While women's football is gradually gaining its place in Mexico, female players still experience sexism. To highlight the tremendous inequalities that Mexican women in football face, we told the little-known story of one of the country’s greatest players: Maribel Dominguez. With 139M impressions, our film “Mario” not only became the most successful content in years, but also organically created a women’s empowerment movement of both fans and non-fans, who saw themselves reflected in Maribel's story and began to share their struggles—which ultimately led to greater support for the Women's National Team.

Even though women's football is increasingly recognized in Mexico, some fans still discriminate against the female players. To continue to make great strides in democratizing the game for all women, the Mexican Football Federation wanted to launch a campaign around the concept “your court, your choice” to stimulate the new generation of young women to play football without thinking about stereotypes, difficulties or conditions under which they find themselves, and inspire them to pursue their dreams to play football. Our objective was to create a message of inspiration for all girls and women who triumph over discrimination.

Our film "Mario" is based on the true story of one of Mexico’s greatest football players: Maribel Dominguez. The film shows a boy with an incredible gift for playing football, and how he evolves to become the star of a local team. However, we can tell this boy is not entirely happy to play the sport, even though he loves it. Towards the end, we discover the reason why: Mario is actually Maribel, a girl who had to reinvent herself and adopt a different identity to be able to play football. That girl was Maribel Dominguez, who turned out to become the top scorer of the Mexican Women's National Team. This film tells the little-known story of what she had to face to become one of the greatest Mexican football players in history.

Despite discrimination, there's a new generation of girls and women ready to pursue their dream to play football. We need to listen to and celebrate them, as women's football is getting bigger and more established in Mexico because of their courage and bravery. Our campaign strategy started with the concept of "you court, your choice." We delivered our message through different social handles to reach all the football-loving audiences and amplified positive sentiment regarding this story. Our goal was to increase awareness of Mexico’s National Women’s team and all the aspiring female football players who love and relate to Maribel’s story. As for our PR strategy, we launched “Mario” on October 19 on National Anti-Discrimination Day. Hereafter, our film circulated in Mexico’s main sport media for a whole week, spreading the unique life story of the country’s great football player.

Our film “Mario,” which tells the story of Maribel Dominguez, was launched on the Mexican Football Federation's media and social networks on National Anti-Discrimination Day. Hereafter, it circulated in Mexico's main sports media for one week and was selected to be the opening film at the “Cinema Diva'' Festival in 2021. Additionally, the film had international impact, as it was shared and promoted by CONCACAF and FIFA. While “Mario” was initially created to inspire young women and spark conversation around National Anti-Discrimination Day, it was widely shared and given more lifetime by our audience because it’s such a powerful story. The film was the subject of debates, presentations, talks, and several feminist groups even amplified “Mario” on International Women’s Day—ultimately becoming a statement of empowerment for women in Mexico and around the world.

“Mario” has left a huge imprint in Mexico, inspiring women in football as well as other sports and professions. it spread across more than 139M football fans on different digital platforms. Next to screening at the Mexico-Canada “Cinema Diva” film festival, the film generated 100% positive sentiment and +$1.5M in earned media. The film also gained international traction, as it was shared and promoted by CONCACAF and FIFA. This put the unique life story of Maribel Dominguez on the map, and ultimately impacted women's football in Mexico and around the world. Because it’s such a powerful story, it was widely shared and given more lifetime by our audience. The film became the subject of debates, presentations, talks, and several feminist groups even amplified the story on International Women’s Day—ultimately becoming a statement of empowerment for women in Mexico and around the world.