Our simple, but impactful, activation captured the world’s attention and surpassed our wildest expectations. In a month that featured the 2020 Euros, US Open and F1 2021, the Equal Jersey generated massive amounts of online conversations earned media, because our biggest brand assets – the players wore our one-of-a-kind jerseys in a globally televised 120-minute championship finale. This activation ignited conversations around the need for equality in sports around the world.

The world of sport is far from equal. Women make up 40% of athletes, however as of 2020, they only receive 4% of the total sports media coverage in print and broadcast. Female athletes are also more likely to receive lower salaries, fewer sponsors, inferior contracts, and little to no media attention. There remains a huge disparity between genders in sport.

Volleyball is different. It’s one of the most played sports in the world, and it’s charting a new direction for gender equality. 84% of its fans have a strong interest in both men and women’s volleyball making it one of the most gender equal sports in the world. In fact, in 2019 the highest paid volleyball player in the world was female. The problem is not enough people know this. To highlight Volleyball’s commitment we created a special edition Volleyball Jersey designed to honour gender equality and grab attention.

The Equal Jersey shirt is a world first official sports jersey featuring the names and number of BOTH a male and female professional player. The jersey was designed with parallel lines representing boundaries, and a clear break in those lines showing how Volleyball is shattering conventions. The colour scheme features different hues of the same spectrum of pink to purple, reflecting Volleyball’s equality philosophy whilst creating an eye-catching colour splash on the court. This first ever Equal Jersey was designed to be worn by the world’s top volleyball players featuring not only their name, but also the name of the opposite gender who shares the same jersey number.

There remains a huge disparity between genders in sport. But the world is beginning to wake up to this disparity: 61% of fans want professional sports to evolve to become more inclusive. Volleyball World (the main governing body) wanted to find a way to grab people’s attention and show the world that Volleyball is truly a sport like no other. It wanted to stand up for equality, break down barriers, and start conversations.

The activation was launched on 21.06.2021 and lasted for 3 weeks. It was globally televised and supported by social media – organic and paid placements.

· Content translated into 13 different languages including: Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish

· National news coverage in 21 countries

· Total reach 3.3 billion

· Estimated coverage reach 6.6 million

· Advertising Value Equivalency of 27.2 million

· Over the course of the Equal Jersey campaign there was an increase of 1230% in online conversations around sport and equality

· The number of positive tweets increased almost 9,5 times during the campaign period

· It even created a potential revenue stream for Volleyball World