Women’s football is growing in popularity in the UK and further afield. But though people are recognizing more and more that women’s football is full of the same passion and excitement as the men’s game, their sponsorship deals are still grossly unequal. In fact, women’s team sponsorship deals are 98% less in terms of value than those of men’s teams. So after sponsoring Stevenage FC in 2019, we saw an opportunity to sponsor the women’s team on exactly the same terms, showing up as advocates of equality in sport and gender equality more broadly.

After our sponsorship of the Stevenage FC Men’s team in 2019, Burger King announced its sponsorship of the women’s team too. What made this sponsorship different from every other is that this was the first sponsorship of a women’s team that has exactly the same terms, conditions and value as the men’s team.

To mark the momento, we changed the logo to Burger Queen, which adorned our brand new kit and the signo n our Stevenage store.

And to spread the news, we created a film that went viral first in the UK and then all around the world.

The campaign was targeted at fans, whether of football or of gender equality. We targeted this various audience with an online video, as well as changing the logo and physical storefront. Generating a lot of attention on social media and publications both nationally and internationally spread the word around this initiative and got our message out far and wide.

We launched the online video on December 8th on our social platforms, and on that same day changed our logo to Burger Queen online and on the storefront of our Stevenage site. Additionally, we sent our Burger Queen football shirts to the whole women’s team and filmed them unboxing their new kit with incredible excitement, creating more social content that captured the imaginations of the online community. After the launch, the story was covered by many publications including The BBC and The Sun.

The campaign went viral immediately, getting coverage from national and international press including The BBC, The Sun, The Telegraph and other major publications. Online, it grabbed the attention of members of the English national squad as well as athletes, sports journalists and the general public. Overall, the campaign achieved €350 million in earned media and attracted 1 billion impressions.

Most importantly, it inspired a new generation of fans. Women’s shirts sold out for the first time in history, with young girls sporting the shirts all over social media as our little ambassadors for women’s football and gender equality more broadly.