#Sports
Influencers and #Consumer Branding – It’s a Win–Win (OTCQB:
$GFTX) (NYSE: $NKE) (NASDAQ: $EA) (OTC: $NGTF)
Point Roberts WA, Delta BC – August 7, 2019
- Investorideas.com,
a leading investor news resource covering food, cannabis and retail stocks
releases a sector snapshot reporting on the influencer power of sports
ambassadors partnering with companies to build consumer awareness and drive
sales.
Recently both Business
Insider as well as Forbes
discussed the recent growth of sports brands globally, with a particular focus
on US sports and the NFL and how they have rapidly increased in value over the
past few years. “The values of sports teams have skyrocketed on the backs of
ballooning media rights deals and more owner-friendly collective bargaining
agreements that restrain player costs. There are 52 teams across all sports
worth at least $2 billion, up from one, Manchester United, in 2012. The NFL is
still the dominant sports league when it comes to the worth of its franchises.
More than half of the top 50 are football squads.”
This
increase in influence and net worth is being noticed by many businesses looking
to gain traction with their own brands and we are seeing more and more brand
partnerships in a multitude of industries as a result.
Authentic Heroes, an innovator of collectible apparel
and subsidiary of Global Fiber Technologies Inc. (OTCQB:GFTX) www. globalfibertechnologies.com announced a new
partnership with IMG and its Football Greats Alliance (FGA), an organization
dedicated to preserving the legacy of retired NFL athletes. The national
partnership will introduce sports fans to a new line of Football Greats
collectible apparel that will feature inspirational quotes from former players
along with high-quality images, likenesses and historical authentication of
game-worn jerseys.
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this in full at
Hall of Famer, Brett Favre, former quarterback of the
Green Bay Packers will be the new partnership’s inaugural featured player.
Authentic Heroes will feature Brett Favre’s name, number and likeness on their
unique style of hand-crafted, limited edition fan wear, created by utilizing a
patent pending process to extract fibers from an on-field, game worn jersey and
then digitally encoding the fibers into fabric and incorporating them into a
limited edition collection of jerseys, t-shirts, hoodies and other wearables,
providing sports fans with a unique opportunity to own a piece of history.
"We are pleased
to work with FGA and IMG to connect football’s fan base with their favorite
retired players,” said Paul Serbiak, Authentic Heroes CEO. “Research has shown
that fans want more selection of retired players’ jerseys. Partnering with the
FGA will provide unique collectible apparel products to sports fans nationwide,
and we’re honored to present them with the opportunity to celebrate these
cultural icons,” he added.
“We plan to accept
pre-orders ahead of the actual release of the licensed articles. Due to the custom nature of our production
process, this will allow fans to lock in their orders for a specific size,”
said Chris Giordano, President of Global Fiber Technologies, Authentic Heroes
parent company. Global Fiber Technologies is an innovator in the textile fiber
industry, focused on creating growth by developing and commercializing new
technologies in selected areas of the industry.
Brett Weiss,
Director of FGA stated: “We look forward to working with Authentic Heroes to
create high-quality memorabilia products that celebrate the game’s icons. The
Authentic Heroes approach to licensed sports merchandise is a new and unique
way to make on-field, game worn items accessible to a broader fan base.”
The Brett Favre
Apparel Collection will be one of the first Football Greats Authentic Heroes
lines produced for the 2019-2020 season and will be available for pre-purchase
at www.authentic heroes.com late
summer 2019.
One of
the more well- known brand partnerships with the NFL has been with Nike Inc. (NYSE:
NKE)
and there offering of emotionally-charged video campaigns including its 2018 “Dream Crazy” video starring
former NFL player Colin Kaepernick,
and its 2019 “Dream Crazier” ad, an ode to sisterhood narrated by tennis champ Serena
Williams.
In 2018, Nike got
464.2M views and 17.2M engagements for 240 cross-platform uploads, whereas only
halfway into 2019 Nike’s view count has already reached 83% of last year’s
total as this year the brand has earned 385.5M views and 17.5M engagements for
228 uploads.
Electronic
Arts Inc.
(NASDAQ:
EA)
also looked to the NFL
having announced the launch of the EA SPORTS Madden NFL 20 Championship Series (MCS). This year’s MCS enhances the
connection to the sport as all four Madden
NFL Major tournaments occur during key NFL moments – the NFL Kickoff, the
NFL playoffs push, the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft. Additionally, official NFL
partners Pizza Hut and SNICKERS© will serve as official MCS
sponsors, heightening the connection to the League.
