The International Cricket Council (ICC) has opened a competitive pitch for the marketing and public relations mandate behind the inaugural ICC Women’s Champions Trophy 2027. Agencies have until 5 pm Gulf Standard Time on November 4, 2026, to submit proposals.
Set for February 14–28, 2027 in Mumbai and Vadodara, the tournament will feature Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka across 16 T20 matches. The winning agency—or agencies—will develop the tournament’s strategic positioning, creative platform and integrated marketing and communications campaign.
What the mandate covers
The RFP, issued on October 21, asks for work across digital and social media, influencer engagement, player-led storytelling, earned media, community outreach and experiential marketing. It also expects the selected partner to set performance indicators, track results, optimise activities and run post-campaign evaluations.
The core challenge is audience expansion. The ICC wants the tournament to appeal beyond existing cricket fans, especially female and younger viewers.
- During the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025, men accounted for 87% of web visitors and 80% of app users across the subcontinent markets analysed.
- Women represented 12% of web visitors and 20% of app users during that tournament.
- During the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, women accounted for 15% of web users and 24% of app users globally.
- The 18–24 age group was the largest segment, at 45% of web users and 52% of app users in the 2025 event.
Where winning pitches will focus
The brief highlights findings from previous T20 events: player-led narratives and emotionally engaging moments generate more search interest, video consumption and social engagement than generic tournament messaging. Multilingual content has also helped extend cricket’s reach beyond traditional markets.
A simple pitch framework follows naturally: lead with athlete stories, shape them into platform-native formats, distribute in local languages, and concentrate investment around the tournament’s biggest promotional moments.
The calendar and selection process
Three anchor moments will carry the campaign:
- December 2, 2026: match schedule announcement and launch of general ticket sales, with a televised event on JioStar featuring players, legends and creators.
- January 15, 2027: trophy tour begins across the host cities.
- February 12 or 13, 2027: Captains’ Carnival or Media Day with all six team captains.
Shortlisting is expected on November 6, followed by agency presentations on November 10 if required and final appointment on November 11. The ICC has indicated it may appoint different agencies for separate components, and the lowest financial bid will not automatically determine the winner. Proposals should cover strategy, budgets, staffing and relevant major-event experience.
Why this matters for marketing teams
This is a rare, from-scratch global sports brand with a measurable audience problem attached. The RFP essentially asks: can a campaign make women’s cricket reach the women and young fans already watching on mobile, without losing the core cricket audience? Agencies that treat digital, PR, influencer and experiential as one system rather than separate workstreams have the clearest shot.
The timeline is unforgiving. Submissions close on November 4, 2026; there is no room to wait. But for the right agency, the reward is shaping an inaugural world tournament from its first edition.
Source: MediaNews4U
