'Til It's Done': the Matildas' rallying cry fills stadiums, wins APAC Grand Effie

Australia hosted the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, yet the Matildas, historically underfunded and unseen, had never filled a stadium (43% capacity at best) and faced declining annual government funding of $1.55M. Football Australia had one tournament window to convert attention into lasting change.

Turn the Matildas' refusal to quit — 'Til It's Done' — into the country's shared language, so backing the team becomes every Australian's fight for a fair go.

Ogilvy launched a hero TVC and mass OOH showing players' ambitions beyond the pitch, then ran signed-jersey and ball hunts via Instagram. After the semifinal loss, a poster crossed off the team's achievements with more left unchecked — 'we don't rest, Til It's Done' — across OOH, digital and print, turning sport into a national conversation.

Campaign messaging hit 61% average recall against a 13.14% benchmark. Post-Cup, all 12 home matches sold out — attendance rose from 43% to 100% capacity — and broadcast viewership averaged over 970K versus a 486K target. Annual government funding grew from $1.55M to $33.5M ($134M over four years) on a $400K campaign, and Matildas jerseys sold at double the value of the men's.

For decades the Matildas, Australia's women's football team, played in the shadow of the men's game: half-empty stadiums, hand-me-down uniforms and declining government funding of $1.55M a year. When Australia co-hosted the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, Football Australia and Ogilvy Melbourne saw the tournament as a once-in-a-generation window to change the team's trajectory for good.

The creative leap was finding the campaign inside the team's own name: 'Til It's Done. Three words that captured the Matildas' refusal to stop until they had a platform — and gave a divided nation a shared language. Ogilvy launched a hero film and mass out-of-home work showing players' ambitions beyond the scoreboard, staged signed-jersey hunts seeded through Instagram, and after the semifinal loss published a poster listing the team's achievements, crossing off what was done while leaving the rest unchecked.

The results were structural. Messaging hit 61% average recall against a 13.14% benchmark; every one of the 12 post-Cup home matches sold out, pushing attendance from a 43% all-time high to 100% capacity; broadcast viewership averaged over 970K; and annual government funding rose from $1.55M to $33.5M — $134M across four years — on a campaign investment of just $400K. The Matildas went from hand-me-downs to jerseys selling at double the value of the men's kit.

The idea came from the team's own name, making the mantra inseparable from the brand and impossible to copy.

It tied the team's fight to a national value — the 'fair go' — so supporting the Matildas felt like supporting Australia itself.

The post-loss 'achievements list' poster kept the campaign alive after the tournament ended, converting a defeat into a longer fight.

Results were structural, not just emotional: 100% capacity attendances and $134M in multi-year funding.

A $400K campaign delivering 269% ROI showed the creative platform itself created the leverage.

Turn a brand's own name into a rallying cry the whole audience adopts: one well-timed event can become structural change — funding, attendance, culture — not just a week of noise.

The campaign earned Football Australia a record eight APAC Effie Awards — three Golds, one Silver and the Grand Effie — plus Marketer of the Year and Brand of the Year, firsts for a sports marketer and brand, and Ogilvy Melbourne's first Agency of the Year title. It also won a Bronze Cannes Lion in Sport – Brand Storytelling and was shortlisted in three more categories. The rallying cry was reprised ahead of the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2026, cementing 'Til It's Done' as lasting Australian sporting vernacular.