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

Every four years, the whole world joins together to celebrate the talented athletes who participate in the Olympic games. This year, the 2020 Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. This delay creates a unique opportunity for brands to launch long-term campaigns to drive continuous sales growth across both the summer and winter games. Who should the focus be for these campaigns? Olympic athletes.

The prolonged spotlight on Olympic athletes makes them the best candidate for your brand’s next influencer marketing campaign. Not only are Olympic athletes competing on a world stage, they have strong ties at the local and national level. Brands can utilize this reach by sponsoring an Olympic athlete with a strong personal brand.

Due to Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter, brands are not able to reference the Games in any marketing capacity during the blackout period from nine days before the opening and three days after the closing of the Olympics. What does this rule mean for you? It is even more important for brands to work with athletes before this blackout period begins, and ensure their marketing campaigns during the games follow the limitations set forth by the rule.

The OpenSponsorship platform is a great way to make successful sponsorship deals with Olympic athletes. The large followings of these athletes can be leveraged by your brand to increase your sales and social media engagement. Here are some great examples of deals with Olympic athletes from the OpenSponsorship platform:

1. Gabby Douglas x Little Ceasers

This partnership utilized a TikTok video that has reached over 20.7 million views on the platform. Gabby Douglas’ olympic gymnastic moves helped propel this video to become a viral sensation, creating great exposure for Little Ceasers. 

 

2. Kristi Castlin x TIDL

Kristi, a 2016 Olympic Bronze Medalist in the 100 m hurdles, is one of several olympic athletes who partnered with TIDL sports through our platform. 

3. Rose Lavelle and Emily Sonnett x Quorn

These two US Women’s Soccer National Team are both partnered with Quorn. Most recently, they participated in a friendly competition cook-off using Quorn products! 

4. Steven Benedict x The Frazier Brand

Steven Benedict, a professional track and field athlete and an Olympic hopeful, partnered with The Frazier Brand for some inspiring content!

Partner with an Olympic athlete for your next influencer marketing campaign and reach a loyal fan base to help increase your engagement and sales. OpenSponsorship provides you with the opportunity to connect with a long list of Olympic athletes. Sign up now to get started!

With Father's Day approaching sooner than we may have expected, we've decided to take some time and look at some of the best father figure athletes on the OpenSponsorship platform.  With over 6,000 athletes on our platform it is hard single out a 'top 10' that are great fathers, especially when we know there are countless other athletes on our platform that are superstar dads.  This list is comprised of those all-star dad's that have no hesitation in showing off their beloved children  on their social media pages for their fanbase and the entire world to see.

As a brand it would be a smart to align your audience and marketing campaign with one of these athletes for a Father's day marketing campaign, promotion, or giveaway post.  As you will see, all of these "athlete-dads" are posting consistently on their social media feed with their adorable children and they are ready and open to collaborating on the OS platform with brands for upcoming campaigns.

 

1. Russell Westbrook

Russell Westbrook is a professional basketball player in the NBA for the Houston Rockets.  Westbrook is a 9-time NBA All-Star and was the recipient of the Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in the 2016-2017 NBA season.  The Houston Rockets star and his wife Nina Earl have 3 children, 3 year-old Noah Westbrook, and 1 year-old twin sisters Jordyn and Skye.  Westbrook frequently posts adorable pictures of his children to his Instagram, which is boasting a following of 15.3 million.  

You can find Russell on OpenSponsorship here and on Instagram here.

2. Robert Griffin III

Robert Griffin III (RG3) is a professional football player in the NFL, that plays quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens.  RG3 played college football at Baylor University in 2011 where he won the nationally renowned Heisman Trophy.  RG3 is a dedicated father with 3 daughters, who loves spending time with his girls and posting it on his social media.

You can find Robert on OpenSponsorship here and Instagram here.

3. Devon Still

Devon Still is a former defensive end in the NFL where he played for 5 years for teams including the Cincinnati Bengals, Houston Texans, and New York Jets.  Although Still did have an impressive NFL career, it was sadly his daughter Leah's sickness that took over his life full time.  In 2014 while playing in the NFL, Devon Still heard the news that his daughter Leah was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.  At that point Still put his whole NFL life on hold to attend to his daughter.  This story went viral as Still shaved his head bald and posted pictures and videos of himself and Leah smiling they're best while battling through the horrible disease.  After being given a 50-50 chance to survive, Leah beat the stage 4 cancer a little over a year later in December 2015.

Back in March 2020 it was announced the Leah has made it to the 5-year mark of being cancer free.

You can find Devon on OpenSponsorship here and Instagram here.

