Why Copacino Fujikado Held a Sendoff for Megan Rapinoe

Megan Rapinoe grew to become a citizen of the world throughout her soccer profession, however for greater than a decade—Seattle known as her considered one of its personal.

Rapinoe performed school soccer simply down I-5 on the College of Portland. In 2012, earlier than successful both of her two World Cup titles with the U.S. Ladies’s Nationwide Crew, she joined the Seattle Sounders Ladies of the United Soccer League Ladies’s League. A yr later, she joined the Seattle Reign within the Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League, the place she’s performed for a decade.

When she spoke out in opposition to gender inequity, racial injustice, transphobia and abortion restrictions, she did so with the town of Seattle behind her. When she gained two World Cups, an Olympic gold medal, the Ballon d’Or and FIFA’s Golden Ball, Golden Boot and Greatest Participant, the town was there for her, too.

When she performed her remaining dwelling recreation for the OL Reign—at present owned by French membership Olympique Lyonnais, the place Rapinoe performed from 2012-2014 and gained a title in 2013—Rapinoe was despatched off by an NWSL-record 34,140 followers and 683,000 regular-season viewers on CBS.

Seattle-based artistic company Copacino Fujikado has labored with the Reign for the final two years and has partnered with Rapinoe—and her spouse and WNBA Seattle Storm legend Sue Hen—on pandemic-era advertisements for Symetra Monetary. Heading into that final dwelling match, the company teamed with the Reign and its Royal Guard supporters’ group to host a sendoff on the Tough & Tumble ladies’s sports activities bar in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. 

Copacino Fujikado additionally spent its personal cash on a billboard subsequent to the West Seattle Bridge bidding farewell to Rapinoe because the OL Reign ready for his or her NWSL Championship matchup—and Rapinoe’s remaining skilled soccer match—in opposition to F.C. Gotham Nov. 11. Whereas neither the Reign nor the company paid for media to advertise both the sendoff occasion or the billboard, greater than 5 million followers worldwide checked into social media protection of their efforts.

Copacino Fujikado has included the Seattle Youngsters’s Hospital, Seattle Aquarium and Seattle Mariners amongst its purchasers. By paying tribute to Rapinoe, nonetheless, its native focus served a broader, world objective.

“We strive simply to be a part of the material of the group and the tradition of the town,” mentioned Chris Copacino, govt director of enterprise growth at Copacino Fujikado. “We’ve tracked alongside along with her and appreciated her for a very long time, so, to sort of faucet into the zeitgeist of what’s happening in our metropolis was one thing that we will put up and simply sort of be a part of the cultural pulse.”