• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, April 7, 2010

A female pro soccer league is kicking traditional marketing and going guerrilla. It's projecting giant images on buildings to plug its new season. 

The eight-team Women's Professional Soccer will beam the images of players on building sides so they can create the perception that the player is moving and the structure is shaking.

WPS and its San Francisco-based agency Pereira & O'Dell have linked with specialists in projection (All Terrain) and mapped out neighborhoods in Washington, Manhattan and Chicago for the 50-foot images. But the best-laid plans could go awry should a building owner or some authority ask them to move along. Still, moving to new real estate may only provide more exposure in the end.

The creative in each market is dominated by a hometown player -- Abby Wambach in D.C., Natasha Kai in New York and Megan Rapinoe in Chicago -- along with a message about each team's opening game. Derivations of a "Defend Your Turf" tagline are tailored for each city.

Passersby are encouraged to text a message backing a team that could appear on the projection. An automatic response will include ticket-purchase offers. Images will run for three nights leading up to the respective team's home debuts on April 10, 11 and 17.

Guerrilla marketers All Terrain are based in Chicago and have picked areas such as Wrigleyville and Michigan Ave. for the displays there. In New York, Times Square and the West Village are on the docket, with Georgetown one of the D.C. neighborhoods planned. The WPS is moving into its second season with new teams in Atlanta and Philadelphia. A Los Angeles team was disbanded.

Wambach appears in a Gatorade commercial, and is somewhat of a breakout star. She is joined in the league by every member of the 2008 U.S. team that won gold in the Olympics except one. The WPS is a second attempt at a women's pro league in the U.S. after the WUSA folded in 2003. Pro leagues for women exist in Sweden, Germany, Brazil and Japan.

A game of the week is carried by Fox Soccer Channel. The Web of Fox regional sports networks (RSNs) carry the playoffs and title game, while Comcast RSNs offer some of a local team's games. The networks pay no rights fees, with the league getting exposure in turn, including promotional spots on the Fox properties. The league, which has NBA player Steve Nash as an investor, earns money from sponsorships -- the Coast Guard is behind the All-Star game -- and ticket sales to a lesser degree.