LinkedIn promotes importance of role models for Euro 22 sponsorship campaign
As part of its national sponsorship of the Uefa Women’s Euro 2022 tournament, social networking site Linkedin and agency partner VCCP have launched a campaign highlighting the importance of role models within all aspects of life – on and off the pitch.
‘Follow In Her Footsteps’ sees the platform team up with Carol Thomas BEN, who was the first captain to lead England to a Women’s Euro back in 1984. The football star will embark on a 30-mile walk on July 4 and 5 from Crewe’s Mornflake Stadium (where the first Women’s Euro game took place) to Old Trafford, where this year’s tournament will kick off on July 6.
Throughout the walk, Thomas will be joined by other trailblazers from the football world, including Crystal Palace FC player Chloe Morgan, first captain of the Somali Women’s National Team Iqra Ismail and former England footballer (gaining 129 caps) Rachel Yankey.
“This sponsorship follows LinkedIn’s global partnership earlier this year with International Women’s Day – where our campaign sought to break biases around career flexibility. Sponsoring what is set to be the largest women’s European sporting event in history felt like a natural next step in our sustained commitment to making the world of work work for women,” a spokesperson for LinkedIn said.
“We want to spotlight and celebrate inspirational women across LinkedIn’s community of 32+ million UK professionals through this campaign. Seeing people from all walks of life achieve success encourages others to follow in their footsteps, and this is key to achieving an equitable workplace for all. Ultimately, it’s easier to be what you can see!”
LinkedIn recently commissioned research into the impact of role models, with the results finding that more than half of the women surveyed agree that there is still a lack of relatable mentors in the workplace.
“We were inspired by LinkedIn’s mission to make female role models more visible and our team went in search of a way to bring this to life that would demonstrate the power of the platform. We unearthed the story of the first Women’s Euro Championships in 1984 and England’s captain, Carol Thomas, and were astounded that so little was known about it,” added Matt Lloyd, deputy executive creative director at VCCP.
“We knew straight away this was the story we had to tell, it was the perfect demonstration of a relatable role model that needed to become more visible. Carol was really excited to get involved and totally up for the challenge of the 30-mile walk. This inspired everyone else to get involved in the walk and the campaign, from our other famous role models to Uefa and the full production team.”
The campaign will be supported with earned and paid media across out-of-home (OOH) and digital channels, as well as a paid media partnership with Telegraph Women’s Sport.
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