Wanderers kick off new campaign ahead of A-League season launch
The Western Sydney Wanderers (WSW) have kicked off the 2023/24 A-League season with a new campaign, in the shadow of a crisis in the men’s league, and unprecedented interest in the women’s following the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The 2023/24 A-Leagues season includes men’s and women’s football and kicks off tomorrow night. The men’s league is in a state of flux, with major club Perth Glory in receivership and up for sale, after the owner of the club, Tony Sage, returned the licence to the A-League in July.
The receivership process was expected to conclude within 10 weeks.
The women’s league is hoping to benefit from the unprecedented support for the Matildas during the recent World Cup. The sport has been promoting women’s football, alongside men’s football, as result of the Matilda’s success.
Both competitions are aired on Network Ten and Paramount+, owned by Paramount ANZ. In 2021, Network Ten signed a five-year deal with the Australian Professional Leagues (APL), owner of the A-League, to broadcast the men’s and women’s games across its free-to-air channels and streaming services. The deal was reported to be approximately $200 million including cash and commercial contra.
Prior to Paramount, the A-League’s broadcast deal was with Foxtel, worth $32 million each year.
The WSW campaign, created by Murmur-Group, encourages people to ‘Own the West’, targeting football fans in the home suburbs of the club.
Head of media at Murmur-Group, Taz Papoulias, said the key goals of the campaign are to grow new audiences, support the local community and drive the club’s awareness. The agency was tasked with strategy, search, social (organic and paid), OOH, radio, programmatic video and contra management.
“Our approach is very audience-first focused,” he said. “We set out to build a strategy worthy of WSW, adding the footy-fever factor to the solution to attract a new legion of fans, while continuing to engage Wanderers devotees, in unexpected and exciting ways.”
The upcoming season is planned to be the biggest in WSW history, according to Papoulias.
“‘Own the West’ had to be seen everywhere so we had to reach far beyond the old footie marketing model of ‘pulsed ticket and stop/start marketing’ and is leveraged across a broad selection of channels to achieve an always-on approach,” he continued.
“This campaign is not just for season launch and ticketing just before each game, but incorporates an always-on approach constantly reminding fans about the brand via membership drives, corporate hospitality, branding and community involvement, WSW Fives and clinics.”
An OOH execution
WSW’s general manager operations, Mark Jensen, said the agency “truly understands” the club and its needs.
“Landing an impactful campaign that drives participation, engagement and a strong connection across our Western Sydney heartland is key to the success of the campaign,” he said.
“Every week our players and passionate members and fans share moments of triumph together, so this campaign will ensure our football community always feel connected to the Wanderers and how we celebrate our unique relationship. We can’t wait to see the results.”
The club said it tapped into the hype of the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup in the new campaign, which has led to a resurgence in football interest across the country.
The ‘Own the West’ campaign will run through to the end of the 2023/24 A-League season, across OOH, radio, social and digital, among other channels.
This story has been amended since publication.
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Lauren McNamara is a journalist at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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