The Madden NFL 20 Classic occurs just days
before the NFL season kickoff from August 30-September 1 and is an open
registration format featuring the largest competitor pool in the history of
this event. Held at Esports Stadium Arlington, the largest esports-dedicated facility
in North America, the Madden NFL 20 Classic
will air on the Madden NFL Twitch and YouTube channels.
In addition to the Madden NFL 20 Classic, fans can compete
to represent one of the 32 NFL teams in the Madden
NFL 20 Club Championship, December 18-21. Next is the Madden NFL 20 Challenge occurring January 30-February 1, during
Super Bowl weekend. The Madden NFL 20 Bowl
concludes the MCS season during the NFL Draft April 23-25.
“Last season was a
monumental year for the Madden NFL Championship
Series as millions competed and we achieved record viewership,” said Matt
Marcou, Madden NFL Competitive Gaming
Commissioner. “In continued partnership with the NFL and its 32 clubs, we
intend to accelerate player and spectator growth by aligning closely with the
NFL calendar. Football fandom and Madden
NFL engagement feed off each other and we’re confident this connection will
further inspire our players and spectators.”
“We view esports as
a key accelerant to growing the NFL. It enables new ways for young fans to
engage in the sport through Madden NFL competition,” said Rachel Hoagland, NFL
Vice President, Head of Gaming & Esports. “Competitive Madden unlocks great
potential as the authenticity it provides enhances engagement and the
connection between our 32 NFL Clubs and football fans around the world.”
NFL athletes are
even partnering with less obvious brands such as Nightfood, Inc. (OTC:
NGTF) a company that makes sleep-friendly nighttime ice cream formulated by sleep and
nutrition experts, who
recently announced its second celebrity custom flavor in a
partnership with NFL superstar Richard
Sherman.
Sherman plays for
the San Francisco 49ers and is a graduate of Stanford known for his big heart
and love of the spotlight. Entering the 9th year of his NFL career, he has made
4 NFL Pro-Bowls and 4 All-Pro Teams and earned the singular honor of being
featured on the cover of the iconic EA Sports Madden video game while a member
of the Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks.
“Richard is a
tremendously influential future Hall-of-Fame player who, like most of us,
enjoys a nighttime snack more than just occasionally,” commented Nightfood CEO,
Sean Folkson. “I believe his appeal to NFL fans and gamers of all ages will
allow us to drive additional Nightfood brand awareness when his custom flavor
is available in just a few months.”
“Richard has been
wanting to work with Nightfood for some time,” commented Mitch Eisenstein,
Sherman’s manager. “Nightfood launching custom celebrity flavors is the glue
that helped us bring the deal together at this moment in time.”
Sherman was an
early ambassador and investor in Body Armor, a successful sports drink company
partially acquired by Coca-Cola last year.
Like many transcendent athletes, he has his sights set on business after
his playing days are over. With a vested interest in Nightfood, Sherman stands
to profit greatly if Nightfood grows the way he believes it can in the coming
months and quarters.
“Working with Sean
and the team to bring my own flavor to market is exciting,” added Sherman. “We’re going to have some fun, raise some
money for my charity, Blanket Coverage, and work together to make sure Nightfood
realizes its brand potential.”
Like his charity,
Sherman’s flavor will also be called “Blanket Coverage”, fitting with the
Nightfood naming convention of clever nighttime and sleep-related names for
Nightfood flavors. A monsterized caricature of Sherman will grace the cover of
the packaging for this new, sleep-friendly take on the classic butter pecan
flavor.
As with Nightfood’s
other announced celebrity custom flavor with 5 Seconds of Summer guitarist
Michael Clifford, a number of pints of Blanket Coverage will be marked as a
“golden-ticket” type winner. A handful of lucky Nightfood customers win a
special Richard Sherman experience, driving additional consumer purchases.
“Having a roster of
big-time celebrities on our team certainly makes it easier as we continue to
secure supermarket distribution and consumer awareness,” noted Jim Christensen,
Nightfood VP of Ice Cream Sales. “Our ability to attract such big stars also
says something about the momentum we’ve created in the marketplace.”
As sports teams
gain more global influence we can expect to see more such partnerships from
their players, especially those retired or in the process of retiring and
looking to ensure their financial future. This focus on financial stability for
retired athletes is becoming a great advantage for emerging companies looking
to establish their brands quickly and add an already established fan/consumer
base to their products.
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