One of the WNBA’s biggest sponsors is getting further into the game. Google is extending its marquee partnership with the league through 2025 as the popularity of women’s basketball continues to grow exponentially. The announcement comes just ahead of Saturday’s WNBA All-Star Game, in primetime for the first time. The tech giant, one of the…
Warning: Google Chrome’s latest campaign might “Break Ya Neck.” That’s because the search engine has partnered with the legendary purveyor of some of hip-hop’s fastest flows, Busta Rhymes, alongside fellow rapper, Lil Yachty, and McLaren F1 racing driver, Lando Norris, for a high-octane music video showing how Chrome satisfies the need for speed. In the…
When Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game was last played in Seattle in 2001, league sponsor Mastercard was less than four years into the “Priceless” campaign it built around baseball. Launched during the 1997 World Series, the first “Priceless” ad created by McCann-Erickson focused on what Mastercard payments could buy at the ballpark–then, only at the…
What value does Major League Baseball’s All-Star Week hold if future generations don’t see themselves among the sport’s elite… or even on its field? When Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. was in the early days of his career with the Seattle Mariners in 1991, Black players made up 18% of baseball’s rosters. As the…
“If you build it, they will come,” is the mystical piece of advice given to Kevin Costner in arguably the greatest movie about baseball ever made, 1989’s Field of Dreams. And that is a mantra Major League Baseball (MLB) is embracing as it looks toward international expansion, with one eye on Europe. The irony of…
He set up boxing’s upset of the year in 2022 when he let Canelo Alvarez go up a weight class and lose to Dimitry Bivol. He teamed with Jake Paul and WWE to pack Madison Square Garden for the fight of the year between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano. Those events–and the pro wrestling/mixed-martial arts…
Since its 2016 launch, premium sportswear brand Castore has built its name through partnerships with teams and athletes. Deals with England Cricket, Tennis star (as well its own investor) Andy Murray and the Oracle Red Bull racing crew have helped the business reach a billion that’s teetering on $1 billion. Now the British-founded business has…
In a special episode of Champions of Change, host Mollie Cahillane joined Ally CMO Andrea Brimmer and the Ally team on the ground at the Ally 400 NASCAR race in Nashville. Back in the first episode of the season, Cahillane asked Brimmer to explain the appeal of car racing, and Brimmer delivered. Hear why Ally…
For centuries, sports have produced iconic people and magnetic stories, but there has never been a better time for athletes to connect with a wide audience on their own terms. During a panel on The Influence of Athletes at Cannes Lions, movers and shakers in the creator economy and new media spoke about how players…
With the U.S. Women’s National Team roster (finally) revealed and under a month to go until the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off, Fox Sports unveiled its massive marketing campaign for the tournament. The USWNT is targeting an unprecedented third-consecutive title, and Fox has the exclusive television rights for the July 20-August 20 event–kicking…
When PepsiCo ended its decade-long sponsorship of the Super Bowl Halftime Show last year, the food and beverage giant leaned into football’s global cousin soccer to make a cultural splash, taking its learnings from the halftime show to other parts of the world. The UEFA Champions League (UCL) final, considered the biggest game in club…
Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu was orphaned at the age of nine in South Sudan, setting him on a journey that would take him from his wartorn country to seek asylum in Geneva, Switzerland. Swiss sportswear brand On is sponsoring the long-distance runner, who has taken first place at competitions in Stockholm and Geneva. On tells Lobalu’s…
With three weeks to go until the start of the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Telemundo is ready for its largest women’s soccer tournament yet. The company holds the Spanish-language rights to the FIFA World Cup and plans to capitalize on the explosive growth of women’s soccer–and the Latino audience’s love…
First-time partners X Games and Amtrak are launching a sustainably-minded collaboration that aims to take cars off the traffic-choked roads of Southern California and deliver fans by rail to the upcoming three-day sports event. As part of the deal, Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner trains that run between the Central Coast and San Diego will be wrapped…
CANNES, France–72andSunny’s partnership with the NFL took off this year with “Run With It.” The spot, which was one of Adweek’s top picks of the game, featured flag football quarterback Diana Flores running through a gauntlet of NFL players and sports legends. Four months later, the campaign continued here in Cannes as Flores, Vanita Krouch…
The New York Liberty are a certified superteam, and fans and brands are on board. Keia Clarke, CEO of the WNBA team, joins this episode of Champions of Change to discuss how her background in marketing led her to a career in professional basketball. Learn how Clarke navigates media rights deals, her thoughts on the…
CANNES, France–For one week every year, the seaside restaurants along the Mediterranean are taken over by global companies ranging from Google, Yahoo, Spotify and Pinterest to the world’s biggest holding companies including WPP, Publicis and Dentsu. This year, there was a new entrant: Stagwell Group and its more than 70 agencies. Most of these activations…
Warner Bros. Discovery is expanding its ad product offerings with a new six-second pre-roll option. And after a soft launch in the first quarter with clients including Vivid Seats, the company said it has already seen success on Bleacher Report and House of Highlights. The full launch is timed around the 2023 NBA Draft on…
On Wednesday afternoon just before the NBA Draft, Jarace Walker was being fitted for the last of four suits he’d wear before, during and after the event. The next time he wore this particular garment, he’d be a professional basketball player. As a tailor pinned back white fabric and took additional measurements, Walker recounted some…
Natalie White’s got game. After seeing an ad three years ago featuring four WNBA players promoting men’s sneakers, the now-25-year-old CEO founded Moolah Kicks, the first basketball brand designed specifically for women. After White cold emailed the CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods, the company’s first design launched in 140 retail stores. Now, they’re in more…
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