Bay FC may have finished seventh in the rankings and earned a spot in the playoffs for its first season in the NWSL, but the team is still in the mud when it comes to its marketing. Literally.
The team’s inaugural ad campaign last year was all about “blood, sweat, and mud,” and this year’s new campaign, which focuses on what they’ve accomplished since, still has an element of grit to it—thanks in part to a rainy day on set, according to COO Jen Millet.
“We were a little bit like, ‘Oh, my gosh, how’s this gonna work, how’s this gonna look?’” she said. “But the fact that it was raining actually makes it look really dramatic and awesome.”
In addition to showing off Bay FC’s foundation, the campaign, called “Built for the Moment,” aims to highlight star players and a new kit design as the team looks to boost ticket and merchandise sales, as well as sponsorships, in its sophomore season, Millet said.
The kickers
“Built for the Moment” centers on a 60-second ad starring Bay FC forwards Asisat Oshoala and Racheal Kundananji and defender Alyssa Malonson. It also features several other players from the team’s roster including Abby Dahlkemper, Kelli Hubly, Caprice Dydasco, Kiki Pickett, Taylor Huff, Karlie Lema, and Emily Menges. Some of the clips in the spot were shot in a studio, while others show the players in slow-motion action outside.
“The players were so great,” Millet said. “They would be running out, getting soaked, and then in between shots, run back under a tent and put a blanket on.”
While some leagues and teams opt to home in on one or two of their biggest stars, Bay FC was more focused on showing the breadth of their whole lineup, Millet said. She acknowledged that “obviously, people love strikers, and they love goal scorers,” hence the prevalence of Oshoala and Kundananji, but also said the marketing team was eager to incorporate as many players as possible, especially since, a year ago, they couldn’t since the roster hadn’t been set.
“There’s just a ton of heart and soul to this team, and I think that can be seen up and down the roster,” Millet said. “Not having one hero, star, focus, is definitely super intentional.”
In addition to the TV spot, which started running on cable, streaming, and social platforms on Feb. 18, the campaign also includes more than 600 billboards around the Bay Area with the “Built for the Moment” tagline and players like Oshoala, Kundananji, Malonson, and Dahlkemper.
The kits
Bay FC’s new uniforms are front and center in the campaign, and like the players, weren’t available for the marketing team to feature last time around: By the time the team’s ownership group was awarded its NWSL expansion franchise in 2023, it was already too late to manufacture jerseys designed by the team, Millet said. Instead, Bay FC used a uniform template that Nike provides for expansion teams.
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This year’s jerseys, in contrast, are more customized to the franchise. The design, which features a dark navy base color and a poppy accent color, is meant to be gender-agnostic, she said.
“We talk about wanting to be a global franchise, not a women’s franchise,” Millet said. “In order to do that, we need to put a product on the field that appeals to a wide range of audiences. We want your sons and husbands out there just as much as we want your daughters and your wives out there cheering us on.”
Several brands are also represented on the jerseys: Sutter Health on the front, Visa and Ally Financial on the sleeves, and Trader Joe’s on the lower back.
The KPIs
The short runway from the franchise being awarded to Bay FC’s first season in the NWSL presented an obstacle for onboarding sponsors last year, but Millet said business was “tremendously successful” anyway. Beyond sponsorships, Bay FC was in the top five NWSL teams for average home-game attendance in 2024, and it had the fourth-highest valuation at $121 million.
The team will continue to prioritize increasing partnership and ticket revenue this season and has a “pretty hefty merchandise” goal to hit, Millet said; she is optimistic that the new kits and collabs with retail brands—like Marine Layer and Togethxr, which Bay FC has worked with in the past—will help achieve it.
“We’re using those tailwinds [from last year] to really continue to invest in the business, get out there talking to more brands, [and] make sure we’re doing right by our season ticket members and trying to grow that base,” Millet said. “We feel good going into this year, taking the learnings that we had last year and just using them to fuel us to get better.”