Helping brands to partner with athletes in their influencer marketing and sponsorship marketing campaigns

Athletes are some of the most popular and influential people on social media. It is a given that they generally have a large following of fans who admire and look up to them for their talents in their respective sports. When a brand sponsors an athlete especially on social media, they get access to this massive audience. The athletes can help promote the brand to their followers, which can result in increased awareness and sales for the brand.

Sponsoring an athlete on social media is a great way to connect with their fans and create an authentic relationship with them. The fans will appreciate that the athlete is promoting a brand that they believe in, and they may be more likely to buy products or services from that brand. 

Check out some successful social media campaigns below done by our brands and athletes through OpenSponsorship!

1. Tyson Fury x Raffall

About the brand: SaaS raffle platform allowing you to host raffles and prize competitions online.

Why athletes: Athletes have strong personal connections with their fans, more than a traditional influencer would. Loyal fans create a strong community and will usually get behind and support the athletes’ causes.

Objective/Campaign: We are looking to partner with athletes who would love to create and promote their very own personal and authentic online competition that give their fans the chance to win any kind of prize offered by you.

Results: Fury was able to create an Instagram video to run a raffle for his fans with a chance to win VIP ringside tickets to his sold out fight against Dillian Whyte and a pair of signed gloves.

Success Metrics: Total reach of 5.6 million and 20,000+ likes

2. NFL Athletes x Walmart Fashion

About the brand: Brick & Mortar Retail and Ecommerce.

Why athletes: As the NFL players got ready for the end of the season and their beach breaks, Walmart wanted to showcase their new fashion on these NFL players.

Objective/Campaign: We are looking to partner with NFL athletes who embody the Free Assembly image to create high quality content to position Walmart as a credible fashion destination.

Results: Successfully connected Walmart with professional NBA and NFL athletes such as Micah Parsons, Myles Garrett, Quinn Cook, Jamal Adams, and others for Walmart’s Spring Free Assembly x Summer Campaign.

Success Metrics: 

Received over 110 applications

Myles Garrett: 29,600 likes, 203 comments, $0.52 CPE

Deebo Samuel: 35,200 likes, 391 comments, $0.92 CPE

3. Bryan Brothers x Play Your Court

About the brand: PlayYourCourt is a tech platform to help tennis players of all levels connect with evenly-matched local players.

Why athletes: Athletes understand the struggles of needing to sharpen their skills but having no one to train or practice with.

Objective/Campaign: The "Tinder for Tennis Opponents" is here - and we're looking for a brand ambassador!

Results: Successfully connected Play Your Court with the Bryan Brothers, retired doubles tennis players and most successful duo of all time.

Success Metrics: Generated 88k views and 2,500+ likes

Overall, sponsoring an athlete on social media is a great way to reach a large audience of potential customers. Athletes have some serious influence over their followers, so they can help promote the brand in a positive light. The fans will appreciate the connection with the athlete, and they may be more likely to buy products and services from the sponsor as well. Sign up today HERE to get started!

OpenSponsorship has several tools and features to help users optimize the most of their campaign. These tools can be essential to gain more applications and interest from athletes. Our features will ensure that from start to finish the tools on OpenSponsorship give users the best guidance.

Creating Campaigns 

• Start by drafting your campaign with clear information about your brand and the mission of your campaign: clarity in your campaign will be essential to drive more applications.
• There are multiple types of campaigns to choose from that can help structure a great outline 

Optimizing the Search

•  Our Search feature allows users to optimize the best candidates that align with their campaign 
• This allows users to search for athletes for personal interest, social footprint, lifestyle and more!

Content Search

• This new feature allows users to navigate through content found on social media
• You can find athlete content on: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, and Tik Tok that can help give your brand ideas
  
  

Social Insights

• This tool gives you the ability to search for athletes who have used a specific keyword, hashtag or tagged a user on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. You can search for any number of keywords.

Matching

• The Matching section can really help brands identify the right athlete based on location and other demographic specifications

Sending Proposals

• After gaining information about which athletes work best for your campaign, sending proposals is the most critical step to getting to work with an athlete
• Ensure all the correct information is stated and transparent so that the directions are clear
• You can also see the status of the proposal and whether the athlete has accepted or not accepted it, or would even re negotiate the terms

Reporting 

• After a campaign has finished the reporting section is where you can find information regarding the results of the social media deliverables. Here you can connect your brands social media to check the social insight information and the engagement rate. 

