When the Lionesses finally did what no England team had managed in 56 years, we celebrated their moment with one word England fans had been singing and dreaming of for decades - HOME.

At the final whistle we didn’t have a big media buy or permission to be in the stadium. We were, anyway - throwing Nike HOME tees and flags to the players, and the rest is history. With one iconic logo, we ended up on the pitch, in the locker room, on the news, in the papers, and all over the internet with people making fake merch.

Euro 2022 was the biggest tournament to date for women’s football. Hosted by England, a country whose governing body had banned women from playing the game competitively for over 50 years.

For Nike, the objective was to raise the profile of the women’s game - showcasing the players as sporting heroes, to support and elevate the icons of today’s game.

As the tournament progressed it looked like England might finally get the glory it had waited so long for. Should the Lionesses do the unprecedented, Nike wanted to be ready. This would be the first ever major tournament victory for the women’s team, whilst also ending a major tournament drought for the nation.

The core task was to celebrate this iconic moment in English sporting history in a way that would be unmissable around the country amongst the victory celebrations, whilst endorsing and elevating the scale of the achievement.

In a country obsessed with football, the England women had always been firmly in the shadow of their male peers. So when the Lionesses finally did what no England team had managed in 56 years, we celebrated their moment with one word England fans had been singing and dreaming of for decades - HOME.

By combining this iconic word with one of the most iconic logos in the world - the Nike Swoosh - we were creating a visual asset that was both familiar and novel; iconic and shareable; and which we would look to establish as the defining visual to celebrate the achievement of the Lionesses.

Our PR strategy was simple, make sure that “Home” was part of the lasting images at the final whistle and throughout the celebrations millions of fans across the country will remember. Because of tournament rules, we couldn’t leave the items in the locker room for post match celebrations so we had to think creatively. We snuck Home swoosh tee shirts and flags into the stadium and threw them to our Lionesses on the pitch at the final whistle to wear and celebrate with.

We got the t-shirts and flags into the hands of the teams’ biggest (and most influential) supporters too, with England Lions Mason Mount and Phil Foden posting photos featuring the t-shirts to their huge social followings and Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, wearing the Home swoosh on live TV.

From the moment the final whistle blew, we made sure Home was at the centre of the celebrations. On the pitch, in the locker room, during the press conference and throughout the victory parade, our iconic Home swoosh was there.

We got the t-shirts and flags into the hands of the teams’ biggest (and most influential) supporters too, with England Lions Mason Mount and Phil Foden posting photos featuring the t-shirts to their huge social followings and Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, wearing the Home swoosh on live TV.

This culminated in almost blanket earned media coverage with the Home swoosh featuring on the front pages on newspapers including The Sun, Daily Mail and Guardian and across broadcast channels such as the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.

2.4Bn+ earned media impressions. The team were wearing the shirts in the celebration photos featured on the front cover of (almost) every major newspaper in the UK, and covered in over 3,000 press articles

£25m+ earned media value in the UK

Worn by the Mayor of London live on TV

HOME Tee featured in every major UK newspaper and every major UK News channel

“Nike HOME Tee” trended on Twitter

160% traffic increase to Nike.com in the moments surrounding the end of the match

2000 new Nike members in 5 minutes after the final whistle

Most liked @nikelondon IG post ever

HOME Swoosh shirts “sold out” in minutes (they were available to claim by Nike Members for free)

Countless knock off t-shirts were made by fans who didn’t manage to get their hands on authentic ones

Chloe Kelly featured in Grazia wearing HOME Swoosh shirt

"It's Coming Home" is a song that’s rooted in the history of the men’s game in England - speaking very specifically to their failings across a multitude of international tournaments. It’s an iconic part of football and wider popular culture.

In a country obsessed with football, the England women had always been firmly in the shadow of their male peers. So when the Lionesses finally did what no England team had managed in 56 years, we celebrated their moment with one word England fans had been singing and dreaming of for decades - HOME.

There could be no part of men’s football culture that would be more powerful for the Lionesses to appropriate, and reclaim as their own.