We were appointed by the Football Association of Wales to create a new visual identity for the Wales Women’s National Team. 

Andco Studio’s new creative for the Wales Women’s National Team has launched ahead of Wales’ opening UEFA Nations League matches. This head-turning new visual identity, that will accompany the team on their journey to the 2025 European Championships, translates the team’s higher purpose into an aesthetic that communicates directly with the team’s primary audience. Teenage girls.

The Client

The Football Association of Wales

Background

Women’s football across the world is on a journey of transformational change with record viewing figures and attendances, increased commercial investment, exponential growth in participation numbers and a real shift in attitudes towards women’s football.

Despite missing out on the finals tournament, Cymru’s 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Qualification Campaign was a watershed moment for women’s football in Wales. The team made their first ever play offs and repeatedly broke attendance records. For the first time, through increased television coverage and improved marketing, the team were given the platform to achieve their potential. Cymru were visible to girls and boys across Wales.

As this Cymru team embark on the Euro 2025 Qualification Campaign, Andco Studio were challenged with developing a bold, head-turning creative, positioning the team as proudly Welsh, bursting with personality, and different to any other team in Wales.

Welsh women’s football is on a journey of transformational change. This campaign celebrates that ongoing journey. It acknowledges the past, showcases the present, and inspires the future.

The Challenge

A digital first campaign that’s bold, eye catching, and inspiring. A campaign that resonates with teenage girls as the primary audience, but that still engages secondary audiences such as the wider football-loving public, and proud supporters of other Wales national teams.

Our Approach

In response to this challenge, we decided that our creative approach should…

• Be digital-first – colour and layouts flexible enough for all digital formats.
• Be Bold – bold colour, type, imagery. 
• Be Eye-catching on social feeds – a creative that stands out and engages casual scrollers.
• Be Flexible – A system that allows multiple image types to be incorporated and is suitable across a wide range of digital and print formats.
• Resonate with our primary audience, but still engage our secondary audiences. 
• Have its own personality – The FAW is responsible for promoting a number of national football teams. We wanted this creative to be unique, to stand out from the FAW’s coverage of the Men’s National Team and youth team creative. An aesthetic wholly ownable by the women’s team, and created specifically for their fans.

The Campaign

“Our higher purpose is to play for change. To play to inspire. For us. For them. For her.” – Wales Women’s Team.

We’ve taken this higher purpose, used it to create a visual system that communicates “For Us. For Them. For Her.”

Related: For Us. For Them. For Her. Immersive Case Study

For Us…

For us references the current Cymru national team, who will break new boundaries and create meaningful change, together.

Our imagery heroes the players, showcases their personality as individuals and as a collective. Positions them as confident, passionate, proud, determined, resilient. Kick-ass athletes and accessible role models for young people across the country. 

For Them…

For them, the trailblazers who paved the way. The women who fought for better standards and to be recognised as a national team 30 years ago. The trailblazers whose names were never printed on the back of a Cymru jersey. Laura McAllister. Cheryl Foster. Jayne Ludlow.

Those names are the platform on which the current squad is built, those names are woven into our creative.

For Her…

For her, those women and girls this Cymru squad inspires. For those inspired to watch and play for the first time. For the young girls who feel invisible or overlooked. She is this campaign’s primary audience. The girls that watch, play and love football.

Our creative concept has been designed with HER in mind. Through bold colours, patterns, animation, and imagery, we ensure that she knows that this Cymru team is for her.

Related: Morgans Consult Renew Cardiff City Sponsorship

Photography

We conducted multiple photoshoots, in studio and on location, ensuring our client has a bank of brand imagery for the duration of the campaign. Imagery that will continue to engage audiences throughout the campaign’s 2-year minimum lifespan.

These Cymru players are cool, relatable, and accessible. They are trend-setters, ambassadors for social change and role models for young girls and boys nationwide.

They are individuals, and our photography heroes those individuals. But they’re also part of a team, so our imagery shows the close bonds that makes this team so special.

A Campaign Icon

The campaign slogan hints at something spoken, or chanted, or sung. A call to action… “FOR US! FOR THEM! FOR HER!”

We’ve created a word mark, a logo that can be attached to content, instantly making it part of this campaign. Our word mark references this vocalisation, skewing the words to give a sense of movement, while still providing a solid visual element that doesn’t clutter the wider brand.

Bold, Eye-Catching

Historically, the FAW creative has relied on traditional Welsh colours to communicate a sense of Welshness. But this campaign isn’t about being traditional. We decided early on that if we wanted to stand out from other Wales teams, we needed to start from scratch. Players will always be featured in their playing kit, primarily red. The Wales dragon is also always red. We chose bold colours that made Welsh red pop. Not using red in our creative makes the red of the kit and dragon more impactful. It makes our player imagery stand out. These colours are a backdrop on which the players take centre stage.

Future Proofing

Thousands of assets will be developed using this creative over the coming years. It’s vital that we future proof the identity, so it maintains impact and doesn’t become too predictable. 

We’ve developed a wider colour palette, four secondary colourways, that can be brought in midway through the campaign cycle to refresh the identity.

Its Football, and So Much More

To engage with our primary teenage audience, and to reach new people outside of existing football circles, it’s important that the creative taps into other cultural references. Fashion, lifestyle, hobbies. We’ve looked at fashion, music and lifestyle brands to inspire our creative decisions.

Want to See More?

Take a look at our immersive case study to find out more about the design process, and to see this new visual identity for the Wales Women’s National Team in action.