Using analytics, actionable insights, AI based matching and proprietary ROI information, brands are now able to search for the perfect influencer, create authentic relationships, manage the entire process and track the marketing results all on one tech-platform.

With the NBA season soon approaching the height and growth of the league has never been higher. The influence that NBA athletes have within a community and online has increased to new levels. NBA athletes have become some of the most ideal athletes to partner with for brand campaigns. The successful and high engagement rate with fans has led many brands to continue to invest in sponsorships and partnerships with NBA athletes. 

Check out some of the deals OpenSponsorship has worked on with NBA Athletes!

Quinn Cook

Campaign: Walmart

Walmart wanted to work with an NBA player to help promote their fashion line. The successful fashion campaign led to multiple deliverables with NBA player Quinn Cook. The post attracted likes and engagement with other star NBA players such as Donovan Mitchell. 

Kendrick Nunn

Campaign: Green Chef

The objective of the campaign between Green Chef and Kendrick Nunn was to look for a health and wellness conscious athlete. The post hit 6.7K likes on instagram and led to a successful social media campaign to promote healthy living. 

Draymond Green

Campaign: Glassdoor 

Draymond Green and Glassdoor worked together to promote guidance and motivation for the workplace. Who better to partner up with than one of the most fired up athletes to help promote motivation in the workplace. The successful campaign led to a personal article with the multiple time NBA champion and gained over 80 retweets. 

Kendrick Perkins 

Campaign: Prophet Exchange 

Former NBA big man Kendrick Perkins worked with Prophet Exchange to promote their product via video story. The goal of the campaign was to use a known NBA figure to help grow and promote a modern form of sports gaming. The successful campaign drove an increased number of the promotional usage. 

“My good people, I just teamed up with @ProphetExchange. Our pre live promotion is currently at a $150 Deposit match & for every 500 users, the launch offer will increase by $25! Go Pre Register now at https://t.co/1Kjvcv9V3r! 21+ and NJ only.”

Julius Randle

Campaign: NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

The New York Knicks Star Julius Randle worked with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to help raise awareness of Covid-19. The successful social impact being made left a big impression on social media gaining over 10k likes. 

"This virus is a beast. I've seen COVID-19 rip through #NYC and the rest of the country. Obviously I want life to go back to normal...I miss seeing fans and the energy you bring to the games. Like you, I'm doing whatever I can to keep my community here in NYC safe. Washing hands, keeping a safe distance and wearing a mask over your mouth and nose makes a big difference. Please, stay safe, stay healthy and be smart. I'll see you soon. " 

The influence and results from NBA athletes has only been successful. With some of the biggest names and faces in sports today, the NBA is well suited to become a dominant global sport. With NBA players reaching almost every corner of the world and having global fanbases, the time is now to begin a partnership. Don’t wait until the start of the season to start working with NBA athletes! Sign up through OpenSponsorship and learn how to send proposals to athletes and get started today.

What does it cost to partner with an NFL player on a marketing campaign? 

Are there any NFL players that are under $2,500?

What does it cost to work with an A-list NFL Player?

If questions like these are on your mind as the 2022-23 NFL season kicks off, we’re here to help!

Why Partner With An NFL Player On Marketing?

With close to 1,700 professional NFL players and almost all of them being active on social media, there has never been a better time to work with an NFL player. NFL players are using their social media to collaborate with brands and make direct sales. There are multiple different outcomes of working with NFL Players, including event promotion, social media promotion, product endorsements, appearances, and more! 

How is NFL Player Pricing Calculated?

The price ranges depending on the type of deliverable that is sent in a proposal to an athlete, generally social media posts are less costly than that of a longer-term campaign. Social Media posts can be as low as $1,000 for some NFL Players. Endorsements from companies like State Farm have a deal in place with Quarterback Aaron Rodgers that ranges between $2-3 million. While it might be extremely costly to sign a high-caliber star like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, or Patrick Mahomes, there are still great affordable opportunities that can help grow your brand.

How to Find An NFL Player That Matches Your Budget

Generally, the standard rate of A-list NFL Players starts at $12,000, however, there are many great ways to find a wider range of athletes that are affordable and have stellar ROI.

