Saturday Scroll: Partner, meet partnership

💍 Why WAGs are driving conversation — and conversion

For those of us familiar with being a woman in sports (or a woman, period), it’s easy to understand why Kylie Kelce’s podcast shot to the top of the podcast charts after its debut last December. While her husband, Jason, and his brother, Travis, have built a multimillion-dollar media brand through their own podcast that largely attracts a male audience, Kylie makes content for people like herself. She’s a former field hockey star. A mom of four. Candidly hilarious. Curious and vulnerable. Undeniably cool, yet one of us.

Kelce is part of a cohort of famous WAGs of male athletes, but she exists in multitudes beyond this acronym. We met her because of Jason, but love her because of who she is. And a WAG’s influence is something brands are picking up on: Among others, Kylie has partnered with mom- and kid-focused brands like Disney World, “Peppa Pig,” and the Philadelphia Zoo.

That’s the power of WAGs — they can reach new, non-traditional, and casual fans that typical sports marketing misses. As lifestyle media brand OffBall co-founder Michaela Hammond told The New York Times, WAGs speak to “people who care about sports, but care about sports in a much more conversational, water-cooler type of way.”

And while those in men’s sports are just beginning to unlock the power of these savvy influencers, there’s plenty of room in women’s sports to tap into the power of WAGs, husbands and boyfriends (HABs), and every partner in-between.

Through social media, partners of pro athletes have a voice like never before, and they engage with fans in genuine ways that naturally encourage brand consideration. It’s a stamp of approval like no other — and there’s still so much untapped opportunity, especially on the women’s side.

🤝 A partner in every sense

As we discussed in our lifestyle newsletter, The Group Chat, last month, WAGs demonstrate passionate female fandom in a sports culture that isn’t always welcoming to women. They’re endearing, supportive partners, relatable as women, and they’re also, well, cool.

Brianna Appel, the founder of women-focused sales and marketing agency Seat Theory, zeroed in on this trend in a recent LinkedIn post: “WAGs are quietly driving more fan behavior than some official league partners, and brands are starting to run the numbers. Influence hasn’t just globalized sports culture, it’s reshaped how brands enter it.”

Appel highlighted how Jordyn Woods — a fashion-forward media personality dating NY Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns — partnered with Amazon Fashion for an NBA promotion. It’s an innovative way to bring Amazon’s extensive NBA partnership to life, promoting its fan-focused, fashion-driven tech outputs.

Another example includes San Francisco 49ers WAG Kristin Juszczyk (pronounced YOOZ-check) turning her fashion hustle into an NFL merch partnership, which has expanded into the WNBA and NBA. But when it comes to women’s sports WAGs, the space is still wide open — and it offers one-of-a-kind marketing opportunities.

✨ The intersectional opportunity in women’s sports

As one of the league’s top players, Dallas Wings star Arike Ogunbowale (pronounced ah-REE-kay oh-goon-bo-WAH-lay) has notched some elite, yet infrequent, brand deals since joining the league in 2019 with category leaders like Nike and State Farm.

But Ogunbowale’s fiancée, LaLa Ronay, has even more partnerships than her famous future wife. Scroll through her feed, and you’ll find Ronay in carefully curated looks on the WNBA sideline. Keep scrolling, and you’ll see narrated videos of Ronay prepping her hair for gamedays with a variety of products, like Living Proof and Pattern. The popularity of her recs presumably led to partnerships with Shea Moisture and Olaplex, while her prominently featured earrings likely led to a paid partnership with Piercing Pagoda.

In important ways, Ronay is similar to the influential significant others locking brand deals in men’s sports spaces: Due to her widened spotlight, Ronay’s GRWM videos are winning over bigger audiences, and brands see her as an authentic, trusted voice to recommend products. She’s also helping bring more casual fans into the WNBA sphere.

But it’s also worth noting how Ronay uniquely navigates this role as a queer Black woman, because historically (and currently), queer Black women have often been overlooked as brand ambassadors, while American beauty standards are still shaped by racism and colonialism.

Ronay creates videos for her community recommending products she genuinely likes, and she has amassed a 467K Instagram following (over 100K more than Ogunbowale). Brands can see the compliments and requests she gets about her style, so why wouldn’t they want to be plastered across her page?

👠 The next step

As men’s sports leagues (finally) focus on their women audience, they’re understanding that partnering with WAGs is an effective, authentic way to engage with these fans. In women’s sports, fans are even more loyal and locked in, meaning they are paying close attention to significant others on the sideline. WAGs here understand the assignment — they are curating detailed looks and flaunting their own unique personalities. Supporting women athletes and the partners that support them, especially those outside of the spotlight, is an easy marketing play, yet few brands have taken full advantage of these opportunities.

For the most part, partnerships have focused on women athlete power couples such as former NWSL couple Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger, as well as current women’s basketball couple Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd. But brands don’t necessarily need to work with famous WAGs who are athletes themselves — Ogunbowale’s proposal to Ronay garnered over 222K likes on Instagram. Fans want to see authentic moments between their favorite people, and there are countless ways brands can organically activate around these relationships.

For instance, Glamnetic keyed into the gameday nails trend in its new Fanatics partnership — one that overlooks women’s sports but could change that with a WNBA–inspired set. Ronay has already sported bespoke nails honoring her fiancée, so teaming up with her would be an easy lay-up. Time to shoot their shot.

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