🏟 A masterclass for sports brands taught by Drake vs Kendrick

Happy (early) Mother’s Day! Please don’t forget to call your moms on Sunday.

For those that are new here, every Friday morning, we’ll share insights from the sports industry’s most significant business headlines. Let’s jump right into it.

A MASTERCLASS FOR SPORTS BRANDS TAUGHT BY DRAKE VS KENDRICK LAMAR

The biggest story in music right now is the rap beef between Drake vs Kendrick Lamar showcasing a perfect alignment of star talent, an epic rivalry, amazing content and great product execution.

“That’s cool but what does that have to do with sports?”

We’ll get there in a minute. Here’s some quick context first:

Drake and Kendrick are two of the biggest stars in music. They’ve engaged in friendly competition for the past decade while also collaborating on records together. Formerly cordial associates but now rivals, the two rappers are officially at lyrical war as they compete for hip hop’s crown.

To show how big of a story this is…every major publication, not just the music media, has covered the feud: New York Times, NPR, Time; you get the point.

And from reading this tweet by LeBron, it can be assumed that every team's locker room is playing their newest diss tracks.

Now let’s breakdown this marketing masterclass and how sports brands can learn from this moment. While reading this, please put aside the beef’s personal agendas, allegations, rumors and violent threats.

• STARS - fans love seeing the game's biggest stars perform at their best.

• RIVALRY - this is the matchup everyone has been waiting for: Ali vs Frazier, Serena vs Venus, LeBron vs Steph.

• A GREAT PRODUCT - this series is headed to Game 7 and both stars have been incredible. No fan has left disappointed.

• LEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT - each artist has used creative cover art, memes, and music videos to engage their fans and to support their storytelling.

• NEW MEDIA RELATIONSHIPS - both artists have used their team’s relationships with new media: podcasters and content creators to share their narrative.

• TECH INTEGRATION - both artists strategically released on YouTube and DSPs, while Drake also used AI in one of his diss tracks.

• FAN ENGAGEMENT - Kendrick removed YouTube copyright claims to support fans monetizing their reaction videos and Drake has trolled fans by commenting on social posts throughout the battle.

This music rivalry highlights several strategies sports brands can adopt. Now let’s review some recent sports rivalries and how they’ve capitalized on their own moments:

• ANOTHER STAR STEALS THE SHOW - Tom Brady got roasted on Netflix and the headline the next morning was Eli Manning’s tweet.

• HISTORIC EAST COAST RIVALRY - Jalen Brunson and Tyrese Haliburton are bringing back the Knicks vs Pacers rivalry leading to great TV ratings for the Knicks during these playoffs.

• A GREAT PRODUCT ON THE COURT - The Washington Mystics and Las Vegas Aces relocated their home games against the Indiana Fever to larger venues due to the anticipation of Caitlin Clark attracting a sold-out crowd.

• SOCIAL MEDIA STORYTELLING - speaking of Caitlin Clark, WNBA teams are seeing 2-5x their typical social engagement with content promoting their upcoming Indiana Fever games.

• PR AND COMMS RELATIONSHIPS - The Mayor of Vancouver and Edmonton have entered into a friendly wager on X in anticipation of the NHL’s Canucks vs Oilers 2nd round playoff series.

• TECH INTEGRATION - Fanatics celebrated Victor Wembanyama’s Rookie of The Year Award over Chet Holmgren with an immersive exhibit including AI talking photos of former NBA ROTY award winners.

• FAN ENGAGEMENT - When the moment in culture is so big, brands can’t help but join the conversation i.e. Prize Picks, Draft Kings and we even did it too.

We have to ask though…who do you think is winning - Drake or Kendrick?! 🤔

QUICK READS AND LINKS ICYMI:

• 🏀 Candace Parker is named the new president of Adidas Women’s Basketball shortly after announcing her WNBA retirement.

• ⚾️ Ed Sheeran and LA Dodgers Foundation raise $54 million to support education, healthcare and housing initiatives in LA.

• 👽 Nike Basketball included viral Spurs fan in new commercial spot for Victor Wembanyama’s Nike GT Hustle 2 PE.

• 🦞 Hard Rock Stadium’s CEO explains the real story behind the viral food prices from the F1 Miami Grand Prix.

WE HAVE OUR EYES AND EARS ON THE FOLLOWING:

• Tom Brady’s Jersey Retirement: The New England Patriots will celebrate Brady’s jersey retirement on 6/12 as team executives chose the 12th day of the sixth month as two of the numbers most often associated with Tom Brady’s Patriots career; his six Super Bowl championships and his iconic uniform number.

• Nike Sabrina 2: Sabrina Ionescu confirmed her second signature sneaker is coming soon. NBA stars like Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Haliburton and Jrue Holiday have all worn the Sabrina 1s this season.

• Paul Skenes Called Up: The 2023 No. 1 overall MLB draft pick Paul Skenes will make his debut this Saturday for the Pittsburgh Pirates and home plate tickets skyrocketed to $5,632 each.

CELEBRATING WINS ACROSS THE SPORTS INDUSTRY:

🎉 Congrats to Zachary Bosse-Thomsen (Position Sports), Eliza Nuestro (SBV Fellowship), Grant Martin (SBV Fellowship) and Kyle Tso (SBV Fellowship) on their new roles in the sports industry!

Want to share your latest sports career update with our community? Just fill out this form and let us know about your new job, promotion or internship!

DID YOU SEE THIS? 👀

This is a great case study in using social media to create a career opportunity for yourself.

Lilian Westhafer is a marketing student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Last week, she posted on LinkedIn an advertising deck that she created as a group project assignment with her classmates.

The group of students ideated a new product for Poppi, a rapidly growing soda brand that is the official beverage sponsor of Miami Pickleball Club and includes Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook amongst a long list of other sports, music and celebrity investors.

After Lilian shared her deck on LinkedIn, the CMO of Poppi commented on her post and invited her to meet his team.

One week later, Lilian is presenting her group project to Poppi’s C-Suite and the company’s co-founder.

From her taking initiative on LinkedIn, Lilian and her classmates gained practical working experience, new industry connections, viral networking effects, and potential future career opportunities.

The lesson here: shoot your shot, share your work and use social media to your advantage!

CAN YOU SHARE QUICK FEEDBACK?

BEFORE YOU GO - HERE ARE 3 WAYS SBV CAN HELP YOU:

1. Want to be placed on our early access list to our collection of career advancing tools and resources we’ve created? Just quickly reply back with “The Playbook”.

2. Sponsor our content - get in front of 25K+ sports industry professionals.

3. Have an idea? Want to partner with our team? Fill out this quick form.