Where can sports brands find new global audiences and revenue growth beyond their core fans? To quote EA Sports’ long-running tagline: “It’s in the game.” The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated a trend already in motion as lockdowns, restrictions and in-person sports cancellations drove fans to online gaming in massive numbers. The number of gamers globally reached…
Greg Via broke into sports marketing by helping Michael Jordan sell Gatorade. He pulled Derek Jeter, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods and Thierry Henry together to pitch Gillette razors. But one big name explains his switch from traditional sports superstars to esports personalities: Duke Nukem. “I was a closet [gamer] when I was at Gatorade: I…
When Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo walked down the tunnel at the National Basketball Association All-Star Game Sunday night, it marked the start of a brand partnership with WhatsApp. WhatsApp Antetokounmpo, WhatsApp’s first ever global partner, said in a statement, “Throughout my life, WhatsApp has kept me connected to my loved ones, my friends, my…
The Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama bills itself as “Nascar’s biggest and baddest track.” Opened in 1969, the 2,000-acre site contains stock car racing’s longest oval (2.66 miles) and an 80,000-seat grandstand. Thanks to a recent $50 million renovation, the complex now includes the new Paddock Club, which boasts hors d’oeuvres, a 41-foot video screen and…
Kevin Durant narrowly missed being a Portland Trail Blazer in 2007, when the team selected Greg Oden just ahead of him as the top pick in the NBA Draft. Fifteen years later, Durant is a different kind of trailblazer: one of the top athletes in the world, to be sure, but also an entrepreneur and…
The National Basketball Association and the brands in its orbit descend upon Cleveland this weekend for the NBA All-Star Game and its associated events. Here’s just a sample of what’s going down in C-town. Nothing But NFT Dapper Labs, the company behind NBA Top Shot, is auctioning 30 team-based NFTs as part of its NBA…
The National Basketball Association and the brands in its orbit descend upon Cleveland this weekend for the NBA All-Star Game and its associated events. Here’s just a sample of what’s going down in C-town. Nothing But NFT Dapper Labs, the company behind NBA Top Shot, is auctioning 30 team-based NFTs as part of its NBA…
Twitter and the National Basketball Association huddled up on several projects for NBA All-Star Weekend Feb. 18 through 20. The social network said #NBATwitter conversation has been on the upswing this season, pointing to a 33% increase in NBA-related tweets on Christmas day, when five marquee matchups were nationally televised. Morgan State University and Howard…
A hand gently squeezing a lemon. A wooden spoon slowly stirring a glass pitcher. A family enjoying a cool beverage on a sunny day as folk music underscores the breezy scene. On any other day, you’d likely be witnessing your standard ad for a lemonade brand inspired by a kindly grandfather’s beloved recipe. Today, however,…
The National Hockey League detailed the partner activations that will take place at the Truly Hard Seltzer NHL PreGame fan festival, to be held Saturday, Feb. 26, prior to the NHL Stadium Series at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., when the Nashville Predators will host the Tampa Bay Lightning. The puck drops at 6:30 p.m….
Bruce Claypool, a designer who worked for NFL Properties in 1981, has spent some time this week thinking about his most well-known creation: the Cincinnati Bengals helmet. The Bengals are preparing for their third appearance in the Super Bowl, which will be played on Sunday in Claypool’s hometown of Los Angeles. And the fact that…
PepsiCo-owned energy drink Rockstar is to sponsor both the UEFA Champions League and Women’s UEFA Champions League as part of a three-year partnership. It’s the latest of the drink conglomerate’s brands to support the annual soccer competitions, which already involve Pepsi Max, Lays and Gatorade. Rockstar, which was acquired in 2020, will see its brand…
Like every network airing that year’s Super Bowl, NBC will be using its allotted promo time during Sunday’s telecast to expose audiences to its current and upcoming midseason shows, in the hope that many of the 100 million or so watching the game will return to sample those programs. But the broadcaster faces a unique…
This week, sports publisher Bleacher Report revealed a deck of suggested logos in a tweet for the Super Bowl 56, offering the National Football League (NFL) something like a free design consultation. It’s safe to say the designs it presented for the games from 2019 to 2022 appear more visually interesting to its audience compared…
This NFL season hasn’t ended yet, but Amazon Prime Video is already looking forward to next season: when the streamer will be the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football. The company is using the Super Bowl to ramp up its Thursday Night Football campaign, running a 30-second ad during the game that it created with…
With the Winter Olympics underway, technology multinational Alibaba, and a partner of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has revealed its virtual influencer Dong Dong (which means Winter in Chinese), designed to promote merchandise for the games. Created to appear as a 22-year-old woman with an enthusiasm for winter sports, the virtual character will target younger,…
When the average age of a National Football League player is 26 and the average age of the league’s viewers is 50, there can be some disconnect over what constitutes an NFL “star.” The NFL’s teasers for its two-minute Super Bowl ad, scheduled right before halftime, feature a lot of familiar, middle-aged faces. Michael Strahan…
The topic of breast health and its correlating imagery remain fairly taboo–and in some cases, outright banned–within marketing and media. However, sportswear giant Adidas is boldly tackling the issue with a campaign for its reengineered line of sports bras–starting with a tweet that unapologetically shows the wide range of shapes and sizes found in breasts….
In his nearly 40-year career, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor Steve Buscemi has played roles as diverse as a criminal hired to kidnap a car salesman’s wife to a middle-aged man seeking love via personal ads and the bad guy in a Pixar film. Now, in just his second Super Bowl spot ever, he’s…
Online sports gambling has exploded in the U.S. since its legalization in 2018, putting savvy publishers in a position to profit off the $52.7 billion fans wagered on professional athletics in 2021, per data firm Morning Consult. Several have generated millions in revenue by signing multiyear partnerships with gambling operators, and many of these arrangements…
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