Johannesburg-based agency Triple Eight has used the final stretch of Women’s Month to make two announcements at once.
The agency has officially launched Triple Eight Sports Marketing, a specialist division focused on women’s sport.
At the same time, its flagship Goals 4 Pads campaign with Stayfree and Banyana Banyana has unlocked 8,000 packs of sanitary pads for girls in grassroots sport.
The timing is significant. Banyana Banyana’s WAFCON journey delivered eight goals in the campaign, with each goal triggering a donation of 1,000 packs to schools and academies developing South Africa’s next generation of female footballers.
As Women’s Month draws to a close, the numbers have become a fitting symbol of what the month set out to mark.
For Triple Eight founder Sarika Modi, the milestone carries a personal weight that goes beyond the campaign mechanics.
“This campaign started from a simple idea, that a goal shouldn’t just be a moment of celebration on the pitch, it should ripple out into something real for a girl back home,” she said.
“Watching that grow to eight goals and 8,000 packs during Women’s Month feels full circle, because it’s proof of what happens when a brand, a sport and a purpose actually line up properly.
“It’s also part of why we made the call this year to launch a specialist Sports Marketing division at Triple Eight.
“Campaigns like this showed us there’s real opportunity to help other brands build the same kind of meaningful, lasting platform in women’s sport, not just visibility.
“Banyana carry national pride on their shoulders, and it felt like the right time to make sure women’s football in South Africa gets marketing thinking that matches the moment they’re having.”
Eight Banyana Banyana goals unlock 8,000 sanitary pad packs
The Goals 4 Pads campaign uses a simple mechanic to turn moments on the football pitch into practical support for girls in grassroots sport:
- Every Banyana Banyana goal unlocks 1,000 packs of sanitary pads.
- Eight goals scored during this WAFCON campaign have unlocked 8,000 packs in total.
- Schools and academies nominated by players, fans, coaches and communities receive the packs.
- The campaign operates under the #KeepingThemLockedIn platform, which launched in June 2026.
Triple Eight Sports Marketing targets growth in women’s sport
The new Triple Eight Sports Marketing division formalises an approach Modi has been building towards for years.
Rather than treating women’s sport as a smaller version of men’s sport sponsorship, Triple Eight’s model focuses on understanding the role a brand can credibly play in the lives of athletes and fans.
The agency then builds a platform around that role.
“We believe the next era of sports marketing is about moving beyond simply placing a logo on a jersey,” Modi said.
“The opportunity is to understand the role a brand can credibly play in the lives of athletes and fans, and then build a platform around that which creates genuine value for the brand, the sport and its community.”
Triple Eight brings purpose-led marketing experience to sports
Modi has tested that philosophy well beyond the football pitch.
Triple Eight, a multi-award-winning agency, became the first South African agency to win a Shorty Award for Nessie, the world’s first WhatsApp Mathbot. The agency developed the platform with Nestlé Nespray to help parents coach their children through maths.
That campaign remains one of more than 60 local and global industry honours the agency has collected since Modi founded Triple Eight in 2012.
“Our ambition is to help brands extract far more value from their investment in sport,” Modi said.
“The strongest sports partnerships should build fandom, create conversation, strengthen brand equity and ultimately contribute to business growth.
“That requires far more than sponsorship. It requires strategy, creativity and a deep understanding of how people experience sport.”
Women’s Month closes with a focus on women’s football
Triple Eight remains a majority women-led agency, a detail Modi has said mirrors the thinking behind the new Sports Marketing division.
Both, in her words, aim to challenge old assumptions about who gets to lead.
As Women’s Month comes to a close, Goals 4 Pads stands as one of its clearest legacies this year.
Eight goals scored on the pitch have translated into 8,000 packs of sanitary pads for girls who might otherwise have to choose between their education, their sport and their dignity.
For Modi and her team, it is a model they now intend to build on.
