NBA All-Stars including: Nikola Jokić (Denver Nuggets), Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder), Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Karl-Anthony Towns (New York Knicks) star in the spot.

Additionally, Shaboozey, Rob Lowe, Jerry Rice, Khaby Lame, Sheila E., Fede Vigevani and Dylan Wang also appear in cameos in the ad.

“We have a long history with the NBA, cheering for our hometown Celtics throughout the years,” said Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, in a statement.  “We have shared that electrifying moment walking into TD Garden and feeling the love and energy of the crowd.  We wish all the teams the best and we are thrilled that our song is part of this year’s Playoffs.”

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While 2025 lacks Olympic-sized tentpoles, sports marketers will still look to some large events to draw crowds. The Super Bowl is expected to kick off the year with record ad sales, and the buildup to the Winter Games in Feb. 2026 should provide some oxygen to late 2025. 

Drawing audiences to live and broadcast sporting events will require a stronger focus on engaging fans in multiple platforms with interactive entertainment and rich content such as behind-the-scenes content, athlete commentary and opportunities for fans to engage. 

“Sports marketers should continue to focus on meeting fans where they’re at rather than just expecting fans to come to them.  The landscape for ingesting and interacting with sports content continues to evolve,” said Adam Falkson, VP Business Intelligence for the Detroit Pistons. On the vein, the basketball team just launched Pistons World, an interactive fan experience  built on the MeetKai platform. With the increased fragmentation of media “offering fans engaging content to view and interact with should be at the forefront to capture attention, drive interest and eventually drive increased fandom.”

New Leagues, New Opportunities 

After the effect of the 2024 Olympics and the surge in women’s sports in 2024, 2025 will be a more challenging year for marketers, who will look for opportunities to add to their efforts in the Big 4 pro sports—baseball, basketball, football and hockey. Marketers will explore opportunities in sports such as soccer, rugby and flag football, which are catching on with U.S. audiences. 

Sports sponsorships are becoming expensive, said Nicole McCormack, SVP/General Manager of Brand Solutions at TeamSnap, a youth sports communications platform. For brands that don’t have a budget for Big 4 sponsorships, identifying up-and coming opportunities will become more important to “carve out a bit of white space for yourself in a very cluttered and expensive sports sponsorship environment.” 

Sports that have large followings outside the U.S., such as soccer and Formula 1 racing, are expected to gain more attention and ad dollars in 2025. Soccer is particular will see a lift, as the sport gains from the move to Miami of the international star Lionel Messi and the ramp-up to the 2026 World Cup, which will play across North America. Meanwhile, Formula 1 is gaining a following thanks to the popularity of the Netflix series “Drive to Survive.” 

“Formula 1 is on fire right now,” said Kate Dzhevaga, CMO & Head of Growth at agency SYMVOLT. “With a whopping 24 races scheduled, brands have a golden opportunity to connect with this expanding audience.” She noted marketers such as Heineken and Pirelli have already benefitted from integrating marketing into the F1 experience,  “and you can bet more brands will follow suit.” 

The popularity of women’s sports will also continue to grow, after the transformative season that saw women athletes capture the public’s imagination, and marketers will dedicate more budgets and effort to that segment. The WTA, the women’s tennis association, is expected to launch a new brand in the coming year, with a strong focus both athletics and entertainment, as well as the athletes’ impact beyond the court, said  Sarah Swanson, Chief Brand Officer of WTA Ventures. 

The expansion of a number of pro leagues—such as the WNBA, which is adding new teams in 2025 and 2026, and the National Women’s Soccer League, expansion to 16 teams—and the launch of new leagues such as the Women’s Hockey League and next year’s launch of the Women’s Elite Rugby League, leave a lot of runway for marketers who want to invest in women’s sports. Both the WNBA and NWSL have signed multi-year, multimillion media deals that should attract advertising in 2025 and fuel growth. 

 “The women’s sports ecosystem is truly at an inflection point,” said Rick Rhodes, Zeno Group’s Global Head of Sports & Entertainment Consulting. “The decisions being made today will determine what the future of the industry looks like in the coming decades.”

Sports gaming is also projected to grow at double-digit rates this decade, with four more states having launched legal sports betting in 2024 and more expected to launch in 2025. Meanwhile, as the practice grows, regulators and the industry will continue to manage the evolution of legal sports gambling in 2024. 

Legislators continue to draw rules to provide guardrails for the practice, while marketers develop their own responsibility guidelines. TeamSnap’s McCormack noted a number of sports organizations, such as the PLAY Sport Coalition, are trying to funnel some of the funds from sports gambling back into youth sports, for example.   

“I expect to see us continue to focus on making sure that we’re welcoming as many people in as possible, spending the resources to do that well and continuing to make sure that we lead this category responsibly,” said Andrew Sneyd, CMO at FanDuel. “I’m excited that we worked really hard to keep brand marketing off of college campuses in the US.  We worked with our partners in industry, to set that as a key rule for the growth in this category. We’re committed to making sure we build this thing the right way.”

Audience-Building Will be Key 

Encouraging fandom, via social media participation (from both fans and athletes) and user-generated content, will be a stronger drive for marketers in 2025. To build engagement, clubs already loosening their grip on their intellectual property in order to encourage user-generated content, and experts anticipate that development will continue. 

