In sport, history is important, because it gives us our heroes. And when that history goes untold, those heroes go unknown, which deprives younger generations, particularly young girls, of inspiration. Johnnie Walker’s ‘In Her Boots’ campaign was more than just a partnership with the AFLW. It was a way of confronting the inequality of representation that exists in the history of Australian Rules Football. By telling the untold stories of the pioneering women who walked the game to where it is today, ‘In Her Boots’ gave the women’s game a history and made heroes of these fearless females who walked the sport to where it is today.

As a brand, Johnnie Walker has been making a conscious strategic shift to engage and grow its younger audience. Knowing our younger audiences are looking for brands to make more of a stand on the things that matter to them, particularly diversity and inclusion, the Keep Walking mantra has shifted to become a call to arms for progress. Acknowledging, supporting and celebrating the people, platforms and movements who are walking to push Australia forward, they have partnered with the Australian Women’s Football League - The AFLW. Our brief was to celebrate the progress that’s been made within the game and make Johnnie Walker an integral part of AFLW Culture.

Australian Rules Football is more than just the national sport, it’s a way of life. Drawing fans from all walks, the devotion runs deep. People flock to fill stadiums across the country to support their teams, and the players are deified to an almost god-like status, immortalised in books, sculptures and popular culture. While Australian men’s football has been widely celebrated since its inception, unknown to many, the women’s game has also had a rich and storied history spanning almost a century. A history that has largely gone untold.

Women’s football in Australia deserves the same historical record and respect as its male counterpart. So, to honour the game’s storied female past, we stitched together its untold history. Taking the boots of generations of past players, we created five unique new football boots. Made from the same boots these trailblazers wore, our boots helped tell stories of defiance, resilience, discrimination and triumph, so that Australians could learn about the way the game was shaped. The boots are designed to be handed down to generations of players to come. Acting as a permanent reminder of progress and achievement, ‘In Her Boots’ has given a voice to the history of women’s football in hopes of inspiring its future.

How do you celebrate the progress and future of women’s football when we haven’t ever acknowledged its past?

In formulating this brief and strategising how we might integrate the Johnnie Walker brand into the culture of women’s football, we realised there was very little history of the game for us to draw from. So, in line with the brand's commitment to being a proponent for progress and lifting the voices of unheard and marginalised communities, our strategy was to bring to life the previously untold history of the women’s game. Aimed at engaging AFLW and AFL fans, younger demographics ( 35 & under) we sought to create fame not just for the brand but for the game at large.

Partnering with an Australian footwear designer, we took the boots of pioneers of the women’s game and stitched them together to create new ones.. More than just a physical pair of shoes, these boots were imbued with decades of history, immortalising the trials and tribulations of bringing this sport into the mainstream, for women in Australia. To support, we created a documentary film, an interactive online experience where fans could select parts of the boot to learn about the contributing player, and photographed current players in the boots for a national OOH campaign. The final pair of boots became a part of official AFLW history as the Johnnie Walker Award for Progress, awarded to the most pioneering player on and off the field.

The In Her Boots campaign forms part of a broader strategy to modernise the perception of the Johnnie Walker brand within Australia, with its impact felt at a campaign level as well as a business level.

CAMPAIGN IMPACT

* Widespread mainstream penetration with 159 pieces of coverage achieved.

* Brand integration into the league’s official accolades, The W Awards, with the unveiling of the annual Johnnie Walker Award for Progress.

* Impressions 55 million+ (1856% above KPIs)

* Brand sentiment: 100%

BUSINESS IMPACT:

* Increased saliency with 25 – 34s

* Distinctiveness +14% demonstrating vibrancy

* +1.6% increase in 18 – 34s purchase on week