Anne Boden’s Starling Bank bets big on UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 tournament
Starling Bank has launched a campaign ahead of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 tournament as part of its national sponsorship, the biggest ever for the bank.
The bank, founded in 2014 by Anne Boden, the only woman in the UK to start a bank, is the official national banking partner of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 tournament.
The campaign aims to Make Money Equal as the bank’s women make up 46% of its senior leadership positions and are key in levelling the playing field for women within banking and technology.
The ‘Our Time’ campaign comes as UEFA expects the tournament to be the most popular women’s sporting event in European history and spans multiple outputs and activations and focuses on three core pillars of ‘Celebrating’, ‘Creating’ and ‘Championing’ the women’s game of today and tomorrow.
Tickets, roadshows, parties, and grants
Three current and former England players are fronting the campaign including Jill Scott, midfielder for Aston Villa, on loan from Manchester City; Lauren Hemp, forward at Manchester City; and Rachel Yankey, Arsenal Women Legend turned TV presenter.
Starling Bank will be offering up to 500 matchday experiences to the local community at St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton and supporting a series of roadshows and fan parties in host cities across the UK where people can watch matches together.
The bank will also be offering 25 grants of £1,000 to grassroots clubs across the tournament UK Host Cities that have girls, boys and co-ed teams. The bank is also partnering with SportsAid to invest in the development of up and coming female players.
The ad campaign will feature ambassadors Jill Scott and Lauren Hemp in videos and blog posts, exploring their experiences of women’s football and where they hope progress will be made.
Jill Scott, national player, business owner and Starling Bank business customer, commented: “There’s so much anticipation surrounding the Women’s EURO 2022 tournament and even more momentum being made for the women’s sport. For women players like myself, it really is Our Time. Long may that continue so that the players’ of tomorrow have many more female footballers to aspire to.”
Helen Bierton, Chief Banking Officer at Starling Bank and former Olympic athlete said: “I’ve witnessed first hand the glass ceiling that exists for women both in sport and in banking. I’d like it to disappear entirely one day, which requires collective effort. We hope our campaign unearths new football fans, inspires future players and gives women and girls across the UK the confidence to say ‘It’s Our Time’ in whichever goals they pursue.”
Rachel Kerrone, Brand & Marketing Director at Starling Bank, said: “Every single partnership and sponsorship we do at Starling must serve a purpose and align with our value of doing the right thing. In this case, it’s championing brilliant women and uniting communities around the game. The brand awareness we’ll gain from the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 is exciting, but what we’re looking forward to most is playing our part in the development of women’s football in the UK.”
