohol beverage brands and royalty in the sports world with 7-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton being defeated by a luxury watch brand. Read the report in full here: https://okt.to/Axghei Abigail Wise #IntellectualProperty #Trademarks