- Historical Attempts at Coordinated Marketing for Women’s and Men’s Ashes
- Shifting Perception: Recognizing the Value of England Women’s Cricket
- Cultural Transformation: Fan-Centric Approach and Future Plans for Women’s Cricket
Contrary to popular belief, this is not the first time that the women’s and men’s Ashes have run concurrently, nor is it the first time that the England and Wales Cricket Board has attempted coordinated marketing. The 2013 “#RISE for the Ashes” campaign featured Alastair Cook and Charlotte Edwards on different posters with orange flames.
The following summer, with Waitrose on board as the new £3 million sponsor of men’s and women’s Test cricket, a television advertisement depicted Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, and Katherine Brunt shopping in what was ostensibly their local supermarket, with Jonathan Agnew providing commentary on their selections.
What was shared by both campaigns? As an afterthought, women’s cricket was included. Sky advertised the 2013 Women’s Ashes with the slogan “One Down, One to Go. See if our women’s team can secure our second Ashes victory of the summer.”
Anderson, Broad, and Agnew’s narration ignored Brunt in the Waitrose ad, which failed.
She was treated like a random extra wearing an England shirt to shop. Fortunately for the ECB, the advertisement was quickly removed from the airwaves due to the controversy surrounding Agnew’s participation.
After ten years, the marketing has changed slightly. The award-winning “Ashes, Two Ashes” campaign features a 30-second TV commercial with split-screen images, alternating between footage and commentary from the women’s and men’s games, and ends with the slogan: “The only thing better than an Ashes series? Two.” Two weeks ago, Heather Knight and Ben Stokes’ images were projected alongside one another on Tower Bridge.
It’s a far cry from Brunt playing Supermarket Sweep alone, and it’s effective. The five-day Trent Bridge Test, Edgbaston T20I, and Taunton ODI are sold out. If they want people to watch the England Women’s squad. The ECB seems to have acknowledged they must be people’s first choice.
Beth Barrett-Wild, director of the women’s professional game at the ECB, explains, “There has been a significant shift in mentality.”
It’s about demonstrating the value we place on these fixtures, recognizing that we believe people would want to attend, and in the process altering perceptions of England Women’s cricket.
She states that the ECB’s planning for the dual-Ashes summer began early, with a meeting in March 2022. “It was following the first season of The 100. There was a surge of interest, and we all said the same thing: ‘2023 is our major year’. It was a matter of sitting down and asking, “How can we maximize this?”
“Historically, England Women’s internationals haven’t been at the head of the list of games we’ve scheduled. And they’ve typically been scheduled late. To ensure that this Ashes summer was viewed as a combined men’s and women’s Ashes season, it was a very conscious decision to begin the women’s season concurrently with the men’s.
The outcome of this early discussion was twofold: for the first time, the schedules and venues for the 2023 women’s and men’s matches were announced simultaneously (in September 2022). Meanwhile, the Women’s Ashes venues and schedule reflected a new aspiration for women’s cricket. Evening matches at Lord’s, the Oval, and Edgbaston, a Rose Bowl Sunday ODI, and a Trent Bridge five-day Test.
“The most important aspect was beginning with the fan,” says Barrett-Wild. “I was reviewing the 2019 women’s Ashes itinerary, which began with an ODI at Leicester on a Tuesday, followed by another ODI at Leicester on Thursday.
That schedule is not fan-centric. This will never generate enormous attendance, regardless of the extent of the promotion. It’s acknowledging how much the women’s game has changed since then and ensuring that we’re doing it justice this summer.
Barrett-Wild has been one of the driving forces behind this cultural transformation at the ECB, despite her denial. Since October 2018, she has led the Women’s Hundred, which, according to her, “destroyed everything we thought we knew about the women’s game.”
“I’ve always understood that women’s cricket has this potential; if you invest in it, it will succeed. However, this is a monumental proof of concept. It demonstrates that people will watch women’s cricket if it is presented on a large scale, marketed effectively, and given visibility. It would have taken many, many years to reach that point if we had continued along the same path.”
Barrett-Wild is ensuring that the ideas she and her staff developed in the Hundred – such as equal marketing budgets and playing women’s matches on the largest grounds – permeate the rest of the ECB. The ECB published the major match venues for 2025-31 last week: In each of the seven years, England Women will play at Lord’s, and the Oval, Edgbaston, Headingley, Old Trafford, Trent Bridge, and Rose Bowl will each host the team at least four times.
“We have made substantial investments in the professionalization of women’s football on the pitch. Now it is a matter of, ‘Right, we need to make up in terms of what we are doing to support this team off the pitch,” she says.
Given the size and visibility of the Ashes compared to other women’s bilateral series, are there concerns that this may be a one-time event? “Our objective is to develop a plan that will facilitate exponential development in future years. “Sales for the Sri Lanka series [in September] are not as high as those for the Ashes, but they are considerably higher than normal.”
Barrett-Wild has already set her sights on 2026 when England will host the Women’s T20 World Cup. As someone who recognizes the recent growth of women’s sport – ‘I don’t want cricket to be left behind. I’m a very competitive person’ – she has no intention of letting cricket fall behind. “That will be our Women’s Euros moment,” she declares.
Before that, however, there is an Ashes series that a record number of spectators will witness in person.
