Livvy Moore vents one of her biggest frustrations about how sports brands are marketing to women. It’s time for some self-improvement. / Gymshark's latest creative I have lost count of the number of times I’ve sat in a room full of male sports marketers discussing how this is the year they’re going to ‘win with women.
’ Ideas are batted around the table as if they’re trying to figure out how to make aliens finally wear sneakers while I spend the best part of an hour trying to contain my eyerolls. Each time, all I could think was - why don’t you just ask a woman ? Despite popular opinion, we’re actually not that hard to market to - but the answers don’t lie in statistics. They come from an understanding of what it means to walk through the world as a female and can be summarized into four simple truths.
1. We’re not influenced by the same things as men It’s no secret that historically, the entire sporting industry has been catered exclusively to men, which means our marketing approach has undeniably followed suit. Male athletes have been lifted up as heroes in our society, and been utilized as pillars of influence in almost every iconic campaign and franchise you can think of.
We put their faces on billboards, collectible cards and social media assets, knowing that just their affiliation alone will encourage male consumers to trust the brand and shop the product. But increasingly, as sports brands are moving into targeting women - they’re taking an ident.
