ASICS sought to create their first Netball Community event, wanting to bring together players of the sport for an experience that would impact them for a lifetime.
Tied in with the launch of the ASICS NETBURNER BALLISTIC FF 3, ASICS wanted the event to celebrate the core feature of the shoe – comfort – in the ultimate ‘comfort test’.
An objective of the event was partly to position ASICS as the leader within the netball footwear category, but ultimately to deliver a strong community brand event that captured the product and brand essence, whilst achieving a strong volume of earned media coverage and netball content for owned ASICS channels.
Agent99 commissioned research revealing that many players hesitate to join or continue playing netball beyond their childhood years due to confidence issues — whether related to fitness, skills, or a fear of letting their teammates down.
To address this, and to create a community event where netballers could have fun, make friends, boost confidence through physical activity, and improve their on-court game, Agent99 created the world’s first ASICS Netball Festival Celebrating Confidence.
As the ultimate event for netball players, the netball-curious, and friends and family of netball enthusiasts, Agent99 pitched the festival to media to amplify a competition offering “golden tickets” to attend.
Winners were officially invited to the ASICS Netball Festival, participating in netball activations while receiving a positive message about building confidence and enjoying the sport at any skill level.
Alongside the activation, Agent99 hosted a media event to launch the research and tease the upcoming festival. ASICS shoes were also seeded with top-tier media for additional amplification.
Earned media articles were secured over the 4-month campaign, far exceeding the set KPIs. The top keyword across this coverage was ‘confidence’ driving home the purpose of the festival itself.
The campaign’s total reach was over 71 million, surpassing the target set by almost 15 times. This can be attributed to most of the coverage running in Australia’s top tier publications, and several syndicated articles across News Corp and ARE Media titles.
150 young athletes attended the Festival, joined by 15 netball coaches to teach them skills on the day, and nine professional Australian and New Zealander players also joined in the fun. The event was supported by over 50+ staff on the day, making the magic moment happen.
ASICS’ share of voice against its competitors during the 2025 pre-season period vs the same period in 2024 was up by over 4,000 per cent following the campaign, establishing ASICS as the leader in the category for the 2025 netball season.
This campaign was awarded ‘Best Community Relations Campaign Of The Year’ at the CPRA Golden Target Awards.