“Stadium attendance has less to do with the sport than it does with what teams and leagues are doing to create a worthwhile experience for fans,” said Andres Cardenas, CMO of Minute Media, parent of The Players Tribune. He compared the challenge to the the film industry’s efforts to drive moviegoers to buy tickets. “Ultimately I believe fans will show up for quality entertainment, a sense of community with fellow fans, connectivity to athletes and a comfortable environment,” he said.

The Olympics provided a useful test case for the athlete as social influencer in 2024; the effect is only going to become more pronounced in 2025, say observers. They note how gymnast Steven “Pommel Horse Guy” Nedoroscik and rugby player Ilona Maher rose to stardom based on social media activity. 

“In 2025 we believe there will be pressure to continue to market sport as entertainment, without losing its essence,” said the WTA’s Swanson. “Fans want insight, so social media will remain key to showing the athletes on and off court, creating a direct connection between player and audience. We want to show more authenticity: what their interests are, who their team is, how they dress, how they decompress…and how they react to success and defeat in a genuine, unfiltered way.”

Sports organizations are increasingly focused on helping athletes build their presence outside their sport, and building their personal brands. The decision that gave college athletes freedom to cash in on their name, image and likeness (NIL) has added more fuel to that trend. Basia Wojcik, VP sports at agency TMA noted teams are updating facilities to include production 

studios so athletes can create content and expand their personal brands. “Teams are

missing a huge opportunity if they don’t,” she said. 

The Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce moment during Super Bowl LVIII last February crystalized the potential of sports and entertainment crossovers, and marketers are taking notice. 

“We’ve seen an incredible convergence of sport, fashion, music, entertainment, etc. over the past few years. We believe that will continue to rise as audiences continue to be more engaged with all of the cultural pieces that make up sport,” said Cardenas. He noted there’s been a rise in major brand moments and engagement for events such as the U.S. Open and New York Fashion Week that allow both sport and fashion brands to cross over to a wider, more culturally-engaged audience. 

Marketers will have spend a lot of time crunching data and sorting out their options as the sports market fragments even further, say observers. 

“There’s a ton of opportunity,” said McCormack. “It makes the job harder because there’s more to consider and more to evaluate, but it’s also exciting that there’s so much more opportunity and so many more ways for brands to get involved.” 

The post Brand Innovators 2025 Outlook: Sports appeared first on Brand Innovators.

Women’s sports content is on the rise. Earlier this year, Disney’s ESPN reported that this year’s WNBA Finals had the highest viewership in 25 years across all networks. Brands are looking to get involved in this surge in popularity. To help brand clients with these media buys, GroupM formed a dedicated women’s sports marketplace earlier this year.

“Doubling spend in women’s sports within a matter of months marks a significant milestone for our company and the industry alike,” said Matt Sweeney, chief investment officer, GroupM US, in a statement. “While some clients have long been pioneers in this space, others are now broadening their commitments or making first-time investments. This surge of momentum reflects more than a passing trend — it’s a full-fledged movement.” 

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Luxury brands have been doing their part to make the experience at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center memorable with on-site activations and athlete partnerships including specialty drinks, ice cream and culinary experiences.

When the mercury was rising during Fan Week (before the games kicked off), American tennis player Frances Tiafoe handed out ice-cold Evian on the grounds, dressed in Evian merch.

“Sports have always been a fantastic way to connect brands with culture. For 35 years, Evian has been a proud partner of the US Open, supporting iconic tennis players while highlighting the importance of hydration on and off the court. This year, we welcomed tennis sensation Frances Tiafoe as our newest evian Global Brand Ambassador and champion of healthy hydration,” said Linda Bethea, chief marketing officer at Evian’s parent company Danone. 

“Frances’ joyful zest for life and his commitment to a healthy lifestyle align seamlessly with Evian’s brand values,” added Bethea. “This year, when not dominating the court, Frances helped keep spectators and players alike hydrated by handing out ice-cold Evian water on the grounds of USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, much to the surprise and delight of fans.”

Bacardi’s Grey Goose Vodka, who is also working with Tiafoe this year, has been serving up a signature cocktail at the games and beyond. The Honey Deuce raspberry lemonade drink is being served at Flushing Meadows and throughout bars in NYC. The brand is also running a campaign featuring Tiafoe as a fashion icon on social media and with an out-of-home spot in Times Square. Fans are encouraged to share photos of their own tournament outfits with Grey Goose on Instagram to win prizes.

Dobel Tequila is also on the menu at the US Open – it’s second year as the first official tequila of the US Open. The brand is hosting the Dobel Tequila Club – an elevated bar and restaurant serving tequila cocktails including the Dobel Tequila Ace Paloma and a selection of culinary offerings from one of the world’s most iconic Mexican chefs, Chef Enrique Olvera, a spokesperson for the brand told Brand Innovators. Players Taylor Fritz and Aryna Sabalenka curated their own tequila cocktails – Dobel Fritzy Spicy Margarita and the Dobel Marg-Aryna, the first player-inspired cocktails served on tournament grounds.

