[ad_1]
when WNBA Draft tips tonight At the Brooklyn Academy of Music, most fans will focus on the order in which the names are called. Will Caitlin Clark reject? 1 comprehensive? Who will draft Angel Reese?
The list of college prospects in this year’s draft is incredibly compelling. Not just for the WNBA clubs drafting them, but also for brands and marketers looking to capitalize on the unprecedented popularity and momentum behind women’s basketball right now. Brands like State Farm and Gatorade were among the major sports marketers to run campaigns built around Clark during the NCAA Tournament.
With stars like Clark and Reese moving from college to the NBA, women’s basketball is set to take off in a big way, Jeff Kearney, Gatorade’s president of sports marketing, told me last month. “There’s a wave coming, and will it move west?” Kearney said. “I don’t think it slows him down at all. It could really take it to a higher level.”
Dallas based agency Marketing arm (TMA) has compiled a list of the top ten 2024 WNBA draft picks with the highest projected trade appeal. The agency’s celebrity and influencer team analyzed the WNBA draft roster through the same lens it looks at any class of talent: prioritizing attributes like awareness, appeal, confidence and influence.
“With this being the most-watched season in women’s college basketball, we evaluated players who have a combination of on-court dominance, social media power, a track record of nothing-less trades, interesting off-court endeavors, and appeal with specific fans.” , and are expected to go higher in the draft, says Sam Ibarra, TMA’s celebrity and influencer team manager.
An unprecedented draft class
Ibarra and his team see Clark and Reese as being in a class of their own, but they don’t rank players by marketability because the needs and goals of any given brand play a vital role in a player partnership and can vary widely. Ibarra says the two most common traits among these players are their dominance on the field and their authenticity in their public image.
“How valuable is their contribution to the game? And is the image they portray real to them? Consumers are always judging whether an athlete or influencer is real, so this is extremely important,” says Ibarra.
Ibarra and his team see this year’s draft as the WNBA’s equivalent of the 1984 NBA draft class that included Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon, in its ability to attract new fans to the league. “Having a huge number of NBA fans following a lot of these women in college will turn a whole new fan base into the WNBA when they get drafted,” Ibarra says. “They have brought about a change in the game that we have not seen in any other league over the past decade.”
This is also a class that is already adept at marketing themselves, thanks to NIL, building a legion of fans that will only grow larger. “Players today have many ways to build their personal brands, and female athletes are particularly good at it,” Ibarra says. “No matter what people think about different platforms, it’s all part of the ‘game’ now within athlete endorsements. Partnering with an athlete who is interested in your brand is key. There has to be excitement on both sides.”
Top 10
Listed, in alphabetical order, are the agency’s top recruits who have the most commercial viability for brands heading to the WNBA.
Isobel Borlase (Adelaide Lightning)
TMA Report: Since taking control of the WNBL in Australia, Borlase has the ability to attract a whole new audience from overseas.
Cameron Brink (Stanford)
TMA Report: The soul sister of basketball star Steph Curry has been surrounded by the sport of basketball her entire life, and continues to break into other outlets outside of her sport like fashion and self-care.
Current NIL Brand Partners: Optimum Nutrition, Estee Lauder.
Camila Cardoso (South Carolina)
TMA Report: The 6’7 NCAA title-winning forward took a big risk by leaving her hometown of Brazil before high school to pursue basketball.
Current NIL Brand Partners: Raising Cane’s.
Caitlin Clark (Iowa)
TMA Report: The new face of women’s basketball is making his way to the WNBA after breaking almost every record in women’s collegiate basketball.
Current NIL Brand Partners: Gatorade, Nike, State Farm, Gainbridge, Xfinity, H&R Block and Buick.
Aaliyah Edwards (UConn)
TMA Report: While Edwards was a star on the court, off the court she was very humble and was vocal about her faith across various social media platforms.
Current NIL Deals: Adidas.
Rekia Jackson (Tennessee)
TMA Report: Jackson may play at Tennessee, but she’s a Detroit native and proud to represent her hometown.
Current NIL Deals: Burt’s Bees, Honey Stinger, and HeyDude.
Charisma Osbourne (UCLA)
TMA Report: Basketball is her first love, but Karisma is a huge dog lover and is also very active on social media with her funny content.
Current NIL Deals: Athletic Brewing Co., JLab Audio.
Alyssa Bailey (Utah)
TMA Report: Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, Billy grew up loving the game. Being of Samoan and Alaska Native descent, she is the pride of her family on and off the field.
Current NIL Deals: Utah 360 App.
Angel Reese (LSU)
TMA Report: Often seen as Clarke’s counterpart on the field, Reece has made as much of a splash in the sponsorship world as Clarke, and will continue to dominate the space on and off the field. Reese made her draft announcement via A.J Vogue magazine feature.
Current Nil Deals: Reese had 17 nil deals in 2022-2023, and added Beats, Tampax, Goldman Sachs and Airbnb this year.
Jesse Sheldon (Ohio State)
TMA Report: Born and raised in suburban Columbus, Ohio, Sheldon is a Buckeye in every sense of the word. When she is not on the field, she is involved in special needs issues because her sister has Down Syndrome.
Current deals where there are none: McDonald’s, Powerade, Crossover Culture, Hanes.
[ad_2]
Source link