Example of an NFL Player under $2,500 to Sponsor

Lou Young

 

Example of an NFL Player between $2,500-10,000 to Sponsor
Sterling Shepard

Example of an NFL Player over $10,000 to Sponsor

Myles Garrett

How You Can Calculate the Price to Sponsor an NFL Player and Work with Them

The OS Athlete Pricing Engine uses our proprietary data from the thousands of deals we've completed, AI, and unique industry insights to assign the most realistic price for an athlete for a one-time social media campaign and a longer-term brand ambassador deal. Search for athletes that fit your budget, whether $500, $5K or $50K, and then in two clicks send them a proposal with your marketing opportunity to close the deal in a matter of hours. 

• Opensponsorship has features that allow users to search for in-depth information on particular athletes of interest. These features include the ability to see the personal interests of athletes, social media data, and demographic-based information. These tools are helpful to find an NFL player that would lead to a positive campaign result. 

• A simple way to create a campaign with an NFL player that is least costly is by sending a product directly to the athlete for an at-home picture that would be used for marketing purposes. This practice has gained a lot of growth in the digital content age, and has helped grow the number of deals created between brands and athletes.

Deebo Samuel at home marketing for Walmart

• Find an NFL athlete that fits the marketing demographics goal! Selecting an NFL athlete to work with depending on the location of where they play or where they’re from can be vital to help grow a successful campaign. NFL players have a huge community engagement both in person and online that cater to a wide range of demographics. 

How to Contact NFL Players About Sponsorship

With the NFL season fast approaching, Opensponsorship works to give brands the right fit overall which leads to a successful campaign. Optimizing the tools on the platform can help brands navigate the best type of NFL player that fits the marketing criteria and costs. Check out how to get started and send proposals to NFL players today!

The Growth Of TikTok and NFL Players

The growth of TikTok has transformed the digital age over the last few years. In changing times, NFL athletes are gaining a new social media following with the wide ranges of content creation and fan interaction. TikTok is giving NFL athletes a platform to be more personal with their lifestyles. NFL players have gained the highest following amongst US athletes on TikTok, paving the way for further growth. 

Who Makes Up Audiences On TikTok?

 TikTok, which has been mostly viewed as a social media or content creation platform for the younger generation, has suddenly turned in to a platform where you could find people from any age simultaneously creating and consuming content. An estimated 74% of all social media users ranging from the age of 13-21 in the U.S use TikTok. NFL athletes are finding better approaches through TikTok to keep up with fan engagement and the younger generation. 

NFL Players Are Joining TikTok and Going Viral

Regarding the sports world, many professional athletes have decided to join the trend and make TikTok profiles to show off their own creativity through the app.  This is a great opportunity for brands to connect with these athletes and make some creative and engaging content on a platform that has a huge audience and that has been exploding onto the social media scene.

One prime example of maybe the most famous athlete in the United States, Tom Brady, reenacting an iconic scene from the movie "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy", conch-calling Ron Gronkowski to reunite with him in the 2021 NFL season to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Brady Conch-Call Viral TikTok:

If you are a brand looking to work and create a relationship with an NFL athlete on TikTok, here’s a solid list of the top 10 professional NFL athletes that I believe would be great to work with.

Top 10 NFL TikTok Influencers

1. Rob Gronkowski
2. Tom Brady
3. Russel Wilson
4. Odell Beckham Jr.
5. JJ Watt
6. Cooper Kupp
7. Juju Smith-Schuster
8. Julie Ertz & Zach Ertz - OpenSponsorship Profiles: Zach & Julie
9. Stefon Diggs
10. Micah Parsons 

Final Thoughts

This list should give you some insight into what type of content these athletes are creating on TikTok, their massive social following on this platform, and how your brand might be able to align with their audience to create a successful digital marketing campaign.  Now is the perfect time to optimize a digital marketing campaign, especially on TikTok, because the amount of people consuming and creating content on TikTok has only been steadily increasing. Sign up to OpenSponsorship for free today for all your athlete marketing needs!

Have you ever wondered how to get your brand sponsored by an NFL Athlete? The long-awaited 2022-23 NFL season kicks off on Thursday, September 8th, and what a better time to find out some important elements of the process! 

