Kansas City Current Gold Standard Campaign
August 6, 2024
The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) has a record-breaking 56 players participating in the Olympics this year. A number of Kansas City Current players and former players are also participating.
The KC Current is a relatively new team, having been founded in December 2020. But it has been making waves since it began. In its second season the team made it to the Championships. It looks like they may do so again this year, but it won’t be far to travel as they are hosting the league championship at their stadium.
KC Current is the first women’s soccer team to have its own dedicated stadium. All other women’s teams play soccer at colleges or may share the stadium with mens teams.
KC Current says this is the first stadium in the world built specifically for women’s professional soccer.
“They’re committing themselves to not just building a world-class organization as a pro team, but trying to be an advocate for women’s sports in the community in general,” said Jon Barnett, CEO of Barnett Brand Co. “Something the team really wants to do is have an international presence, and so the owners are interested in growing the brand, not just in the US.”
Soccer is such an important part of international culture in Europe and South America. In fact there are former KC Current players representing various countries in the Olympics including the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Nigeria.
What better way to promote the team and stadium internationally than at the Olympics?
The outdoor campaign promotes the stadium, and supports and shows love to the players. The creatives ask, “How far are you from the only stadium purpose-built for a women’s professional team?” The “KC Gold Standard” campaign highlights that the Current is the Gold Standard in Women’s Soccer and uses the stadium as a proof point for that.
There is also a website associated with the campaign, www.kcgoldstandard.com, which has informational content about the team and its players.
PJX Media supported the agency by helping them to source bus wraps for the campaign. PJX Media helped Barnett Brand Co and KC Current get placed on Double Decker Tour Busses across four different cities in France where these soccer matches will be held.
The KC Current already has sold out tickets for its season and is ready to shift its marketing strategy from sales to branding to further spread the word about the team.
“It’s the right moment. And this only comes around once every four years. Its unique for the Current and they have a really good story to tell at this moment in time too. Theres a lot of synergies and good things coming together for us to be able to promote the brand and the mission of the team,” Barnett said.
This was Barnett Brand Company’s first time working with PJX Media. They needed a partner with international connections to help them get the ad space.
“By and large we just market in Kansas City and so my team handles everything from a traditional digital media perspective but because this was an international buy and we needed somebody that had the right connections it was a good opportunity for us to work with PJX.” Barnett said. “Working with PJX has been fantastic honestly. Rick was cool to meet and get that introduction and then Ruben’s been my main point of contact. He’s awesome and really on top of his stuff. It’s been a really good experience.”
The Double Decker tour bus ads will be spreading KC Current as the Gold Standard in women’s soccer throughout cities in France through August 13th.
