Smashing It: Pickeball, Badminton, Soccer
Major League Pickleball and Lebron. white whale mktg and Badminton Canada. Denmark and World Cup.
On Today’s Agenda:
Major League Pickleball Announces Lebron James as One of Many Investors
Developing Partnerships for a National Sports Organization
What’s in a World Cup Kit?
Lebron’s Taking His Talents To…
Major League Pickleball Announces Lebron James as One of Many Investors
By AJ Hewish
We’ve all heard of the MLB, the NBA, the MLS, the NFL, and many more major sports leagues in North America and across the globe. Well, there’s a new player in town, and it’s been backed by one of the GOATs of basketball: Lebron James.
Earlier this week, Major League Pickleball announced Lebron James as one of many in a group of investors in the league. Even more surprisingly, former Cavaliers teammate Kevin Love, and GS Warrior star Draymond Green have also been announced as investors in the new league.
Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in North America, with the MLP looking to expand from 12 to 16 teams in 2023, playing across 6 major US cities next season. With the increased funding and investment from the NBA’s best, we’re in for an extremely rapid expansion by the MLP.
The tennis-ping pong-badminton mixed sport has seen immense interest in previous years, with the likes of current professional athletes playing with one another. With more and more interest and involvement in the sport over the past several years, the MLP’s strategic advisor stated there are over 60 different groups interested in investment.
It’s not often we see many new leagues being created in professional sports, let alone almost an entirely brand-new sport. But how does a new league like the MLP compete with the likes of these multi-billion if not trillion-dollar leagues? The thing is Pickleball isn’t like basketball or football. You don’t have to be 7ft tall or built like Dwayne Johnson; its unique value proposition is that anyone can play! As Lebron’s friend and business partner Maverick Carter says, “I immediately connected with the sport's community and its capacity to be both fun and competitive.”
All it comes to now is how will we see their growth in the modern sports market. Will it become the next billion-dollar league and attract fans like the NBA and NFL do? Probably not. But what they can do is be themselves. Market the MLP as an all-new, revolutionary, and completely unique sport and league.
There’s so much there for them to do, especially with the financial backing of the Lakers superstar Lebron James, maybe we’ll even see an LA Lakers professional pickleball team?
It’s a sport with massive potential, it’s just a question of getting there.
white whale mktg signs Badminton Canada
Developing Partnerships for a National Sports Organization
By Christopher Nascimento
The other day, white whale mktg released a video announcing their latest client in Badminton Canada. A step into the sports property business that was a long time in the making where the Ottawa-based sports marketing company will provide partnership marketing development services.
Over the last number of months, it has become evident that the sporting landscape is changing and this is an opportunity to get in on the action. Shifts have varied from how sports fans consume content, where sponsors are spending their money, and which sports are growing versus others. With all changes considered, it’s important not to forget the most important piece of this sporting pie, the fans.
Without an audience, sports have nothing. This is why it’s crucial for sports operating in countries like Canada, which are becoming more and more of a diverse melting pot of beautiful cultures, to remember that interests are different. A Canadian family isn’t automatically defined as a ‘hockey family’, heck, look at my family. I played hockey growing up and my grandparents (Portuguese), knew nothing about the sport other than I loved it. They would simply just call it bola, which in translation is just ball.
This is what makes white whale mktg working with Badminton Canada so enticing. Regardless of background, sports are one of the largest psychographics and ultimately, bring people together. We have the opportunity to develop something from the ground up and create value for potential partners to engage a different demographic of Canadians that they’re looking to target.
Making a Statement
What’s in a World Cup Kit?
By Hiral Patel
Football fans are probably feeling a bit unusual right now, as the hype for the FIFA World Cup begins… in the fall season. With the 2022 World Cup set to kick off in Qatar in November, the anticipation is beginning to build up and teams have begun to release their uniforms for the tournament. However, not every uniform release is equal, and the reception has also varied.
Some fans have been very pleased with the creativity and design of their kits, and some have been unimpressed with their kits. Canadian fans were disappointed to see that they would be the only nation in the World Cup without a specially designed kit for the tournament. Frustration did not stop there, as national team players were also unhappy with Nike’s decision:
Forward Jonathan David’s celebration against Qatar in a friendly pre-tournament game went viral as he covered the Nike logo, which presumably is his commentary on the World Cup kit launch. From every perspective, this cannot be a great look for Nike – especially for a nation’s fanbase who has not seen their team in a world cup since 1986, notwithstanding the country’s status as a host of the 2026 World Cup. The world shall see if fans forgive Nike for this decision.
On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Denmark’s kit release made waves across the world, with kit partner Hummel releasing a “toned-down” design for the world cup:
Hummel, in collaboration with the Danish national team, toned down all designs for the team kit in protest of Qatar's human rights record. They also released a black colour 3rd kit, in a show of mourning for all the lives lost in the preparation of stadiums for the World Cup.
The Denmark national kit is a great example of how presence and branding is not exclusive to logo use. Actions speak louder than words, and fans will look beyond the logo on the kit if the “why” factor is compelling enough. Hats off to Hummel and Denmark for taking a stand.
