“Creativity and Sport Go Hand in Hand”

They call football the ‘beautiful game’, and Adobe is hoping to amplify that on-pitch artistry and creativity with its recently-announced sponsorship of Women’s FA Cup. The partnership will see the tech giant put its AI-first content creation app, Adobe Express, into the hands of clubs and players to help them galvanise even more passion and support for women’s soccer. 

The sponsorship is Adobe’s first sport partnership in the UK, but it’s not Adobe’s first time supporting female football players - they already work with the National Women’s Soccer League in the United States. Following the success of the 2022 Women’s Euros and this year’s Women’s World Cup, the game has never been more popular. 

Last year’s Women’s FA Cup final was played in front of a record-breaking sold-out crowd of 77,390. According to Sabina Strasser, senior director of brand experience at Adobe, while that growing popularity makes it an appealing prospect for marketers, clubs and players still need the support of brands.

“The women’s game is on the rise, but it still needs greater attention and awareness, and this is where brands like Adobe can help,” explains Sabina. “The most amazing thing about the Adobe Women’s FA Cup is that it’s the only competition that brings together amateur and elite clubs, from local communities and cities across England. The women’s game is full of incredible, untold stories, be it of players shooting their first qualifying goal, amateur clubs going up against football giants or fans who travel miles to cheer on their teams. We’re teaming up with The FA to bring these stories to life, as well as elevate the women’s game to even greater heights. We hope this will help engage existing fans, attract new audiences, and hopefully encourage a new generation of players, so the competition and women’s football can continue to grow.”

Of course, while supporting women’s football, which has been substantially underfunded compared to the men’s game historically, is clearly a positive thing to do from a social good perspective, this partnership is also driven by Adobe’s brand values and mission statement,  Creativity for All.

“As a brand, creativity is at our core, and we believe that everyone, everywhere, deserves the opportunity to have their vision and voice heard,” explains Sabina. “Creativity for All has long been our mission at Adobe and it’s all about giving underrepresented creators access to the tools and platforms they need to bring their ideas to life. We want to lift up women’s sports because it needs greater attention and awareness, and the entire footballing pyramid in the Cup has a great diversity of stories that need to be heard.”  

What makes this partnership particularly intriguing is that not only is Adobe supporting the tournament financially, but will have a vested interest in helping to raise the profile of the tournament, clubs and players as well as women's football generally, as a proof point of the power of creativity and its own marketing and content tools. 

“Adobe and The FA have a common interest, to grow attention and awareness around the Women’s FA Cup and to use creativity as a way to support storytelling of the women’s game. We want to show the clubs, players and fans that anything is possible by dreaming bigger with the power of creativity, which is what makes this partnership truly unique,” says Sabina.

“Many people think Adobe is only for the creative professional, and whilst we support creators and some of the world’s biggest brands, our product innovation makes it possible for anyone, at any skill level, to create stand-out, engaging content with Adobe Express and Adobe Firefly. That’s the true magic of Adobe.” 

Earlier this year, Adobe announced its partnership with the NWSL, and Sabina describes The Adobe Women’s FA Cup as, “an extension of our joint ambition to use the power of creativity to motivate and inspire players, clubs and creators of women’s football”.  

The Adobe team hopes to meet that ambition in two ways. They’re giving the Football Association access to and training on Adobe Digital Media tools (Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly and Adobe Acrobat). That will give the FA more tools and opportunities to leverage creativity to energise and engage with fans and reach a growing fan base.

Secondly, they’re hoping to really democratise creativity by working with all 460 clubs in the competition whether they’re amateur or elite. They will be helped to use the aforementioned Adobe express. “We feel that by doing so, the clubs will be able to market and promote themselves, create social media and brand content to engage their community, raise their profile and reach the next generation of fans and players,” says Sabina.

In order to make sure they’re building the foundation for a truly long term relationship with all of these clubs, Sabina explains howAdobe is really digging deep to understand the challenges that clubs are facing. Their first priority is to understand what clubs need the most.

“What we do know is that many of the amateur teams have volunteers and players with full time jobs, and in some cases, lean or no social media or marketing support,” says Sabina. “Being able to give them access to and training on Adobe Express, as well as pre-designed templates, the clubs will be able to market and promote themselves easily, bringing them closer to their fans and communities. “

The partnership also makes explicit an often overlooked connection between creativity and sport. But Adobe’s growing presence in the world of sport reveals that it’s a fruitful space - particularly when it comes to the way that fans of women’s football like to participate. 

“You only have to look at the skills and passion on the pitch to see that creativity and sport go hand in hand, and engaging in this partnership is all about elevating women’s sport and the women’s game,” explains Sabina. “Supporters of the women’s game are different to that of the men’s game, and they express themselves in unique and creative ways, which is a really exciting opportunity for us. We’re looking forward to finding new ways to inspire the players, clubs and creators of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup so they can better share their stories with the world.”

Adobe’s partnership with the Women’s FA Cup will run for at least three years. Looking forward, Adobe hopes to forge a long term relationship with clubs and players and to help excite and grow the fanbase.

“The Adobe Women’s FA Cup will be focused on increasing fan engagement and raising the profile of the competition from the qualifying rounds in September, through to the final in May,” says Sabina. “The partnership will introduce new social media channels to reach, engage and excite fans, as well as giving clubs access to, and training on Adobe Express. This will enable the clubs to identify a breadth of new content opportunities, to promote themselves and build a closer connection with their fans.”