“Maestro Dobel Tequila has been investing in tennis tournaments in Mexico for over a decade and expanded into the US three years ago as tournaments have become more lifestyle driven,” the spokesperson continued. “The US Open, particularly, provides a sports and entertainment platform with excellent hospitality experiences for fans. Through this tournament, Dobel is able to showcase its tequila to a wide international audience and bring Mexican hospitality to those who love tennis and want to enjoy the game in a high energy environment.”

The drinks didn’t stop with cocktails. Moët & Chandon, the Official Champagne of the US Open, hosted the Moët & Chandon Clubhouse Suite with celebs including: Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Jessica Biel and many more. The house, open to tennis fans, served up bubbly in Moët & Chandon x US Open Golden Goblets.

“We are excited to partner with the USTA and US Open as the official champagne of this iconic event,” said Sibylle Scherer, President and CEO of Moët & Chandon. “At Moët & Chandon, we have a longstanding history of being at the forefront of leading moments in sports, to inspire and celebrate athletes and their teams with our love for excellence, elevating experiences worth sharing, just like the US Open.” 

For their second year in a row, Campari brand Aperol has set up an Aperol Spritz Bar, a branded indoor-outdoor patio space so serve up Aperol Spritzes and merch.

“We’ve been hearing for years that fans want Aperol merch, so we used this as a moment to launch our first ever US merch store with the introduction of our Tennis Capsule Collection,” said Andrea Sengara, Campari America’s VP of marketing.

“We paired our merch launch with a partnership with Ashley Park, known for her role in Emily in Paris, and shared our new apparel with media, influencers, and tastemakers to celebrate the US Open and the world of tennis,” Sengara continued. “In addition to our ongoing press and influencer strategy, the brand is executing a full 360 marketing strategy inclusive of paid media, on and off-premise activations, a consumer sweepstakes, digital ad and social amplification, CCTV and more.” 

Heineken is teaming up with American tennis star Taylor Fritz at the Open with a tennis-themed rebranding of its non-alcoholic beer Heineken 0.0 as Heineken L0VE.L0VE, a reference to a 0-0 tennis score. The drink has been selling well so far at the Open already passing last year’s on-site sales at the event. The brand is now projecting that they will sell out the limited edition L0VE.L0VE. cans and will see a 20% increase in sales by the tournament’s end. If they achieve this projection, this would be the highest volume of non-alcoholic beer ever sold at the US Open. 

Amex is taking it to the courts with a signature ice cream, a green and blue swirled Match Point Mint Chip x Amex, that is inspired by Amex’s signature blue colors and the green of the tennis ball. The financial services brand teamed up with artisanal ice cream brand Van Leeuwen for the treat, which served at the American Express Card Member Lounge at the Open, as well as across the 23 Van Leeuwen shops in NYC. 

The company is also hosting a 20,000 square-foot US Open American Express Fan Experience on site at the games, where fans can play animated tennis legends in a virtual game, as well as participate in an interactive mural and customize a tennis ball. Platinum Card Members were invited to the Centurion Lounge at US Open with a menu from chefs Cédric Vongerichten and Michael Solomonov.

Polo Ralph Lauren, the Official Outfitter of the US Open since 2005, designed the official uniforms for all on-court tournament staff and fans can purchase their own tennis-inspired gear at on-site retail shops.

General Motors’ Cadillac brand showed off its exclusive collection of custom sneakers at the games. The shoes, a collaboration with Los Angeles designer Dominic Ciambrone, is inspired by Cadillac’s EV portfolio, including the Cadillac LYRIQ, CELESTIQ, OPTIQ, and ESCALADE IQ.

“Cadillac is excited to return for the third year as the Official Vehicle of the US Open,” said Melissa Grady Dias, CMO at Cadillac. “This year’s Cadillac Experience at Arthur Ashe stadium is all about celebrating the design and luxury of our electric vehicle portfolio, which will come to life through artfully integrated vehicle displays and immersive moments. The sneaker collection developed by SURGEON, celebrates the design of Cadillac’s latest EVs, and will act as a canvas for vehicle storytelling.”

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Admittedly, NBCU’s strong Sunday competition numbers were aided by some significant star power. The day featured Simone Biles and the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team taking the top score in the qualifying round and first and second place finishes by swimmers Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh in the 100m butterfly.

The day also featured the U.S. men’s basketball team’s first game – which brought in an average of 10.9 million viewers on NBC and Peacock (a larger audience than for the gold medal game in Tokyo) – and the U.S. women’s soccer team triumphing over Germany, which topped all of the men’s and women’s matches in the Toyko and Rio games. 

NBCUniversal asserted that ratings success translated to higher advertising impact, with attention up 18%, message recall up 33%, and likelihood to search up 67% on linear television coverage compared with competitive broadcast and cable programming.

Those impacts are also being felt in key categories, such as automotive, where Paris Olympics advertisers are seeing 52% greater incremental brand search vs. competitive TV. Similarly, restaurant advertisers are seeing 50% higher intent to visit after seeing an ad and movie advertisers are seeing a 25% higher title recall and 37% higher intent to go see a film that is being advertised during the Paris Olympics, according to NBCUniversal. 

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“Our strategy for this year’s NBA Playoffs campaign centers around an engaging video concept that not only captures the energy of fans and players as we enter the postseason, but also brings them in with humor and personal feel,” said NBA CMO Tammy Henault. “There have been countless viral playoff moments throughout NBA history where players up the ante to take their teams to the next level, so we took a lighthearted approach at spoofing the idea of ‘Playoff Mode’ and encouraging fans to tune in this season to see whose Playoff alter-ego will rise above the rest.” 

