In the ever-evolving world of sports marketing, teams and leagues are constantly seeking new and innovative ways to connect with fans, enhance their organization’s presence, and drive sponsorship revenue. One compelling avenue that has gained momentum in recent years is the partnership between major sports teams and creator-led brands. These collaborations offer a host of benefits that can breathe new life into the sports marketing landscape. In this blog, we’ll explore the reasons why major sports entities should consider such partnerships, and we’ll also highlight some successful partnerships to illustrate their impact.
Creator-Led Brands & Team Partnerships
To exemplify the impact of creator-led brand partnerships, let’s look at a few notable collaborations:
- Charlotte Hornets & MrBeast’s food brand, ‘Feastables’: Feastables has made history by becoming the first creator-led brand to secure a jersey sponsorship with an NBA team. Beginning this season, the Feastables logo will be prominently featured on the jerseys of the Hornets, as well as those of the Greensboro Swarm in the G League and Hornets Venom GT in the NBA 2K League, spanning both the virtual and physical gaming realms.
- Burnley FC & Dude Perfect: Burnley FC, a Premier League club, has forged a kit partnership with Dude Perfect, a creator-led brand.
- FC Barcelona & PRIME Sports Drink by Logan Paul and KSI: Starting in 2023, creator-led brand PRIME will be the official hydration partner of FC Barcelona for the next three seasons.
- YouTube duo, Rhett & Link, need a partner for their new cereal brand: Their recently launched cereal brand, MishMash, hasn’t partnered with a sports team, yet. This may be an opportunity to engage their 18.4M subscribers, most of which are between ages 18-34, and make them fans of your team.
- Explore more creators and their brands in Forbes’ 2023 top creators list.
Don’t Forget to Measure the Partnership
As a sports team or league, data is your biggest asset. So, having all your sponsorship data in an all-in-one evaluation platform allows you to measure the effectiveness of your partnerships and view results via internal dashboards and reports, automating your recap process. Understand what’s working, what’s not, and how partnerships contribute to your organization’s goals, be it fan engagement, sponsorship revenue, or merchandise sales.
Want help analyzing which creator-led brands fit best with your team’s goals? Request a demo.
KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions, serving more than 200 professional teams and 850+ sports and entertainment properties worldwide, providing practical tools and services to harness customer data, facilitate sponsorship sales and activation, and create actionable insights.
