Every athlete has a story
Have you ever seen an athlete pitching a product and wonder, “How does HE make sense for THAT?” Yeah, we have too and it can be embarrassing for all involved, not to mention inauthentic to the viewing public. Well, we have developed a way for athletes to avoid such random acts of sponsorship.
The Branded Athlete is the brainchild of sports marketer, Darren Feeney, and Forbes Contributor/branding expert, Will Burns. We work with athletes to help them find and articulate their own personal, unique, powerful brand ideas so that corporate sponsorships become less random and more purposeful and mutually-beneficial alliances.
See our mention in Forbes.com, “Social Media Influencers Need To Turn The Table On Brands”
The enemy: random sponsorships
Reframing an athlete’s value
NHL Goalie Robin Lehner & Will Burns
Marketing who the athlete is and not just what the athlete is invites potential sponsors to evaluate the athlete more holistically. It’s about much more than the performance on the field, but about a human being who shares a worldview with the allied brand. We align athlete/company causes, belief systems and purposes, yielding stronger, longer and more financially valuable relationships. No more one-way-streets. Both brands—the athlete’s and the allied company’s—benefit. And by the way, we help the athlete say no to potential brand-allies who do not share significant beliefs. Our work gives the athlete a filter by which to make better business decisions.
motivated activation
Because the partnership becomes a personal reflection of who the athlete is as a person means activating ideas are perceived as “less work” because the athlete is more motivated when it comes to implementation. In addition, it means less typical, more personal and more unique activation ideas from the sponsoring brand. There’s so much more to work with when the sponsoring brand understands the athlete is so much more than a football player, a commodity. Example, we found out NWSL player, Ally Sentnor, was a major foodie and she is now pursuing contracts with major cooking brands.
For the long-term
Further, and specific to the athlete, developing and articulating a strong brand idea now means co-building a branded platform that lasts far longer than his or her sports-playing career. When retirement hits, the brand is built (effectively and happily paid for by the allied brands) and is ready to be extended in exciting new ways.
The brand idea delivers
Armed with a brand idea, it’s much easier to say no to opportunities that don’t resonate. It’s much easier to say yes—with enthusiasm—to opportunities that do. Over time, everything the athlete does lines up, adds up, makes sense. From brand alliances to charity work to communications to a platform for retirement. It’s what you are on the field of play, but with a brand idea it’s who you are everywhere else.
brand alliances
Knowing the athlete’s brand idea, we can now use syndicated research to find high indexing brands that share the athlete’s view of the world, key interests, passions and other aspects of the athlete. We will provide a short list of target brands and rationale for each.
communications strategies
The brand idea will give the athlete, and representatives, guidance as to how to handle key communications. Be that the athlete’s personal Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and X posts, or even a web site. We will provide ideas that are inspired by the brand idea.
Philanthropic partnerships
Every athlete cares about the world and wants to leverage their fame to improve it some way. We find it’s best to find not just any philanthropic organization, but the ones whose causes are in line with an athlete’s. Armed with the brand idea, we can find perfect partners.
platform for retirement
While the athlete is building his or her brand with the tools listed above, the athlete will also be building a long-term platform. So when it’s time to retire, the athlete is poisitioned to leverage this platform to start new ventures that are further proof of the original brand idea.
Public relations
PR experts can more easily find the right publicity for the athlete, the kinds that further cement his or her brand idea in people’s minds. No more random acts of publicity. We can now inspire the team around you to frame an effective PR strategy.
How we do it
Our four-week proprietary process includes a discovery period where we conduct in-depth interviews with the athlete and a few choice people around him or her, so we can truly understand who the athlete is as a person and what his or her individual core beliefs are. From there, we develop brand ideas in the form of taglines, a professionally written manifesto for the approved brand idea that brings the idea to life and a presentation of potential sponsorships. Specifically:
week 1
Purpose: to understand the athlete. Who they are on and off the field, understand his or her motivations, beliefs, intentions for the future and what’s important in life.
Method: Virtual video interview with the athlete in comfortable setting. Interviews with 4-5 people close to the athlete—friends, coaches, teammates, spouses, etc. The idea is to get a well-rounded view into who the athlete is as a person.
week 2
Purpose: to explore many different ideas, each of which are inspired by the interview insights, and focus who the athlete is.
Method: Inspired by the immersion, we present a variety of brand ideas in the form of taglines. Each idea includes the tagline, an explanation of the intention behind it and business rationale as to why we think it’s a great idea. The discussion that ensues after seeing multiple brand ideas is often quite therapeutic, as it allows the athlete to “try on” different ideas. We discuss each for as long as it takes and get it down to one tagline, even if that’s a new line inspired by those presented.
week 3
Purpose: it’s impossible to “channel” a brand idea if one doesn’t fully understand it. We need the idea “codified” in some way so it’s clear to the athlete, the agents, the potential sponsors, and anyone else working closely with the athlete.
Method: We write a powerful one-page manifesto designed to be framed and hung on the wall. Language from this piece will inspire all kinds of future communications (particularly the athlete’s website).
week 4
Purpose: to equip the athlete, agents and supporting staff with a starter list of potential sponsors inspired by the entire Branded Athlete analysis.
Method: We look at the brand idea, in general, as well as each branded “belief” and come up with lists of potential sponsors that meet the athlete’s branded criteria. We research related brands and their respective ad campaigns to find linkage, and prepare a presentation with what we find. Good fodder for the agents.
Case Study: Ally Sentnor
Ally is a professional NWSL soccer player, currently with the Utah Royals when she’s not playing for the United States Women’s National Team. We spoke to her, her friends, her family, and a couple coaches. And boy did she have a story.
the money slide
We call it “The Money Slide” because all of our work developing the ideas, articulating the athlete’s beliefs, the sponsorship searches, all of it, goes into this one slide. Sorta makes you want one, right?
Testimonial
Darren Feeney, Sports Marketing and Communications Expert
“Darren and I have spent decades personifying brands. It’s exciting and powerful to now ‘brandify’ our athletes.”
Will Burns, Branding and Communications Expert
Let's Chat.
Use the form below to contact us regarding your inquiry. Please be as detailed as you’d like. You may also email or call us to make an appointment.
We welcome the athlete or the athlete’s agent to start a conversation with us.
☎ CONTACT
Darren Feeney
darren@thebrandedathlete.com
(508) 463-5769