The “Playoff Mode. It’s a Thing” effort features a spot narrated by Chris Rock that opens with Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics in a press conference as Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves asks, “Is Playoff Jayson a thing?”  referring to playoff reels. Tatum denies it but Rock repeated the question for other players, including Nikola Jokić (Denver Nuggets), Jalen Brunson (New York Knicks), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder) and more the same question.

The campaign premiered on April 16th and will run throughout the series on television, digital, digital, audio and out-of-home activations.

“During this time of year we know our core fans are watching, but we also see an increase in engagement with our more casual fans and those which we call ‘opportunity audiences,’ so we developed creative that would cater to all of those different audiences,” said Henault. “This year’s Playoffs campaign leans into some of the season’s top stories. Will the Denver Nuggets make it to the Finals for the second time? Can Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to Playoffs glory? We wanted to harness the excitement behind the different narratives gripping the league this time of year.”

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To this tune, Michelob ULTRA is committing $100 million over the next five years to increase visibility for women’s sports. The three-part plan includes dedicating 50% of lifestyle media inventory to content that features female athletes and women’s sports by 2025; representing male and female athletes equally in all advertising creative; and ensuring equal representation on the brand’s Team ULTRA talent and influencer roster.

“We are very proud of this announcement to commit $100 million over the next five years to supporting bringing more visibility and bringing more women’s eyeballs behind women’s sports,” said Ricardo Marques, vice president of marketing, at Michelob ULTRA. “We are committing part of those dollars to media, 50% of our lifestyle media, which represents a 40% increase versus where we are today and it involves our roster of talents and we are committed to bringing more female athletes to our roster and then of course mobilizing our creative efforts. We invest a lot in advertising and we believe that that is a powerful medium to bring more visibility to women’s sports and female athletes, so we are committing to bring more representation of female athletes to our efforts.”

The brand has been increasingly raising the profile of female athletes over the past 18 months including becoming the official beer sponsor of the WNBA and boosting female representation on its influencer roster by signing athletes including Serena Williams and Alex Morgan.

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This new brand commitment kicked off on Women’s Equality Day, August 26, with a campaign that encourages consumers to help increase the visibility of female athletes on social media. The “Save It, See It.” effort encourages social media users to “save” women’s sports highlights on social media. 

The campaign is inspired by Nneka Ogwumike, WNBPA President, CeCe Telfer, the first openly transgender female athlete to win a NCAA title and Andraya Carter, basketball reporter/former NCAA athlete for their work in promoting progress in sports. They star in a commercial about the impact female athletes have had on the sports world. 

Brand Innovators caught up with Marques from his home office in New York to learn more about the five-year initiative and how this fits into the brand’s platform and business goals. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Can you talk about Michelob’s brand pillars and how this commitment to gender equality in sports supports these initiatives?

This is a brand that was found on the notion of balance and on the notion of joy. We always say, ‘It is only worth it, if you enjoy it.’ and we believe that the world of sports would be a lot more joyful if it would be one that is also more balanced in terms of gender equality. This is very well connected to what our purpose is as a brand. It also caters to our audience, given the fact that we have a large base of female drinkers. Michelob Ultra actually over indexes on female drinkers. So through and through from a brand purpose standpoint and then from a business standpoint, this effort very much connects with what this brand is all about.

What is the strategy behind this massive investment and why did you  decide to make such a huge financial commitment to the cause?

Looking at the challenge and also the opportunity in this space, we concluded that 1) it needs to be a long term commitment and 2) it needs to be a sizable and a meaningful commitment. This is something that cannot be addressed with a campaign. It needs something that has to be a part of what we do for the foreseeable future. That is why we believe that five years is a good place to start and hopefully if other brands join us in this very same effort, probably in five years we can make a dramatic positive impact to accelerate and move forward women’s sports.

Again, the notion of investing in a meaningful way, $100 million is a lot of money, and five years takes us past that couple month campaign idea and into more of the long term. That is what we wanted to do to generally drive that impact. The other aspect that is important is that this is not dedicated to one particular sport or one particular league. It is across multiple different sports. It is from basketball to golf to running and beyond. 

How will you ensure that female athletes will really be represented more?

Part of this is what we started doing 18 months ago before we announced this commitment. If you look back over the last 18 months, we have brought more female athletes to our roster. I am thinking about Serena Williams, Alex Morgan, for example. We started to feature more female athletes already in our creative, at the Super Bowl for example, that was a big moment and many other programs since the Super Bowl, over the past 18 months. We have been on this journey already, so now what we want to do is to double down and keep focus, mobilizing our amazingly talented creative partners and putting the resources forward to continue this journey with this firm commitment that we put out there. We are in Super Bowl season, it is in full swing. We are looking at a number of exciting creative spaces, but that is yet again another moment in what we are trying to do to increase visibility around women’s sports and bringing our partners to the forefront.

Why is social media a key part of this initiative and what is the idea behind the social media activation “Save it, See it.”?

