​The NFL will throw a lateral in its print campaign play this fall, dropping a 16-page insert called “The Savvy Girl’s Guide to Football” into the September issue of “Marie Claire.”

With “Friday Night Lights” star Minka Kelly appearing on the cover of the magazine, the insert will feature six ad pages for the NFL’s women’s apparel line, continuing the league’s four-year effort to bring women into the mix and sell them licensed merchandise. Female NFL fans have been on the rise over the last decade, with more than 50% of women claiming to watch regular-season games and 46% claiming to watch the Super Bowl—a surge from 14% in 2002.

The campaign will extend to seven other women’s magazines, including “Vogue,” Cosmopolitan” and “Us Weekly,” and will include point-of-sale marketing and even “style lounge” retail areas inside NFL stadiums with 15,000 additional insert copies on hand.

Read more at Ad Age.

Brief Take: 12 years ago, the NFL’s approach to its apparel business for women was “shrink it or pink it,” NFL VP of consumer products Tracey Bleczinski told Ad Age. Now, women’s jerseys are its fastest-growing consumer product business, and the league is adjusting.

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