Katia Aubin has yet to find a sport she doesn’t like. Last Thursday, she put the career she’s built in coms, PR, reputation management and brand image to good use and launched Collective Pivot, the NPO she founded earlier this year.
Influential figures from the sports, marketing and advertising industries and local and national brands were on hand to explore opportunities for growth, economic sustainability and value building for women in sports.
The room was buzzing, and the palpable excitement surrounding women’s sports and its opportunities for athletes was refreshing and motivating.
The panels and talks were led by inspiring sports and business luminaries (who all had a lot to say!).
“What if, instead of comparing men’s and women’s sports teams, we considered a new perspective. What if the first question we asked was ‘Is this team a start-up or an organization that’s been around for decades?’” – Annie Larouche, President of Montréal Roses FC
“We use the same indicators—impressions, brand affinity and favourability—and the favourability index is two to three times higher than for men’s sports. The love and loyalty are there.” – Ashley Curran, Associate Vice-President of Community Impact and Sport Partnerships at Canadian Tire
hiatus was part of a panel on fan communities entitled When Communities, Content and Commerce Converge, and it was a thrill to share the stage with Camille Wallace, Marijke Vandergrift and moderator Jennifer Mathurin.
“The women’s sports fan demographic is very interesting: more educated, more diverse, more successful and younger than the men’s sports fan demographic. If those characteristics aren’t attractive, then I don’t know what is!” – Marijke Vandergrift, Director of Corporate Partnerships at Canadian Women & Sport
It goes without saying that hiatus and Pivot are kindred spirits, and we’ve got plenty of collabs coming up.
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Founded in 2024, the Collective Pivot accelerator recognizes the commercial value and impact of women’s sports, its athletes and the communities that support them. It aims to ensure their economic sustainability by raising awareness and addressing inequalities. Collective Pivot is a not-for-profit organization that capitalizes on the power of the sport industry to effect social change and celebrates and promotes women in sports and their essential contributions to their development.
Find out more here.