All of us are spending more time in social media than ever before and that is where a lot of conversations around sports are happening. So that was a natural place for us to engage our audience and also by doing something very simple that is something that everybody can get behind. The campaign invites the audience to save the highlights of women’s sports because that will also change what you see in your feed. The more you save, the more you engage with women’s sports highlights and women’s sports content, the more the algorithm will put that content in front of you which increases the positive spiral of visibility for women’s sports. 

We also find it interesting that the ribbon icon resembles our Michelob ultra ribbon , so we thought that was an interesting play on the brand’s iconic ribbon. It was all about using social media as a platform to create this chain reaction and going to where the conversation and where the audience for sports in general already is.

Will we see an improvement in the representation of female athletes in sports in 2022?

It is a step-by-step approach. Every single day, every single year makes a difference, as long as we are committed. We hope that potentially other brands will join us in supporting this cause and then going back, why we announced in this particular time, it was striking to us that every single time after a global sports moment, most recently, The Olympics, viewership goes up but then after, those moments tend to fade away. So for us, it was timely to come after such a big moment like The Olympics to engage or reengage the audience to keep watching women’s sports. Women did incredibly well during The Olympics and the excellence in women’s sports is more than proven across many different leagues. I cannot tell you that next year will change this reality dramatically, but we hope to make meaningful progress as we embark on this five-year journey.

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As a sports marketing veteran, Barros applies her insights in the sports marketing world to the 108 year-old American Cancer Society – an organization that is woven into the fabric of our country that has led the way toward breakthroughs in the fight against cancer. 

“Cancer used to have the taboo that we have seen in other diseases in which people are afraid to talk about it,” says Barros. “So not only normalizing that and making it part of the conversation in our country, but also creating opportunities for people to really do something about it.”

When the pandemic hit and sports shut down, the NGO had to be creative about keeping awareness for their cause even at a time when visibility shifted away from big events.

For instance, the organization normally hosts golf tournaments and events to fundraise as part of their NCAA Coaches vs. Cancer partnership, throughout the basketball season. Last year, this had to go online.

“We were fortunate to be able to link up with a third-party golf auction company called Member for a Day, and we pivoted to auctioning off golf outings with our coaches, and this is something that we will look to continue this year,” remarks Barros. “As the pandemic really set in last year a lot of Americans pivoted to outdoor activities like golf, which recovered quickly and really soared last year. Being able to think differently and leverage a third-party partner really helped and we plan to continue to explore these opportunities.”

American Cancer Society also has a longstanding partnership with the NFL. While they had to pivot their efforts, the organization was already working on creative ways to activate fans ahead of the 2020 NFL season. 

“We had enough lead time to pivot ahead of the NFL Draft, so we actually featured one of our celebrity ambassadors in the Draft and planned to do an experience where you could donate for a chance to go and attend the Draft,” explains Barros. “So we pivoted to announcing the Draft pick online and telling the story of why he was working with us because of his grandmother having lost her life at an early age to cancer.” 

Barros has spent her career in sports marketing. Prior to joining American Cancer Society almost four years ago, she worked as a leader for two sports marketing consultancies and has managed marketing for a number of teams including: the San Antonio Spurs, the Oakland Raiders, and the Atlanta Falcons. Brand Innovators caught up with Barros from her home in Atlanta to discuss sports marketing, cause marketing and the importance of mission. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What are the founding pillars of your brand?

We have grown into an organization that is now national and even global in respect to the fact that we partner with several other NGOs including major cancer organizations in different countries to really take the fight against cancer global.

The pillars of our brand, the foundation that we stand on, are our millions of volunteers that we have in every city in this country, working together with us to fight this disease. Our goal is to save lives, celebrate lives and lead the fight for a world without cancer. As a part of that we focus on certain areas. One is research. We are the largest funder of cancer research outside of the federal government.

Advocacy is another major pillar of ours. We have an office in DC to advocate on the federal level in a non-partisan way. Our goal is really to work with both parties to ensure that there are opportunities for cancer patients to survive. Advocacy is a big part of what we do and our volunteers around the country are our advocates. 

And then patient services is our third pillar and that is the work that we are doing in the community both to help prevent and reduce risks of cancer and encourage early detection, because as you know with cancer, the earlier you catch some cancers, the better your chances are of survival and of course we help those currently battling cancer.  We firmly believe that no one should be disadvantaged in their fight against cancer. We have a pillar program in our Hope Lodge program that provides a place to stay near your cancer treatment center if you cannot afford it, we don’t want that to be a barrier to get treatment to save your life. So that program addresses patients and various other patient services programs. It is really about supporting the patient and their families as caregivers. 

What role does cause marketing play for your brand and what does it look like?

One in three people in the US and one in six globally will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lifetime. So most people have someone that they know in their life, whether it is a friend or a family member, who have had it, or unfortunately, they experience it themselves. That connection to most people is certainly a big part of why we are able to do what we do, in terms of cause marketing. The first point is that connection. That is really why our volunteers and our partners on the corporate and the sports side align with us and they are passionate about fighting it.  So whether it is a POS campaign at retail, an exclusive merchandise promotion, or sponsored event or content, it all drives funds toward our mission. 

The mission guides our messaging because ultimately our story is based on the millions of people who will either unfortunately experience this disease directly, which is in some cases as devastating as having your family or friends go through it. 

What current sports marketing platforms and campaigns are you working on and how does the connection to sports help support your organization’s mission?

