Women’s football is one of the fastest growing sports in the world and global brand giants like Unilever are becoming increasingly aware of its huge commercial potential.

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup final in Sydney between England and Spain was watched by a peak audience of 12 million on BBC One. That’s more than the 11.3 million who watched Carlos Alcaraz defeat Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon earlier that summer.

While the sport is hugely popular in a range of key global markets, such as the UK, Spain, Brazil, Australia and the US, there is a yawning disparity between the established nations and the sport’s emerging territories. For example, although the women’s World Cup now generates hundreds of millions of pounds in revenue, certain countries still struggle to even pull together a functioning side.

This is where brands like Unilever, which was recently unveiled as a headline sponsor of this year’s women’s Euro in Switzerland, have a role to play.

Building the women’s game

Switzerland does not have a professional women’s league, but it does have a state-of-the-art footballing infrastructure, having hosted the men’s World Cup in 1954, and co-hosted the men’s Euros in 2008.

The idea now is to bring the women’s game up to as similar a standard, as possible. Some feel, a highly developed economic and footballing nation like Switzerland really should have a professional women’s league.

Unilever’s investment and marketing knowhow will no doubt help on this journey towards a more level playing field in the country, and the legacy left by this summer’s Euros will hopefully be a watershed moment.

Centred around key self-care brands within the portfolio, including Rexona (Sure), Dove and Radox, the upcoming partnership is also designed to boost the confidence of young women taking part in sport, and keeping them playing longer through to adulthood.

Speaking to Marketing Beat, Willem Dinger, Unilever’s global head of sport and entertainment partnerships, said the social impact of the multinational’s brand collaborations is vital.

“We really wanted to showcase our social impact programmes – currently 57% of girls actually drop out of sport between the ages of nine and 13, so we’re looking to build the confidence of millions of young girls around the world with our Dove Self-Esteem platform.

“And football is an incredible platform to be able to help us reach more young girls, to help inspire them be the next generation of football players and superstars, but also just helping them get more into sport and to help them stay in sport.”

Subscribe to Marketing Beat for free

Sign up here to get the latest agency-related news sent straight to your inbox each morning

How brands can tap into sport

While brands have become indispensable in helping various sports grow in new and emerging markets, sponsoring the right event can also help those same businesses grow their customer base exponentially.

It is no surprise then that Unilever, as one of the world’s largest businesses, has set its sights firmly on sport, and more specifically on football to help grow its already considerable global footprint.

After this summer’s UEFA European Women’s Championship, which should by all accounts be viewed by hundreds of millions (the Covid-delayed 2022 tournament drew a total worldwide audience of around 365 million), Unilever is all set to be one of the major sponsors on the 2026 men’s Word Cup roster.

The relationship is a mutually beneficial one, the tournament itself gains lucrative funding from big-name brands such as Unilever, who in turn can leverage the event to expand their own brand visibility and the impact of their social programmes.

Dingler continues: “These platforms like FIFA and UEFA are helping us build extended reach, which will subsequently give us the ability to drive more motion engagement with a lot of football fans around the world.

“Essentially, it’s giving us a platform to drive more scale, and from a Unilever perspective, that’s obviously very interesting, and that’s why football is such a strategic lever for us for the next five years or so.”

And with the next World Cup set to take place across North America – in the USA, Canada and Mexico – the sheer number of eyeballs on the event, and the scale of the markets in which it is taking place offer an unparalleled opportunity for businesses like Unilever.

But while that summer is set to be a very exciting moment for the London-based multinational, the impact of its sponsorship on this summer’s Women’s Euro is set to be much more important in terms of the social impact it will help drive, and the lasting legacy that Unilever could create throughout the continent, in markets where women’s football is just beginning to emerge.