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This Might Be The Cleverest, Most Inspiring Ad We've Seen In Years

Wait till you hear Lee Lin Chin's deadpan line about women kicking balls.

Every now and then, someone in the advertising world gets the tone of a thing just right. The new AFL Women's ad is one such case.

The ad launched over the weekend ahead of the inaugural AFL Women's season, which kicks off on February 3. Here it is. Give it a quick view and we'll talk in a minute or so.

So having watched the new ad, we're sure you'll agree it is each of the following things:

  • INSPIRING, because of the famous sporting women like Cathy Freeman and Michelle Payne lending their weight to the hype around the new league;
  • FUNNY, thanks mostly to Lee Lin Chin's gentle inuendo about kicking balls. Oof!
  • AND ABOVE ALL, BLOODY CLEVER.

The ad references a much-loved 1994 campaign in the men's AFL, which revolved around the phrase "I'd like to see that". That campaign roped in some massive international sporting names (Carl Lewis, John McEnroe etc) who marvelled at the stuff AFL players could do.

It was a reminder that wow, we really do have ourselves one heck of a game here. Which awakened all sorts of feelings of pride and ownership in the game. Which made you want to go to the footy.

(And for the record, attendances nearly doubled during the 1990s and have more or less levelled off since, so perhaps the campaign really worked.)

Here's one of the old ads.

The new ad works on the same level. It inspires a feelings of ownership. AFL Women's is a thing, and it's a thing we're going to get involved in!

Advertising mission accomplished. But don't take our word for it. Here are a few comments that caught our eye on the AFL Women's Facebook page underneath the video. We couldn't have said it better.

  • "This ad is amazing -- it gave me goosebumps."
  • "'Seeing our daughters wearing our numbers'. Brilliant ad, can't wait to check out a game."
  • "So much yes to this! So so much yes! AFL has just turned into a sport I'm interested in!"
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