The Northern Super League (NSL), Canada’s first professional women’s soccer league, is unveiling a marketing campaign to commemorate its inaugural season and invite Canadians to “Be Where It All Begins.” The campaign centres around a video series showcasing the talented athletes from the league’s six clubs.
Kelly Shouldice, VP of brand and content at the NSL, tells strategy that the work crafts a narrative that authentically captures the essence of the league while generating excitement leading up to a pivotal moment in Canadian sports history.
Recess creative studio provided creative direction for the print campaign and media buying was done mainly in-house with collaboration from Clickwise Marketing. Devon Burns worked on cinematography and direction and Caleb Layton worked on editing and direction for the video series.
The marketing team introduced the league’s name last May before the clubs’ identities and player rosters had been announced. “It was a name and a vision – but not yet a league fans could connect to on a personal level,” Shouldice says. With the new campaign, the league seeks to change that by putting players at the forefront, creating an emotional connection with fans and inspiring a sense of patriotism.
With many Canada women’s national team players familiar to soccer fans from their performances in international competitions, the NSL is aiming to further amplify their profiles, Shouldice says.
The league intends to attract a group of sports fans that value high-level competition and experienced female athletes who are already involved in the sports scene and are actively looking for new teams, stories and players to support, according to Shouldice.
“These audiences are the foundation of the league’s future. By reaching them now, we’re setting ourselves up for sustained ticket sales, growing viewership and long-term brand loyalty,” she says. “Their engagement fuels not only short-term success – like ticket sales and broadcast ratings – but also the league’s cultural relevance and staying power in the Canadian sports ecosystem.”
The league has allocated its budget primarily toward digital advertising and programmatic media in a strategy that leverages the existing digital fan base while maximizing results through what the league calls the “most effective” channels.
The league is also rolling out OTT and streaming ads and prioritizing digital to reinforce the campaign’s message in on-demand viewing environments. At the same time, its broadcast partners TSN and CBC Sports are featuring the campaign video on their broadcast and digital platforms.
Shouldice believes the campaign’s launch coincides with a favourable market trend as interest in female athletes and professional sports continue to grow in Canada.
