She really is *that* girl
From The GIST Sports Biz (hi@thegistsports.com)
Happy Friday!
Indiana Fever point guard Sydney Colson has played comedian on her social media, in brand partnerships, and on her TV show, but the multitalented baller has yet to take the stage — until now.
- Yesterday, the Fever announced that Colson would perform her first-ever stand-up comedy set at the inaugural Fever Fest during WNBA All-Star Weekend next week. No surprises here.
Marketing
📈 Very on brand
The GIST: On Wednesday, AdWeek published purchase consideration insights from brand tracking platform Tracksuit. The data highlights the biggest shifts in purchase consideration among popular Gen Z brands from January to June, proving that authenticity and wellness work best to win over young fans. Here are the key takeaways and the ways they’re being implemented across women’s sports.
The winning brands: Coca-Cola saw purchase consideration jump from 56% to 71% — the biggest percentage boost among Zoomers — after the brand reimagined its 2011 iconic “Share A Coke” campaign for a Gen Z audience.
- Hinge, which endeavored to showcase real meet-cutes on the app through last year’s “No Ordinary Love” and “It’s Funny We Met On Hinge” campaigns, saw consideration jump 14% thanks to its honest brand voice when speaking to Gen Z users.
Where interest is waning: Though instant ramen staple Maruchan notched a relatively high purchase consideration score of 54%, this is a 16% drop from the beginning of the year, following a November product release.
- In the burgeoning Manuka honey industry, Manuka Health saw an increase in consideration, which may be attributed to its arrival in NYC and LA luxury skincare markets. However, competing brand Manukora saw declining purchase consideration despite its differentiation efforts.
Winning brands’ relationship with sports: Tracksuit co-founder and CCO Matt Herbert noted that brand consideration grows with familiarity, and that familiarity is fueled by consistency, uniqueness, and emotional pull.
- With 233 global partnerships across 21 sports as of 2022, Coca-Cola is steadfast and pervasive. Its sports drink brand, Powerade, focused on Gen Z in its latest March Madness campaign.
- Hinge, meanwhile, has gone offline to provide grants for sports organizations promoting wellness and personal connections, a move that affirms their devotion to creating genuine relationships.
- And although prominent sports sponsor Lululemon is fighting a legal battle versus dupes (admittedly a Gen Z fave), the brand saw higher purchase consideration when catering to NHL and Team Canada audiences.
The women’s sports angle: Per Herbert, brands can usually convert about half of consumers from product awareness to purchase consideration. And, according to Parity and HS&E studies, women’s sports fans strongly support purchasing from sponsors. That may be why surging wellness brands, like Unwell and Olly, have signed deals with the NWSL and Golden State Valkyries, respectively.
- Additionally, women’s sports sponsors are leading with storytelling, a move backed by our own data on women’s sports fans. It’s been proven that these fans reward brands that provide steadfast sponsorship because it shows loyalty, and that hits all three benchmarks Herbert noted for top brand consideration. Right in the basket.
⚽ Fox enjoys skyrocketing women’s EURO viewership in the U.S.
On Wednesday, Fox shared that France’s group stage EURO win over England last Saturday drew 690K viewers, making it the most-watched EURO group stage women’s match broadcast in the English language in U.S. history. In 2022, average viewership in the group stage was 161K. This year’s average is 359K thus far, marking a 123% increase tournament over tournament.
- These numbers may be a result of the England’s Women’s Super League’s (WSL) surging global reach thanks to its explosive viewership growth on YouTube.
🛹 X Games sees surge in youth audience following CEO appointment
Last week’s X Games in Salt Lake City drew an average of 1.3M viewers across ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC in a 12% YoY audience increase, including a whopping 328% viewership surge among ages 12 to17. The games also saw a 74% boost among ages 25 to 34, likely a result of the amplified online conversation around the event.
- As for video, the X Games saw a 21% YoY increase in total video views with 79.2M plays, with video on demand and YouTube viewership up 188% with 4.4M views.
- Newly-appointed X Games CEO Jeremy Bloom, who made waves when debuting AI judging at 2024 events, said the brand leaned into a new tune-in strategy and used a new production company to reach fans.
✨ Angel Reese flaunts branding savvy amid major announcements on Wednesday
This week, the Chicago Sky guard became the latest WNBA athlete to grace the cover of the popular NBA 2K video game. Even better, she used the video game cover illustration to debut the design of her long-awaited signature kicks with Reebok.
- As discussed on yesterday’s episode of The GIST of It, these announcements exemplify how Reese has distinguished herself among athletes as an ideal brand ambassador, leveraging her authenticity in both organic and sponsored content.
📺 Yesterday, WNBA Portland entered a strategic partnership with Portland-based enterprise video platform Brandlive to showcase behind-the-scenes franchise content.
🍫 Ferrero brand Kinder inked a three-year partnership with the U.S. Soccer Federation that spans the upcoming men’s and women’s FIFA World Cups. Delish.
🍺 Two women’s sports bars are opening their doors in the span of a week: Atlanta’s Jolene Jolene opened last weekend, while Seattle’s Pitch the Baby, is opening today.
📺 The Big East secured a six-year digital media rights agreement with ESPN that puts at least 75 women’s basketball games and 200 Olympic sporting events on ESPN+ annually.
🐺 UConn alumna Paige Bueckers was named the top-earning collegiate woman athlete on the NIL Store for the 15th consecutive month. Talk about staying power.
👕 The Chicago Sky retired No. 14 for franchise star Allie Quigley in its first-ever jersey retirement ceremony on Wednesday.
📱 Linda Yaccarino stepped down as CEO of social media platform X on Wednesday, adding to the fifteen senior execs who have left X in the past year amid divided opinions on the polarizing platform and Elon Musk.
Here’s what passed The GIST squad’s vibe check this week:
🍹 What to drink
Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers’ Shirley Temple Gatorade flavor. Gatorade made it just for her, and she says it’s “pretty fire.”
🏄 What to check out
These dogs catching waves. Huntington Beach’s Incredible Dog Challenge brought the bark, the bite, and some amazing pics.
💄 What to wear
This lip stain. Huda’s Lip Contour Stain is smudge-proof, and won’t bail before the buzzer — a real MVP.
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