Lindsey Komson

The next wave of sports marketing is here, and social media is at the helm.

Greenfly explains that sports marketing “is often used to promote individual sporting events and regular-season games and connect brands with fans.” Successful sports marketing campaigns “can capture the attention of sports fans and potential sponsors and expand their reach to new audiences.”

Sports marketing campaigns used to target a small group of sports fans – those local to a team’s city or people who have previously interacted with the team in some way.

Today, sports marketing campaigns “capture the attention of all kinds of audiences, and bring sports figures into the cultural zeitgeist” according to Sprout Social. Not only do they bring sports into culture, but they bring culture into sports as well. This attracts a whole new group of fans – those who might not be die-hard fans of a team, but who will begin to pay attention to the team’s content.

All this to say, social media is the reason why sports marketing campaigns have gone from local to global impact.

Let’s talk about 2 campaigns that exemplify this:

Angel Reese x Reese’s

Angel Reese, one of the rising stars of the WNBA, obviously has a name similar to the candy Reese’s. I don’t even get that much women’s basketball content on my social media feeds, but even I had seen people proposing that The Hershey Company (that owns Reese’s) collaborate with her.

After learning that her fans call themselves the Reese’s Pieces, the Reese’s brand began engaging with her content on social media and found that they were an ideal fit for a partnership beyond just their names.

Melissa Blette, senior brand manager of Reese’s, spoke with Marketing Brew about their partnership, and explained that the limited-edition merch drop they created “exceeded expectations.” She said that one of Angel Reese’s main goals of the partnership was to connect with gen-z, so bringing her likeness to one of the most beloved candy brands in the world and sharing it on social media is undoubtedly bringing more eyes to the WNBA.

New York Mets x McDonald’s

On June 12^th, 2024, the New York Mets had McDonald’s mascot, Grimace, throw out the first pitch in honor of his birthday. The Mets would win the game that night and go on a 7-game winning streak, and people started to attribute the team’s success to Grimace. Suddenly, the entirety of #MetsTwitter, the official Mets account included, and the whole sports world was all about Grimace.

McDonald’s and the Mets already had a partnership in place, but this took it to the next level. According to the Wieden + Kennedy website, several PR firms worked with Grimace over the summer to keep his (and McDonalds’) engagement with the sports community. Grimace made his way to the McDonald’s X account, a billboard in front of Citi Field, the Mets’ 2025 schedule release, and even the Empire State Building. Sharing Grimace’s adventures kept the world’s eyes on the remainder of the Mets season, and of course, McDonald’s.

Looking at both campaigns, it’s obvious that social media was the catalyst. Listening to fans, keeping tabs on what’s popular, and acting on it quickly allows these campaigns to succeed.

Rolling Stone Culture Council writes, “The future of sports marketing lies in the hands of social media, as it continues to foster meaningful connections and bring the sports world even closer to its passionate fans.”

Social media is completely transforming sports marketing, and I’m sure we will see exponentially more innovative campaigns like these in the coming years.