This is the fun part of what we get to do. Obviously, a lot of the work that we do is to fight this dreadful disease and help save lives, but the beauty of it and the fun part is that those of us that work for the brand get to take that action. It is very motivating to be able to work with our sports partners to do something, just to know that every day we are doing something to help people either prevent getting this disease or helping them to fight it if they get it. That is really what a lot of our sports partnerships are founded and based on.

Our longest partnership in the sports space is with the National Association of Basketball Coaches. It’s called Coaches versus Cancer. We have this established connection with NCAA basketball coaches for over 20 years and that program operates during basketball season. We do a lot around the Final Four. We do Suits and Sneakers in January every year with our coaches activating at their various schools and institutions to help raise money. There are lots of golf tournaments and different activities that happen through that platform to raise awareness and funds for the cause. 

Our NFL partnership is our next longest standing sports partnership. We are going into our 13th season with the NFL, who truly roll up their sleeves alongside us to be a part of the solution. What we focus on with the NFL is their incredible platform to inspire risk reduction and early detection behavior, like staying up to date with your screening so that you can catch it early. That is really the impetus behind Crucial Catch, which is the name of the NFL’s partnership. We are really focused on messaging and different activities to raise awareness, change behaviors, and save lives. The NFL’s goal is to make sure that people catch cancer early and to make sure that no one is disadvantaged with being able to access screenings and then to encourage people every single day to live healthier lifestyles to reduce their risk of cancer. 

That program started out as a breast cancer-focused program and it has since evolved. In 2017, we expanded to multi-cancers, so now we are prevention- and early detection-focused on all preventable forms of cancer. Our primary activation point is in October and in 2018, we started activating around Super Bowl. We activate now around the Draft and Training Camp, so we now have touchpoints throughout the year for our NFL partnership.

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We also have a partnership with the National Hockey League that activates in November and we are growing in several other ways this year.  On the content side we recently launched a partnership with The Players Tribune presented by Amgen.  We have close to 40 players in our player ambassador program, and are working with them to help raise awareness and funds. 

Can you talk about how your past roles on the sports team side has helped you in your current role?

I have spent my entire career in the sports marketing world. What we do at American Cancer Society is obviously about more than sports  – it is to help raise awareness in the fight against cancer– but it is also about building partnerships that can help us raise funds and awareness.

It is very much a cause marketing role and whether it was running a sports marketing program for the Spurs or whether it was consulting at an agency, I am able to understand partnerships and the benefits of partnership for both brands involved. It has certainly helped in my role here at the American Cancer Society, as we want to be as proactive in activating our partnerships with league partners so that we can advance our collective mission to save lives.

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From nearly a decade with Puma (including over two years as Head of Marketing for the apparel company’s Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa and India business) to seven years in VP roles at Dick’s Sporting Goods to his work as an Executive Producer on 2014’s Emmy-winning football documentary “We Could Be King,” Eckel was well-equipped before entering his current role as Brand President at running wear company Tracksmith last September.

Still, nothing can quite prepare you to take the reins of a fast-growing brand during a global pandemic. “What stands out to me is the truly global nature of it – every single person on the planet is impacted to a certain degree – and the uncertainty surrounding both the present and future,” Eckel says. “As a marketer, navigating that requires extraordinary empathy and agility; two qualities that serve marketers well during normal times, but are essential at this particular moment.

While amateur running — the base of Tracksmith’s consumer business — is on the rise during quarantine as one of the few social distance-friendly athletic activities, competitive running events are among the many sports indefinitely impacted by large gathering guidelines.

“The rhythms of running are largely driven by in-person events; marathons, local road races, and frequent gatherings of training groups,” Eckel says. “It’s a highly social sport that thrives off its community, and our community has been a big part of how we have grown the brand.”

So when major races started getting cancelled where Tracksmith had planned activations, beginning with a pop-up retail store activation at the Tokyo Marathon in early March, Eckel and his team knew they had to quickly change course. “We closed down our Boston store and put our regular store-based community events on hold. Instead, we focused on providing as much motivation and inspiration as we could for our community while they socially distanced at home.”

A collegiate-inspired brand headquartered in Boston with New England-themed branding founded in 2014, Tracksmith specializes in athletic and athleisure wear for running enthusiasts of all stripes. It’s been dubbed the “anti-Nike” by some media outlets for shunning the celebrity endorsement model and logo-heavy placement of bigger brands (its signature brand insignia, “the hare,” has more of a Lacoste alligator placement on lapels). In recent months, Tracksmith has taken a different approach to partnering with pro athletes by hiring them as full-time staff to steward the brand’s mission to running enthusiasts.

Six months into the world’s new normal of mostly sheltering in place and keeping outdoor exercise to a safe, masked distance, Eckel caught up with Brand Innovators about the strategies and partnerships that have helped Tracksmith navigate its new consumer path (hint: lots of Zooms and premium podcasts), and how they’re bracing for an unpredictable future – including the first winter of coronavirus conditions.

Brand Innovators: Tracksmith was founded with what has been described as an “anti-Nike” ethos by not over-relying on superstar athletes. How has that approach paid off so far, and where do influencers and ambassadors fit into your current strategy?

