Ally marketing head Stephanie Marciano discusses brand’s WNBA, NWSL partnerships in rivalry series

The GIST: This weekend, the WNBA and NWSL kicked off their respective slates of rivalry games, both presented by prominent women’s sports partner Ally. The WNBA is planning seven rivalry matchups through August 17th, while the NWSL hosted three key matchups during its inaugural Rivalry Weekend.

• On Thursday, we spoke with Ally sports and entertainment marketing head Stephanie Marciano about the brand’s strategy as a presenting partner of these games and how Ally’s sports sponsorships continue to pay off. A little rivalry never hurt anyone.

The concept: Marciano said that the WNBA and NWSL were already planning their own rivalry games knowing rivalries drive fandom and to emulate similar series in the NBA, MLB, and NHL. As a longtime NWSL partner that officially teamed up with the WNBA this year, it made sense for Ally to get involved given the brand’s interest in driving access and fan engagement for women’s sports.

The strategy: Along with pre-game advertising and in-game integrations, Ally launched a WNBA sweepstakes starring Ally ambassadors Paige Bueckers and Sydney Colson and will utilize its separate partnerships with the Las Vegas Aces and influencer Ari Chambers. Ally also tapped into its existing Men in Blazers deal with a live sponsored episode of The Women’s Game podcast.

• Marciano said after building a robust portfolio in sports and seeing the “appetite” among Ally customers to engage with these partnerships, the bank is working on offering rewards at these events, such as ticket and merch discounts for Ally customers. This has long been in the playbook for financial services, where the allure of rewards encourages spending.

The data: According to Marciano, customers who joined through the brand’s sports initiatives are 10x more loyal to the brand. And while Ally doesn’t have the data yet, it’s betting that avid fans in rivalry markets will engage with the bank: When it sent marketing emails to Indianapolis customers during WNBA All-Star Weekend, the open rate topped 50%.

• While Marciano said there’s an issue with sports fans being aware Ally is a bank, she mentioned that it has seen its “favorability metric be incredibly higher among fans of sports than just the general market,” meaning sports fans like Ally and would consider the brand.

• When these criteria are met, they’re 6x more likely to become a customer, and Ally converts them at a significantly more efficient cost.

The takeaway: Ally has proven its loyalty in women’s sports, but needs fans of its brand to bank their trust in them by actually banking with them. We’ve seen brands pick up on this in women’s college basketball, where brands like Aflac and Shark Beauty are attaching their names to fostering these rivalries, which feature powerhouse teams driving viewership gains. Time to shoot their shot.