Liverpool-based creative marketing agency, Poke Marketing, is proud to have played a key role in the English Football League’s (EFL) Rainbow Ball campaign, an initiative launched in partnership with PUMA to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community within football.
As the Official Ball Partner of the EFL, PUMA introduced this season’s brand new design of the Rainbow match ball – following the unveiling of the first-ever Rainbow match ball to be used in English professional football – as a symbol of the League’s unwavering commitment to the LGBTQ+ community. To bring the campaign to life, Poke Marketing was tasked with creating a dynamic animation to announce the return of the Rainbow Ball across social media, ensuring visibility and engagement across all 72 EFL clubs and central channels.
Designed to be bold, vibrant, and adaptable, the animation was crafted to capture the significance of the Rainbow Ball and its role in driving awareness within the football community. The campaign reinforces the EFL’s intention to make the sport of football representative of and welcoming to the communities it represents.
Nicola Docking, Managing Director at Poke, commented: “We are delighted to have worked with the team at EFL on the campaign for the launch of their Rainbow Ball with PUMA. It is such an important message and shows the great strides football is taking as a sport to be more inclusive. The work we did as part of our rebrand for the National Football Museum put us in a really strong position to understand how creativity and football can come together to achieve genuine impact. The animation has been really well received by the teams and fans across the Championship, League One and League Two. We are proud to have helped promote a campaign that not only drew attention to an important cause on the pitch, but even more importantly, raised money for Football v Homophobia to support the ongoing work in tackling discrimination in this area.”
Beyond raising awareness, the initiative carries real-world impact. For every goal scored with the Rainbow Ball across the Championship, League One, and League Two in February, PUMA made a donation to Football v Homophobia (FvH), supporting their vital work in tackling discrimination in the sport.
EFL sharpshooters were able to raise over £10,000 to provide FvH support in the development and elevation of new and existing educational workshops.
This collaboration further strengthens Poke Marketing’s reputation for delivering high-impact creative work across industries, blending storytelling with strategy to engage audiences at scale.
See the full case study here: https://pokemarketing.co.uk/work/english-football-league/