Ryan Eckel: Tracksmith was founded with the goal of honoring the Amateur Spirit of running, and not as the antithesis of any particular company.  The word “amateur” actually originates from the Latin word “amo/amare”, which means “to love”, and in that sense we’re all amateurs who run simply because we love it. In this context, the idea of the amateur has very little to do with talent or speed. For example, we recently hired two world class athletes – Nick Willis, a two-time Olympic medalist in the 1500m, and Mary Cain, a World Junior Champion in the 3000m – into full time jobs.  They are both amateurs in the sense that they work a demanding job while trying to also run at their highest possible level.  We’re fortunate that there are so many runners out there who can identify with and relate to this Amateur Spirit, and they in turn, become ambassadors for the brand.  

What are some new innovations you’ve introduced as a result of the indefinite quarantine activity, both from a product perspective as well as content to better serve your customers?

We have been focused on finding meaningful ways to engage with our audience. With races and events cancelled, many runners are struggling with motivation trying to figure out how to make the most of this time. So, we curated lists of the best running-related books, films, and podcasts for runners who suddenly found themselves with a lot of extra time in their homes. We organized Zoom talks with fascinating people from across the sport, open to our community. We highlighted stories of runners around the world who were all going through the same upheaval. We started a Slack group for our community to share workouts, ask questions or just have a chance to hear from other amateurs.

On the product side, we just launched a new Run Commute collection. Running is one of the safest, healthiest, and most sustainable methods of urban transit, yet it doesn’t occur to many people — including most runners — to consider running from point A to point B then they commute or move about the city. But that may change in a post-COVID world, when people will be less eager to hop on the subway or jump in a rideshare. Our Run Commute collection was designed specifically for getting to and from the office or any other place, using a water-resistant stretch Merino wool that can be worn multiple times without washing — which is perfect for running to work in the morning and then wearing it for a jog home several hours later. But, more importantly, we’re trying to spark a cultural change around the idea of running as a better way of moving about.  

How would you characterize Tracksmith’s sales activity to date in 2020? Is overall business up as more people are working out from home and social distance running?

We’ve been encouraged by how our business has performed in 2020 despite everything that is happening in the world. We entered March with some good momentum. In fact, one of our biggest ever brand moments was at the US Olympic Marathon Trials, held on February 28th, right before the world was turned on its head, where we supported approximately 20% of the athletes in the field. That momentum, along with some of the current shopping and participation trends, as well as the agility of our team to find ways to connect to our community, has helped our business to be resilient through the pandemic so far. 

As athleisure has become the de facto dress of the current era, are you seeing any performance growth on your end that speaks to that trend?

The biggest trend that we’re seeing is a significant increase in the numbers of people who run. The one silver lining throughout the pandemic is both how running has generally remained one of the few activities that can be done safely, and how incredibly important it has become to so many people. It’s been a way to stay healthy, get some fresh air, travel beyond your neighborhood and find some tranquility in a chaotic world. That has drawn new people into the sport and helped to create a new running boom, which is incredible to see. 

How have you adjusted your media mix over the past six months – which channels are performing better for you now than they were pre-pandemic, and why?

We’ve gradually expanded our mix from mostly digital performance to now also include higher impact brand awareness channels. Specifically, people seem to be paying a lot of attention to trusted news sources and using podcasts to pass the time, so we’ve been focused on those types of partnerships. For example, we recently launched a content partnership with the New York Times that featured Malcolm Gladwell, Knox Robinson and Mary Cain. Speaking of Malcolm, we also partnered with his “Revisionist History” podcast, and have also worked with other prestige publishers like “Outside” and “Monocle.”  

How are you planning for the next 6-12 months, especially as winter looks uncertain for a recovery period?

We’re taking things day-by-day and not committing to anything too far out. Our main focus will continue to be on supporting our community through the winter months. Since we’re a New England based company, we’re well accustomed to the grit and resolve – not to mention the gear – needed to train through a harsh winter. But this winter could very well be mentally tougher than most, so we’ll focus our energy on inspiring and motivating our community to use running to help get through it. 

Andrew Hampp is an entertainment marketing consultant for Brand Innovators and the founder of consultancy 1803 LLC, based in Berkeley, California.

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Though the fate of the NFL’s next season is yet to be determined, other professional sports leagues have suspended or canceled their spring seasons due to COVID-19. Earlier this month, the NFL league optimistically released its Fall 2020 season will begin with a September 10 season opener between Super Bowl Champions the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans. 

But that doesn’t mean the season will happen, and if it does, it could mean that teams play to empty arenas. However the season shakes out, McCullough and his team are developing content strategies that will help keep fans engaged, both on a national level and on more regional and local levels through each team’s content.

During the coronavirus crisis, the NFL has turned to its vast archives to create stories about teams and players to keep fans engaged.They also took advantage of simple production techniques like filming athletes over video to add current angles to their content. 

The league recently launched a video series, “NFL At Home,’‘ that uses both archival footage and new interviews of NFL players in their homes. “It’s a great example of how we’re marrying the current situation with being able to tell stories using archival footage.”

McCullough is a longtime creative and content strategist. He got his start at shopping channel QVC before becoming an editor at HBO in the late 90s, editing “Inside the NFL,” “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” and “The Chris Rock Show.” He then opened his own production company, Wonderland Studios, where he produced branded content for brands like McDonald’s and Pepsi, as well as network series from ESPN, PBS, Spike TV and documentaries for channels like HBO. He then went back to HBO as VP of creative development and operations, where he oversaw the creative direction and brand management of HBO’s sports franchises, before moving to Go Pro as executive producer and head of content. 

