Explore the inside story behind how Adobe and The FA partnered to create the Adobe Women's FA Cup.
In this Success Story:
Challenge
Ahead of the 2023/24 season, SPORTFIVE were appointed on behalf of The Football Association (The FA) to identify and secure a new Title Partner for the Women’s FA Cup.
The primary objective was to identify a partner that would help supercharge excitement and engagement around the competition, as well as deliver commercial impact and accelerate the growth of the women’s game - acting as a catalyst to inspire future generations.
Solution
SPORTFIVE’s partnership team identified Adobe as the ideal candidate for The FA’s Title Sponsor opportunity. Here, Adobe’s position as the world’s most recognised brand for creativity as well as the organisation’s track record for meaningful marketing campaigns were key.
SPORTFIVE worked closely with both parties to broker the partnership and develop a commercial proposition which saw the competition renamed to the “Adobe Women’s FA Cup”.
The partnership objectives were to educate audiences on the breadth and depth of the historic competition, enabling and empowering fans, clubs and players with the right tools to share their unique creative stories, and in turn grow support for the competition and women's game as a whole.
The first-of-its-kind, innovative rights package offers all 460 clubs that participate in the competition free access to, and training on Adobe Express, an all-in-one content creation app - empowering clubs to better market and promote themselves, create compelling social media and brand content and engage their community.
The partnership also stimulated engagement in the competition through the introduction of new Adobe Women’s FA Cup social media channels.
Our process
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Understand
Wanting to ensure the ideal partnership, the first step of the collaboration was to work closely with The FA to understand their vision and objective for the new Title Partner.
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Identify
Utilising SPORTFIVE’s unique knowledge and insight in the women’s sport partnerships market, a dedicated task force identified Adobe to authentically and creatively partner with The FA.
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Broker
Calling upon our extensive experience of facilitating the biggest partnerships in sport, we brokered the partnership which, amongst other highlights, saw the competition renamed to “The Adobe Women’s FA Cup”.
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Develop
Working closely with The FA and Adobe, we developed a commercial proposition which reflected both parties’ objectives of accelerating the growth of the women’s game.
Outcome
The partnership between Adobe and The FA was officially launched in November 2023, ahead of the First Round of newly-named Adobe Women’s FA Cup.
The first phase of the collaboration saw resounding success across several key partnership pillars, including social media, where metrics such as followers, views and engagements have all increased by more than 1200%.
Partnerships with prominent UK women’s football stars Alessia Russo, Jill Scott and Khiara Keating further elevated Adobe’s campaign with marketing campaigns helping to raise awareness for the competition and inspiring a new generation of fans.
Beyond fan engagement, the partnership supported clubs at every level of the English football pyramid. Every club competing in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup was given free access to Adobe Express Premium, with more than 80 clubs already utilsing the tool to promote their brand and grow the business side of the game.
+0K
New followers gained (+1271% YoY increase)
+0M
Engagements (+1883% YoY increase)
+0M
Video views (+1993% YoY increase)
Adobe Express for the Adobe Women's FA Cup
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+80
clubs using free access to Adobe Express
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+25 K
Custom fonts available to clubs
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+200 M
Adobe stock photos, videos and sounds available to clubs
“Adobe’s partnership has facilitated continued growth of women’s football. It has been the catalyst for increased engagement with fans both at matches and online. It has directly supported clubs with marketing software and expertise. Their innovative approach to the partnership has enabled us to take the Women’s FA Cup to new heights.”
James Gray, Commercial Director, The FA