Know who your target audience is before sponsoring an NFL player

It’s important to have a clear understanding of who and where your brand is best suited to work with based on ideal demographic information. NFL athletes have some of the highest followers out of pro-athletes and knowing which players are best suited based on the teams they play for is an important factor in gaining the best results

Budgeting and Cost - Understand your budget before starting the campaign

Finding an NFL athlete to work with according to a certain budget is important in understanding how to navigate a successful campaign. Depending on the form of the deliverable, the cost may differ. For example, it might be easier for a brand to ask an athlete to take at-home photos with a product vs a full commercial shoot. These deliverable factors are a huge key in determining the cost of a campaign.

Think about your NFL campaign and how you can maximize personalization

Making campaigns personalized with certain athletes can go a long way in building successful results. Opensponsorship’s platform allows users to see athletes' personal interests and can choose to work with an athlete based on a particular interest. Athletes are much more likely to build a relationship with a brand of their personal interest and could already have the established following that is best suited to market to. 

NFL Sponsorship Growth over the Years

The NFL has solidified itself as the most profitable sports league in the world, generating revenue of $11.1 billion. Out of that large revenue, nearly $2 billion came from sponsorship revenue. The primary industries spending on sponsorships with the NFL derive from technology, alcohol, and gambling. In recent years, the gambling industry has taken its sponsorship partnership with the NFL to new heights with huge long-term deals. This is only the initial stage of what the gambling industry has to bring to the revenue of the NFL and will continue to see year-over-year increases. 

NFL Athletes Leading the Sponsorship Race

With the growth in social media platforms, the engagement between NFL athletes and fans has never been closer before. Last season NFL stars: Rob Gronkowski, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Russell Wilson, and Travis Kelce lead players by taking on 25 brand deals each, with Gronkowski leading the way with 30 deals. More so, an estimated 1000 brands created endorsement deals with numerous NFL athletes. The leading industries that are growing sponsorships with NFL athletes are emerging from appeal brands and technology companies. Out of these deals, Opensponsorship has worked to bring to life a number of campaigns with NFL athletes. 

NFL Player Sponsorship Case Studies to Inspire Your Own!

Over the last several months, Opensponsorship has been able to work with Walmart and some of the leading NFL stars on apparel campaigns. Sponsorships with Walmart include the likes of: Seattle Seattle Seahawks Pro Bowler Jamal Adams, Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons, Chicago Bears Quarterback Justin Fields, Eagles Running back Miles Sanders, Cleveland Browns defender Myles Garrett, and 49ers Wide Receiver Deebo Samuel amongst others. 

Intel Sponsors NFL star, Rob Gronkowski

During Superbowl 51, Opensponsorship worked to create a campaign with Rob Gronkowski and technology leader Intel. The purpose of the campaign was for Intel to promote users to use their technology to capture videos.

The Bouqs Co. and Tyler Eifert 

Former Pro Bowl Tight End Tyler Eifert teamed up with The Bouqs Co., one of the largest online flower distributors in the U.S. The unique collaboration created a successful campaign for the brand which increased brand awareness in a completely new market.

Sleefs and Bud Dupree NFL Sponsorship Campaign

Sleefs, a modern fashion apparel brand created a successful campaign with Pittsburgh linebacker Bud Dupree. Bud posted a photo to Instagram, telling his followers to go to the Sleefs site to snag a free sleeve or headband. Sleefs gave him his own code to direct his followers to use.

The results were staggering: Sleef’s site traffic increased by a substantial amount, fans of Dupree browsed and purchased way more items on the site, and each user stayed on the site for 91% longer than the average user.

Learn More About How To Work with and Sponsor NFL Athletes

With the NFL season fast approaching, there's never been a better time for your brand to work with an athlete. Sign up today and learn how to get started with an endorsement campaign with NFL athletes to grow your brand!

The start of August brings a new life to the sports world. August is the beginning of most sports seasons. Athletes are getting prepared to take on long enduring seasons and get their bodies in the right shape and condition. 

Soccer

August will bring about the start to one of the most unique soccer seasons about to take place, with all the European leagues commencing play. The upcoming season will be disrupted for nearly a month during November to December for the FIFA World Cup which will be played during the Winter for the first time in Qatar.