He’s been at the NFL since 2017, first in a creative director role, and now as the league’s head of content, where he oversees all content and distribution strategy, develops the creative pipeline for external content creators and works with the league’s teams to evolve and develop their content and production capabilities.

McCullough spoke at a recent Brand Innovators Livecast about entertainment marketing, where he discussed his career path and shared advice and tips on the best ways to approach content strategy, even as the future of entertainment may be uncertain. 

Below are four key takeaways from McCullough’s Livecast To rewatch his livecast, go here and register. 

Approach your content with a development mindset 

In entertainment, things don’t get made without funding, and funding doesn’t happen unless there is a monetization strategy in place. McCullough said that he’s learned in his career that it was key to go back to the roots of a project to understand its strategy, how it was developed and what its monetization path was. 

“You can have the best idea in the world, but if there’s no funding or distribution component to it, it doesn’t get made,” said McCullough.

He noted that during his time at HBO and at GoPro, he learned more about the entire development process, as opposed to the production aspect, which was his area of expertise until then. Working in production with Wonderland, he was mostly exposed to the tail end of development, meaning he worked on projects that were already greenlighted.

It’s critical to develop a very clear strategy from the beginning, including monetization, otherwise projects will not see the light of day, he said. “The further back in the process you go in development, the more of a plan you have to have, and you have to figure out how you’re going to monetize,” he said. “For me, GoPro was a masters in digital media and strategy. Yeah, we can make content, but [we always asked ourselves], what is it for? What is the purpose?” 

He’s taken these experiences and applied them to his NFL job. “At the NFL, it’s all about trying to create content we can monetize. The challenge isn’t just creating content, it’s creating content that’s valuable.”

“The conversations [we have] now are looking at how the content strategy maps back to business strategy. If you can monetize and align those things, that’s your best chance at getting something made.”

Make your approach an idea-first one, not a platform-first one

Too many people take the approach of creating content because they want it to appear on a specific platform — say, Twitch, Twitter or Instagram — rather than creating the idea and then deciding what platforms it can work on. This causes some brands to create suboptimal content, and they risk looking inauthentic. McCullough said it’s best to first figure out the stories and then look at the platforms as a distribution strategy. “This will inform how your story ideas play out on each platform in an authentic way,” he said. 

McCullough says his team has relationships with each platform they distribute on, working with them constantly to understand their audiences and best practices.

“Rather than looking at particular platforms first, we develop content and look at these as distribution points. It’s an audience-first approach.” He added that sometimes he and his team won’t create content for a platform because that audience doesn’t want it. “It’s all about consumption and behavior on those platforms. It just has to start with the audience and what they like.” 

Use your distribution strategy to speak to different audiences

McCullough says that although the NFL has 189 million fans worldwide, there are discrete groups of people within that audience and they all consume the NFL differently. Some watch games live for hours on end, and some don’t. Younger audiences are more likely to take in snippets of games and supplemental content than older audiences are. Understanding these audiences and how they take in their media is critical to reaching them.

“When we look at consumption patterns and behavior of this audience, that’s where the direction comes from,” he said. For example, he said that his son may watch NFL content on Snapchat or YouTube, while he watches it live on TV. Although they weren’t watching the same broadcast on the same devices, they could still have a conversation about the same game. 

“For us, we need to be present on these platforms in an authentic way that reaches these younger fans,” he said.

McCullough added that because of the NFL’s relationship with Amazon, which owns Twitch, the NFL is distributing games on Twitch, giving the league a huge opportunity to reach younger audiences than traditional TV broadcasts offer.  But, he said, programming outside the live games can also be a bit more challenging. The core NFL audience and platform is about the “Xs and Os,” and that audience is looking for depth and focus on football and the games, whereas ESPN, for example, has multiple sports it covers. 

Understand the ways in which younger audiences have changed over time outside of media usage

One of the keys for brands to understand their audiences is not just about understanding that younger people consume content online more than older people. It’s understanding the kind of content they consume, and how the content itself has changed because of new distribution means.

The NFL broadcasts have always been somewhat at a distance, with players wearing helmets and protective gear, which means viewers have less opportunity to see players and their faces during games. “The ability to create helmets-off content is an inherent challenge due to the nature of the sport,” he said. 

But younger audiences are interested in individual players more than ever before. “The younger demographic is starting to be a player-first fan” and they’re becoming loyal to individual players, he said. Back in the day, if a player switched teams, you’re not a fan of that person anymore, he said. But now if a player switches teams, younger viewers are following that player to their new team more. This has been facilitated by younger players growing up with a different mentality than previous generations. They have social channels and create their own content. “They are their own brands and distribution channels,” he said.

Fantasy Football has created additional opportunities for fans to follow players and closely follow their careers. McCullough also said that the NFL RedZone, an NFL TV channel, provides additional opportunity for fans to connect more as well.

“All these things combined start to paint a picture of how we can reach younger fans and make a connection through other ways rather than just on the field….The NFL was always very team first, and it still is, but now there’s more of a connection with individual players.”

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