PWHL goes big with 2025-26 brand campaign

As the 2025–26 season unfolds across North America, the Professional Women’s Hockey League is telling its story bigger than ever before.

Launched on the day the league dropped the puck on its third season, Play It Big is the PWHL’s most ambitious brand campaign to date, designed to capture not only the best-in-class hockey taking place at this level, but the joy, personality and two-way connection that have come to define the league’s culture. Now live across broadcast, digital, social and out-of-home, along with shorter, team-specific versions that have rolled out across all eight markets, the campaign has quickly become part of the season’s visual fabric.

At its heart, Play It Big is about relationships. Between players and fans. Between teams and cities. Between the league’s past momentum and its future growth. Rather than presenting the PWHL as something to be observed from a distance, the campaign invites viewers to see the league through the eyes of the people who love it most.

Taking the helmet off

Filmed in Toronto earlier this fall, the campaign brought together more than 40 players from all eight PWHL teams for the league’s annual marquee shoot.

The visual language is bold and vibrant. Players appear larger than life, framed through a modern remix of classic sports iconography; from poster-style portraits to digital “player cards” inspired by the way famous athletes once lived on bedroom walls. It’s a nod to legacy, reimagined for a generation that consumes sports through social feeds, highlight clips and memes.

The goal, as league leadership has described it, was to make players feel more familiar—not just elite athletes, but full personalities. World-class competitors who also exist within fan culture, fashion, humor and everyday moments.

Joy as a competitive advantage

One creative idea guided the entire campaign: joy is a competitive advantage.

That joy shows up everywhere—in fast cuts of game action, crowd shots pulled directly from fan-submitted footage, and in small moments deep-rooted supporters instantly recognize. A young fan hanging a Marie-Philip Poulin poster in her room. A hand-knitted sweater made by a fan and later worn by Poulin herself. “Chirping” between players. IYKYK nicknames like “Black Cat” and “Golden Retriever” (hint: think of the two-time defending champs.)

Play It Big treats PWHL fan culture not as decoration, but as a central character, reinforcing that the league is being built through shared passion, not one-way storytelling.

Players at the center

For the players featured in the campaign, Play It Big represents a shift not just in tone, but in opportunity. New York Sirens forward Sarah Fillier, the league’s reigning Rookie of the Year, was among the players featured prominently in the campaign. Reflecting on the experience, Fillier told thepwhl.com:

Fillier’s presence as a rising star on the ice and as a face of the league’s storytelling underscores one of the campaign’s central messages: PWHL players are not only elite athletes, but cultural drivers whose voices and identities matter.

Big, together

As the season continues, Play It Big lives on through its team-specific extensions, each tailored to local markets while remaining connected to the league-wide vision. Whether it's an out-of-home takeover in the New York area, a Goldeneyes banner in Vancouver, or social-first edits pulled straight from the stands, the campaign is designed to move with the season—not sit beside it.

This story will leave you with the same outro as the campaign, which hits just as hard when you read it as it does when you hear it:

This is the game that asks us to be more, not less,

More united.

More fearless, more...us,

And more powerful than ever.

This is the PWHL

Play it big.

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Check out the gallery below for more BTS photos of the Play it Big campaign shoot.