Sport England, a public body under the U.K. Department for Culture, Media and Sport, has started to work on the promotion of sport in the country. It launched last month a nationwide campaign to this effect with a series of video spots under the title “This Girl Can.”
Developed in partnership with a wide range of organizations, the £10 million (€13.8m-$14.8m) campaign celebrates active women as an inspiration for other women to engage in fitness training, cycling, rowing and other types of physical exercise.
Noting that the response has been overwhelming so far, especially in the social media, an executive of Sport England told us that the agency will analyze the results of the campaign from June onward in order to determine the best possible future initiatives. The contents of the campaign were developed on the basis of extensive research. It showed that women still do regularly less physical exercise than men in the U.K. - around 30 percent of women versus 41 percent of men - and that they often fail to exercise for fear of being “judged.”
According to NPD Group's online consumer panel, specific women's products made up 30 percent of the total sales of sports footwear and apparel in the U.K., which is currently valued at £4.5 billion (€6.3bn-$6.6bn), for the 12-month period ended in September 2014. Sales of women's products increased by 8 percent compared with the same period a year earlier in value terms, thereby outperforming the male market, which grew by 6 percent. The market for children under 13 recorded a 5 percent sales increase.
The growth in sales of women's sporting goods in Great Britain centered around several product categories. Fitness and running experienced double-digit growth, and were the two largest performance sports categories, each accounting for 15 percent of total consumption of sports footwear and apparel by women. Swimming also posted significant growth, with a high single-digit increase on an annual basis. Women's football apparel and footwear sales grew by nearly 40 percent in the 12 months ended last September, boosted by the rising profile of women's football on both a national and international level.
Interestingly, the campaign conducted by Sport England coincides with the recent release of our market research report on “Women & Sports,” with a focus on the big German market. It follows a very successful campaign by Sport England in favor of cycling, and it is part of a wider £600,000 (€827,000-$893,000) government-funded sports promotion program that is going to last four years.
As reported in The Outdoor Industry Compass, the new British government that will come out of May's parliamentary election is expected to allocate part of these funds to the promotion of outdoor sports and recreation activities, including also skiing, stand-up paddling and sports fishing, but not golf.
A grant by Sport England has allowed the Outdoor Industries Association to complete a major study of the sector to help determine the best possible ways to encourage more people to be active outdoors. Andrew Denton, chief executive of the OIA, will co-chair a dedicated working group.
