Heineken pulled off the ultimate switch to tackle sexism in football [Video]

Winning The Drum Awards for Social in the Sports category was a campaign called The Social Swap by Edelman for Heineken. Here is the award-winning case study.

Gender stereotypes and prejudice mean that female sports pundits face a disproportionate amount of discrimination and hateful comments on social media when sharing their football views. This creates a toxic and uncomfortable environment for fans and professionals.

Heineken believes that sports should be enjoyable and inclusive for everyone. As the official sponsor for both the Women’s and Men’s UEFA Champion Leagues, Heineken want to challenge the gender biases in football and help stop these toxic online behaviours.

The UEFA club finals in May & June 2023 provided the perfect opportunity to tackle the issue.

Brief: Develop an earned activation around the UEFA club finals (May/June 2023) to raise awareness around gender inequality in football.

KPIs