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The WNBA kicked off its new season last week with beauty brands lining up to gain access to the league’s growing cohort of fans.
In a gold rush that started around 2020, some of the industry’s top brands have entered into multi-year sponsorships with the league or its top players. The most recent, Fenty’s sponsorship of the New York Liberty, was announced earlier this month and kicked off on Saturday’s home game opener with several activations including a “Gloss Bomb glam cam” where fans show off their beauty look.
The NY Liberty, a top team in the league, has also received sponsorships from L’Oréal-owned brands Essie nail polish and NYX color cosmetics. Meanwhile, Amorepacific-owned Laneige became the Phoenix Mercury’s official sponsor last year, mass hair-care brand Odele Beauty sponsors the Minnesota Lynx, and Glossier has been a league sponsor since 2020.
What’s more, Youth To The People has partnered with the Seattle Storm, and L’Oréal-owned Urban Decay was the official L.A. Sparks sponsor for two seasons. Plus, the Chicago Sky has partnerships with Covergirl, Olay and hair-care band Jamaican Mango and Lime. But perhaps one of the biggest deals is Sephora’s sponsorship of the league’s newest team, San Francisco’s Golden State Valkyries, who will now play at the newly-renamed “Sephora Performance Center” in Oakland. And this is just a snapshot of the WNBA deals Glossy is tracking.
“There was limited broadcast for women’s sports [a few years ago], and now we have record-breaking viewership, which has been just absolutely amazing,” said Jacki Gemelos, a former WNBA player and coach turned sports agent. “Major brands rarely built campaigns around female athletes. And now athletes like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Alex Morgan and Simone Biles, just to name a few, are leading campaigns and not just being included.”
As previously reported by Glossy, attention from the beauty industry aligns with a sharp rise in WNBA audience attention. Viewership on ESPN was up 155% last season and, within this, viewership among people aged 18–34 rose by 164% and viewership among women increased by 165% year-over-year.
Glossy welcomed Gemelos to the podcast to discuss this change and provide context and advice for beauty execs looking to join in on the action. She provides context as to different types of deals, including the average costs and what makes a deal authentic.
Gemelos is a lifelong basketball player who spent more than a decade playing professionally overseas and in the WNBA for the Chicago Sky and the Connecticut Sun. She was an assistant coach for the NY Liberty before joining Nike as an athlete community coordinator. Today, she’s an agent at prestigious boutique firm Disrupt the Game, where she oversees deals for a roster of top talent.
In today’s episode, Gemelos discusses everything beauty execs need to know about this cultural shift. But first, hosts Lexy Lebsack and Sara Spruch-Feiner discuss the top headlines of the week. This includes QVC’s foray into 24/7 social commerce selling through TikTok Shop, plus a bird’s eye view on how the beauty industry did in the first quarter of the year, according to a new report from Circana market research company.
Excerpts from the conversation, below, have been lightly edited for clarity.
On the growth of attention for women’s sports
“There was limited broadcast for women’s sports, and now we have record breaking viewership, which has been just absolutely amazing. And then you’ve got the sports sponsorship and endorsement bucket. Major brands rarely built campaigns around female athletes. And now, athletes like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Alex Morgan and Simone Biles, just to name a few, are leading campaigns and not just being included. And then I think brands are more willing to invest in long-term partnerships as well and build around female sports stories. … Then, there’s the cultural recognition piece. There were rarely conversations around gender equity in sports up until, I would say, 2018ish. Now, fans, especially young women and girls, can see themselves reflected in mainstream sports culture. So to really tie all that in, obviously we still need investment, equal pay and consistent coverage — and not just moments, but more momentum around that. And I think the next decade could really be even more transformative, if we keep showing up and if decision makers are choosing to bet on women.” –Gemelos
On a typical brand deal
“There are all different types of deals, depending on the moment that you’re in, whether it’s NCAA March Madness, the WNBA draft, WNBA All-Star, …. There’s an emergence of partners that like to activate in those key moments. I can use one of our clients as an example: [Washington Mystics player] Kiki Iriafen. Her college partners included Chipotle, Full Court Press, Skechers, CBS, Degree and Celsius, and then leading into the WNBA draft, Carmax and Coach [handbags], which are two league partners. They did a long-term deal with her. They activated with her at the draft [and will again] at the All-Star [game]. The scope of the deal, the cost and the deliverables around that [typically include] social posting, allocated PR hours, appearances and photo shoots. League partner deals pay super well because they’re typically longer-term deals. League partners have money, like I mentioned earlier, too, and without putting anyone’s business out there, those league deals are bigger deals — one-year deals are typically near or around the the six-figure mark.” –Gemelos