4. Matt Carpenter

Matthew Carpenter is a professional baseball player in the MLB currently playing infield for the St. Louis Cardinals.  Carpenter is always posting on his social media with his kids and wife.  It is apparent that he enjoys spending as much time with them as he can and being the best dad he can.

You can find Matt on OpenSponsorship here and Instagram here.

5. Torrey Smith

Torrey Smith is a former professional football player in the NFL for several teams including the Baltimore Ravens, San Fransisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Carolina Panthers.  Overall Smith played wide receiver in the NFL for 8 years, after he was drafted in 2011 from the University of Maryland.  Now that Smith is retired he has a lot of extra time that he uses to spend with his family and his three adorable kids.

You can find Torrey on OpenSponsorship here and Instagram here.

6. Matt Barnes

Matt Barnes is a retired professional basketball player who played in the NBA for 14 seasons.  After a long career in the NBA, Barnes is now a family man as well as a podcaster for the 'All the Smoke' podcast.  Barnes enjoys spending time with his 3 children (two of which are twins) and his young toddler.

You can find Matt on OpenSponsorship here and Instagram here.

7. Eric Decker

Eric Decker is a former professional football player that played in the NFL for 8 seasons.  After a pretty impressive a 8-year career in the NFL, Eric became a reality TV star with his wife Jessie, on the E! series Eric & Jessie.  The show went on for 4 years and just propelled Eric to more stardom.  Now with the show over Eric has more time to focus totally on his family and three adorable children.  If you take a quick look at his Instagram you can see how much he loves showing them off for the rest of the world to see.

You can find Eric on OpenSponsorship here and Instagram here.

8. Donald Scott

Donald Scott is an American track and field athlete who competes in the triple jump. Scott is a 2017 and 2019 U.S. Indoor Triple Jump Champion and a 2018 U.S. Outdoor Champion.  Scott is also an olympic father when it comes to being a great dad to his daughter Anastasia.  Just check out his Instagram for a flood of pictures of his adorable toddler.

You can find Donald on OpenSponsorship here and Instagram here.

9. Matt Bosher

Matt Bosher is a professional football player who has been a top punter in the league for over 10 years with the Atlanta Falcons.  In addition to being a top punter, Bosher is also an amazing father to his two sons and shows it through his social media.

You can find Matt on OpenSponsorship here and Instagram here.

10. Nathan Stupar

Nathan (Nate) Stupar is a professional football player in the NFL, who has played linebacker in the league fro various teams over since being drafted in 2012.  Nate is very active on his social media and loves connecting with brands that he feels he can believe in and align with.  Nate is also always posting content with his family and children showing how he is a dedicated father in addition to being a NFL player.

You can find Nate on OpenSponsorship here and Instagram here.

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All of these athletes are examples of great fathers and they show the world that you can be a professional athlete and an amazing parent at the same time. 

To learn more about these incredible athletes and several others on the platform, contact an OpenSponsorship representative or send us an email at info@opensponsorship.com.

 

Olympians, Rio may be over, but the limelight doesn’t have to be. Here are OpenSponsorship's four tips for staying connected to your fans and sponsors:

1. Broadcast your training regime. Most people are in awe of how hard Olympic athletes train, and when you allow this audience a glimpse into your regime, they can’t stop watching. Share the hardest part or your favorite part of your training to really wow your fans. If you’re looking for humor or relatability, you can even share your least favorite part! Give shout outs to your clothing and equipment sponsors who help you get awesome results. Our recommendation: turn your snapchat into a .LIVE channel.
2. Share yourself competing at local or national events. It might not be the Olympics, but it still counts and your fans still have a vested interest in watching your journey. Whether its international meets, or local events, show us what happens behind the scenes, how you interact with the other competitors, and stream your teammates racing too. Our recommendation: use YouTube to broadcast your event and brand it TracktoTokyo.live.
3. How does sponsorship really work? What does it mean when you have a photoshoot or some new Nike gear? A lot of your fans might be aspiring athletes who want to learn. Promote sponsors and the sponsorship journey through your own social channels. Our recommendations: turn these posts into a channel on .SOCIAL.
4. We love family, and the P&G ads are our faves! Thank your family through keeping your fans up to date about how they help your journey as an athlete and human being. Do you tease your little sister who isn't as good at sports as you, or maybe it’s your mum who sleeps in the car while you are training? Let the world see where you really came from and go back to. Our recommendations: use .FAMILY.

Fans love you for who you are and what you do. They want to know more about you. Our team speaks from experience when we say that fans will spend hours watching video of their favorite athlete, no matter what they are doing. The more information you give them, (in livestreams, tweets, and Instagram posts) the more they will talk about you. So take your fans on your next quest for Gold!