Shoot your shot
From The GIST (hi@thegistsports.com)
Hi friends!
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko rose 61 places in the WTA rankings to a career-high world No. 24 and now has $1.2M in career earnings after winning her first-ever WTA Tour title at the Montreal Open. Marketing experts told Sportico that Mboko has a compelling storyline that makes her extremely marketable heading into the US Open.
- “Her youth, charisma, and compelling story as a proud Canadian and immigrant make her deeply relatable and aspirational,” said sports marketing professor Anjali Bal. “For brands, she offers a rare opportunity: high visibility and cultural resonance at a fraction of the cost of more established athletes.” Everyone loves a hometown hero.
Women’s sports
💰 Banking on your support
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.
🥚 Golden State Valkyries roll out mysterious egg-related campaign
The Valkyries are in the midst of a marketing campaign — presumably for their new mascot — that is keeping fans guessing about the identity of a giant violet egg that appeared in front of the Chase Center. The egg, which the Valkyries describe as “an unidentified bird species,” has been moved indoors to a designated nest and can now be viewed on a live stream.
- The egg will hatch tonight during a DoorDash-sponsored “Birdwatchers Night” against the Connecticut Sun, where all fans will be given binoculars to spot what comes out. Ready to take flight.
🪙 Cryptocurrency group claims responsibility for recent WNBA game interruptions
A cryptocurrency group claimed responsibility for disrupting at least three WNBA games by throwing sex toys onto the court with six games being interrupted in total. There have been two arrests so far, with the group reportedly planning to disrupt MLB games next to drum up attention.
- The group — which launched its cryptocurrency a day before the first toy was thrown on July 29th — saw its price rise 300% in the week following, while betting platform Polymarket has begun to take bets on when the next incident will occur. Not funny.
⚾ Netflix pursues sports events again with bid for MLB’s Home Run Derby
Bloomberg reported that Netflix is interested in acquiring streaming rights for MLB’s Home Run Derby, which drew an average of 5.73M viewers this year (up 5% YoY), making it one of the most-watched broadcast programs on July 14th of this year. ESPN’s media deal with the league is coming to an end, so Netflix is looking to swoop in and add baseball to its budding sports slate.
- This also continues Netflix’s strategy in acquiring high-impact sporting events that drive viewership rather than going for a full sports season. So far, the platform has won big with NFL Christmas Day games, the next two FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments, and the Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano boxing bouts that drew record viewership.
🇨🇦 Barbie and Tim Horton’s are teaming up with the PWHL to release special edition Barbie dolls at participating Canadian locations. In a Barbie world.
💼 WNBPA representatives met with the WNBA to continue the CBA conversations that commenced during All-Star Weekend.
⚽ Just Women’s Sports extended its NWSL digital media partnership for the fourth consecutive year, which includes the rights to official game highlights.
📉 Sports had a significant influence on ad sales as linear broadcast sales faltered in Q2, exemplified by Warner Bros. Discovery’s 13% drop after losing out on NBA rights. Deflating.
🌊 The World Surf League named former Rip Curl CEO Brooke Farris as its chief marketing officer and North America president.
🤸 NBC Sports renewed its media rights deal with USA Gymnastics through 2032.
👟 Sports apparel giant and Unrivaled partner Under Armour fell short of nearly all analyst predictions in its first fiscal quarter.
📱 Patreon has paid out over $10B to its creators since its 2013 launch, now dishing out $2B annually as the creator economy explodes post-pandemic. The world at their fingertips.
Here’s what has GIST HQ buzzing:
🐆 Who to know
The Chobe Angels. Africa’s first all-female safari guide team is revolutionizing the tourism and conservation space. Not only are they exceptional guides, they're better communicators and save the lodge money on vehicle maintenance. Love to see it.
🌊 What to learn more about
‘Blue health.’ You know about the benefits of green spaces, but a growing body of research suggests that being near oceans, lakes, and rivers can ease mental distress, boost happiness and even foster positive social relationships.
🗣️ Who to know
Katie Feeney. ESPN's new "sports and lifestyle" hire has a massive social media following and is set to appear on major football shows like College Gameday, Sunday NFL Countdown, and Monday Night Countdown.
Today's email was brought to you by Aryanna Prasad and Briana Ekanem. Fact checking by Emily Ohman. Operations by Elisha Gunaratnam and Marga Sison. Ads by Katie Kehoe Foster, Alessandra Puccio, and Lisa Minutillo. Managing edits by Molly Potter and Ellen Hyslop. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.