NFL 

The start of the NFL season will kick off with pre-season games on August 4th onwards. The tradition of the first pre-season game is held in Canton, Ohio, the location of the NFL Hall of Fame. The NFL will begin with many big names in new places leaving many questions up in the air! The NFL is bound to have a fun, turbulent, and entertaining season. 

NCAA Football

August 27th will see the kick off of the much awaited College Football season. The face of College sports has changed with the increase in NIL deals and the immense amount of money that the sport is seeing on a year to year basis. August 27th will be the preseason Aer Lingus Classic between Northwestern and Nebraska in Dublin, Ireland.

FIVB Volleyball Men’s Championship

Poland and Slovenia will be hosts to the 20th edition of the Volleyball Championships starting on August 26th. 24 teams from across the world will compete in the two week event. Volleyball ranks as the 4th most watched sport in the world, leading a great deal of hype up to the start of the event! The growing space of the sport should allow the event to capture a large number of international audiences!

US Open

On August 29th, the final of the four major tennis tournaments will get underway in Flushing, NY, the US Open. The two week tournament is bound to bring great energy from all corners of the world. With a great deal of new young talent in the mix, the US Open will see competitive matchups and many fan favorites put on a great spectacle!

With the start of new seasons and tournaments in August, there's never been a better time to partner with athletes! Don’t miss out on working with athletes that have massive global reach! Check out some deals we’ve done in the last couple of months to get inspired!

Top Case Studies of Q2

Did you know that YouTube is the second most organically visited site in the US and ranks first organically worldwide? As a brand, it's important to get your name in front of the masses, especially on a platform like YouTube, where many of our athletes share their content with their following. Check out our rapidly growing list of YouTube athletes.

 1. Have athletes do a product demo on how to use your product or service, including a special            offer or link at the end of the YouTube video.

  2. Have athletes do a product giveaway for your product on their YouTube channel, including starting a custom hashtag for participants to raise awareness for your brand.

  3. Have athletes join your affiliate program in exchange for royalty payments. 

Daria "Sonya Deville" Berenato Wrestling, WWE YouTube subscribers: 58K

Starting at $14,400

Lou Young American Football YouTube subscribers: 30K

Starting at $2,400

Terron Beckham Weight Lifting, Football, Rugby YouTube subscribers: 350K

Starting at $3,600

Paige Hathaway Body Building, Weight Lifting YouTube subscribers: 129K

Starting at $10,800

Sophina DeJesus Gymnastics, UCLA YouTube subscribers: 58K

Starting at $1,000

Derek Lunsford Body Building YouTube subscribers: 31K

Starting at $1,440

The prestigious Tennis tournament, Wimbledon, kicks-off Monday, June 27th. The renowned Tennis tournament will see the biggest names in the game play on the grass court including the all time Women's grand slam champion, Serena Williams. The most prominent women's tennis player in the world will be attempting to win her 8th Wimbledon title. With more matches broadcast than ever before, Wimbledon braces for two weeks of global attention. With no Wimbledon in 2020 and the event only operating at half crowd capacity in 2021, the Championship is back in full swing this year and brings a whole new level of excitement.

https://sports.yahoo.com/when-wimbledon-2021-start-how-watch-who-playing-150145602.html

Generally, the main sponsors for Tennis players have been racquet brands and apparel brands. As a players ranking keeps climbing, the exposure to partnership deals tends to grow. High-end brands such as Rolex, Mercedes Benz, Moet, and Tag Heuer have been the center of tournament and player partnerships for several years. However, more brands are finding strategic ways to create partnerships with younger Tennis players. In 2021, 24 year old star Naomi Osaka became the highest paid female athlete in the world, generating $55 million in sponsorship deals with companies like Louis Vuitton, Nike, and Mastercard.

 https://www.insidesport.in/mastercard-formally-announces-naomi-osaka-as-global-brand-ambassador/

Recent French Open champion, Rafael Nadal, who is known for his Nike partnership broke marketing records on his social media post with the French Grand Slam trophy in his hand. The post reached close to 1 million people and helped generate an economic value of $7,681,779. With over a billion fans worldwide, Tennis continues to grow as a hub for international brands to market and create strategic partnerships that achieves twice the engagement rate of non-athlete influencers. With a global audience tuning into Wimbledon, has there ever been a better time to partner with tennis players?