👋 Hey, it’s Alex. Welcome back to Sponcon Sports, my weekly newsletter dedicated to sponsored content strategy in the sports industry!

Thank you to Janis R. for submitting a request for more TikTok ideas!

As a reminder, this is a resource for you. Submit any questions or topics you want to learn more about via the form linked at the bottom of the newsletter, and I’ll be happy to include them in the future.

In Today’s Edition:

• Sponcon Ideas for TikTok 🤳 

• Liverpool FC’s Elite Renewal Video 🍻 

• Aston Martin F1’s Fan Controlled Quiz Show 🪙 

📫️ SUBSCRIBER SUBMISSION
5 Sponsored Content Ideas For TikTok You Can Use Right Now

While TikTok is now a well-established priority platform, sponsored content is still in its infancy compared to platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube.

However, there’s substantial monetization potential. Here are five content concepts introduced to me on TikTok that can be used for sponsored content right now.

All five stood out to me for one of three reasons: exclusive access, player personality, and/or educational storytelling.

Let’s swipe in!

Player Challenges
The New York Giants have excelled in this area, embracing this style early in 2023. The content team has devised various table games where players compete against each other. The subtle integration of partner products is the winning move here.

Why It Works

• Showcases players' personalities through helmets off content.

• Watching the players compete off the field is entertaining.

• Non-intrusive partner product placement.

Examples: Can Challenge featuring Pepsi Zero Sugar, the Last Cup Challenge featuring Gatorade, as well as the Pop Darts Challenge, and the Table Game Challenge featuring Microsoft Surface.

Q&A’s
TikTok's native feature allowing users to create videos from comments makes it perfect for Q&A sessions. Have players record selfie-style videos encouraging fans to submit questions in the comments. Select PR-approved questions from the original video, and let a player or players answer one question per video, creating episodic content.

This is the TikTok version of something we see often in sports, such as What’s the Scoop from the Buffalo Bills and Perry’s Ice Cream.

Why It Works

• Provides exclusive access that lets fans learn about players in more depth.

• Content can be captured before the season begins.

• Just one shoot with a player can fuel a high-frequency content series.

Examples: Australian Football League - Player Q&A (check out the comments for player answers), World Jai-Alai League - Learn Jai-Alai

Fantastic Finishes
Let’s get into some ideas that don’t rely on player access.

Show the highlights from the last few minutes of a win with the score staying on screen the entire time. Feature the final minutes of a back-and-forth game, a great comeback, or an epic performance from a player who got hot down the stretch. For basketball specifically, you could call this ‘Clutch Time’ given it’s an official stat in that league.

Why It Works

• Keeps fans engaged with exciting moments from wins.

• It’s a low-lift edit.

• TikTok users now spend 50% of their time watching videos longer than 1 minute [The Information].

Example: NBA Fantastic Finishes - they have a whole playlist on their profile!

Little Known Facts
Here’s a concept where only voiceover is needed. Share little-known facts about your team’s sport/league, your stadium/arena, or simply the team itself. This is an awesome opportunity for any partner focused on numbers or analytics.

For more popular sports in your country, you’ll want to lean more toward the more obscure and deeper facts as is shown in the example linked below. If your sport is less known, like the Jai Alai example from earlier on this list, you can lean into more of the basic rules and strategies to help introduce the sport to fans.

Why It Works

• It’s scalable based on partners’ budgets.

• While it requires a lot of front-end research on what facts to share, the entire series can be produced before the start of the season.

• It educates casual and diehard fans alike with facts they probably didn’t know about the team/sport.

Example: New York Rangers - Little Known Facts

Gameday Staff POV
Capture unique moments in your home arena/stadium by highlighting gameday staff. Use a GoPro for a picture-in-picture view of the employee's reactions and the game action.

The Tampa Bay Lightning turned their Look-a-like Cam (linked below) into a full content series since the lookalikes change each game. If you have a presenting sponsor of that in-game feature this content extension could help generate more revenue (and value for the partner).

Why It Works

• It provides exclusive team perspectives.

• The unscripted, real-time, reactions are worth waiting for.

• You can generate behind-the-scenes content without reliance on player access.

Examples: Tampa Bay Lightning Look-a-Like Cam, Anna Tobkin KC Chiefs Control Room Chaos, Indiana Pacers PA Announcer Reactions, and the Seattle Mariners Announcer Cam.

💼 CASE STUDY
Sponsored Content of the Week

When sharing news about a partnership renewal, you must capture your audience's attention to prevent them from scrolling past.

Last week, Liverpool FC and Carlsberg unveiled a 10-year extension, marking the longest partnership in Premier League and club history at 42 years.

Rather than a mere link to the press release on the LFC website, the Reds' content team crafted an exceptional announcement video.

• The stop-motion edit stands out as best-in-class.

• The clever play on the tattoo theme to symbolize inking a new deal is perfect.

• The content piece beautifully celebrates the rich history shared by the two brands.

The Liverpool and Carlsberg partnership commenced in 1992, with Carlsberg becoming a principal partner, including front-of-shirt sponsorship. This period witnessed some of the club's most iconic on-field moments. Carlsberg evolved into the official beer in 2010 and will continue in that role until at least 2034.

The renewal video not only featured the aforementioned kits but also incorporated memorable moments into the tattoo sequence.

Results
This serves as an outstanding example of how a successful, long-term brand partnership can integrate into the team's and fanbase’s identity.

Fans enthusiastically celebrated the news, with the renewal video posted on Facebook Reels, Instagram Reels, and X, garnering an impressive 3.1 million views and 128.0K engagements.

🔍 SPONCONSPIRATION
Steal These Ideas

Love how Aston Martin F1 incentivized their fans to use partner product to guide social content. Using the Socios app, Aston Martin fans voted for Jesica Hawkins to go head-to-head with Fernando Alonso in their quiz, ‘The Racing Order’.

It’s great to see teams that have buy-in from players for content participation. Once again, the Los Angeles Lakers leveled up their Delta Airlines travel content.

The Boston Bruins have been rolling out a goggle cam this season, giving fans a behind-the-scenes look from players’ first-person POV.

NFL teams continue to find new ways to capture attention with weekly uniform reveals. I really like this edit from the Miami Dolphins, including some strong logo placement for Pepsi.

The Chicago Bulls announced their Player Jersey Series. They worked with their players to design seven unique jerseys (all sponsored) to be given away at upcoming games this season. As always with the Bulls, the campaign includes a top-tier website landing page.

🚨 ICYMI
What To Watch For

Sh*t Talk: LEAD FROM BEHIND, created in partnership with Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort, recruited Dak Prescott to make Colon Cancer famous and it worked (7.9M+ impressions on just this post)!

Stat of the Week: Did you know the Drone Racing League’s 1.8M followers on its WhatsApp Channel outpaces its following on Facebook (1.5M) and Instagram (360K)? Learn why your team may want to embrace this platform in 2024 [Sports Pundit].

Threads Has Hashtags Now…kind of: You can tag a topic on your post - no # required - to categorize your posts and make it easier for others to find and join in on the conversation.

Kam-era Ready: New Orleans Saints running back, Alvin Kamara, used player arrivals content to help launch his NASCAR merchandise collection.

Prove Social Media ROI: Tommy Clark put together a guide to social media reporting. While its focus is on the B2B space, the framework is still a helpful resource for us in the sports industry [Social Files].