One Couple. Eight Cities. One Perfect Collab

👋 Welcome back to Sponcon Sports, a weekly newsletter dedicated to sponsored content strategy in the sports industry!

Stop chasing trends. Start owning them.

The best social teams don’t jump on every viral moment—they find ways to make trends purposeful.

Ask any experienced strategist and they’ll tell you the same thing: chasing trends for the sake of it burns time and rarely builds your brand. The key is putting a spin on them that only you can.

One trending format that’s perfect for sponsored content right now: the “hold the dots and scroll” technique that creates a stop-motion effect in Instagram carousels.

It’s a great tool for uniform reveals—whether you’re launching a new look or highlighting the gear for gameday preview content.

A few standout examples:

• University of Illinois Football: They put a twist on this format I hadn’t seen before, using video in the first frame to take the stop-motion effect to the next level.

• NFL on Prime: This one was technically a player reveal, but the execution felt like pulling back a curtain—perfect for a uniform drop.

What I love most about this format is how it makes fans work for the reveal. It’s interactive, satisfying, and far more likely to stop the scroll than a static uniform image. At the very least, it’s a format worth mixing into your season-long series to keep things fresh.

You don’t need to hop on every trend in real time. Instead, think about how you can repurpose a trending format to make it evergreen—adding creative longevity that levels up your content, strengthens your brand voice, and even drives revenue.

In Today’s Edition:

• MLB Books Sponcon Win 🏨 

• LEGO Racecar Returns 🏎️

• 0.0 Notes In Angel City 🍻 

🏊️ DEEP DIVE
MLB and Booking.com’s Winning Road Trip

The MLB Postseason is when the stakes rise — and this year, the league found a clever way to bring fans along for the ride.

To spotlight its Division Series presenting sponsor Booking.com, MLB partnered with creators Shelby and Dylan Reese (1.7M Instagram Followers | 6.7M TikTok Followers) — a married couple known for their funny, relatable videos — and gave them a challenge: Visit all eight Division Series markets in one week.

Not the Obvious Choice — But the Right One

Rather than pick diehard baseball creators, MLB went with Shelby and Dylan — Braves fans who love the sport but aren’t defined by it. They represent the kind of fans who follow their team closely without needing to memorize every stat.

That’s exactly why they worked. They brought the perspective of everyday fans — people who love the game for the experience. MLB and Booking.com gave them a baseball backdrop, but the content still felt like classic Shelby and Dylan: lighthearted, relatable, and effortlessly fun.

By doing so, MLB didn’t just reach core fans. They expanded the audience — bringing in people who might not normally tune in to postseason baseball.

A Creator Road Trip With Real Stakes

Over five episodes across Instagram Reels and TikTok, Shelby and Dylan showed what it’s like to travel the country with Booking.com — hopping from one ballpark to the next, checking into hotels, eating their way through locals’ stadium favorites, and soaking up the atmosphere at some of baseball’s most iconic venues.

But this wasn’t just a sightseeing challenge. There was a real chance the Reeses wouldn’t make it to all eight markets — especially if any of the Division Series wrapped up early.

That uncertainty gave the trip real stakes. Luckily, the baseball schedule cooperated, and they made it to every city on their itinerary.

• Episode 1: Challenge Begins in Enemy Territory (Philadelphia)

• Episode 2: Two Countries In One Day, Toronto to Milwaukee

• Episode 3: I ❤️ NY, Yankee Stadium Stop

• Episode 4: Midwest Mayhem in Detroit and Chicago

• Episode 5: West Coast Finale From LA to Seattle

The content hit because it felt like them — human, spontaneous, and unscripted. And the numbers prove it: 5.9M views, 338K engagements, and a 5.7% engagement rate across channels.

They threw ceremonial first pitches (a long overdue dream come true for Dylan), scored suite access, met players, got behind-the-scenes tours, and shared every moment with a mix of humor and curiosity. But what really stood out was how Booking.com’s integration ran through the entire five-part story — not as a one-off mention, but as a thread connecting the journey.

And it wasn’t just about the games or VIP moments. Because this was a full-fledged campaign — not a one-off post — it gave the Reeses room to create fresh, in-between content outside their brief (Liberty Bell Visit, Mustard Museum Disappointment, First Pitch BTS). Those moments became bonus touchpoints their audience loved. And while that extra content didn’t directly drive more value for the brand, it strengthened the relationship between the league, the partner, and the creators — creating a positive experience that makes future collaborations more likely.

One Story, Five Episodes

MLB and Booking.com didn’t treat these as five separate activations. Instead, they created one ongoing narrative that gave the brand room to breathe.

Some episodes were light on branding (showing how they use the app at the end of an episode), letting association do the work. Others naturally surfaced the product’s value — like when the Reeses mentioned using Booking.com to find a hotel overlooking American Family Field in Milwaukee. Later, in Chicago, they debated canceling their Los Angeles reservation because a Cubs game might go long — and explained how easy that would be through Booking.com. Then in the Seattle finale, after a 15-inning marathon, they actually did cancel and rebook on the spot. Real decisions, real product use — no forced talking points required.

Credit to both MLB and Booking.com for seeing the bigger picture. Because they let the creators do what they do best, those authentic moments appeared naturally — and audiences believed them.

The Smartest Choice Was Timing

Beyond the creator fit, timing made this campaign sing. The Division Series meant the most possible markets were in play, giving MLB and Booking.com an ideal canvas for a travel story. The Wild Card round offers the same number of markets, but in too short of a timeline (three-game series vs 5-game series).

It didn’t hurt that the Reeses’ route hit some of the sport’s most iconic venues: Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium. You could see their excitement — Shelby and Dylan reacting to Aaron Judge’s game-tying three-run homer in an eventual comeback win. Or Dylan, at Wrigley, finally experiencing fans singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Even Shelby, who doesn’t like hot dogs, admitted the Dodger Dog was actually good. Those details made the journey feel real — not a brand shoot, but a baseball adventure.

Turning Creator Moments Into Marketing Assets

Shelby and Dylan’s content didn’t just highlight their experience — it captured baseball’s atmosphere at its best.

A walk-off in Seattle. Judge’s clutch homer in New York. The seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley (and more!). That’s not hypothetical content — that’s creative equity sitting on MLB’s timeline.

If the league negotiated rights to repurpose those clips, they’d have ready-made assets for paid social — fueling ticket sales, driving tune-in, or simply reinforcing how fun a packed ballpark can be.

The same goes for Booking.com. Those unscripted booking moments could anchor future campaigns — showing real flexibility in real time and taking potential customers further down the funnel.

That’s the next frontier of creator partnerships: build them with reuse in mind.

The Takeaway

The best integrations aren’t the ones you can plan down to the frame.

They’re the ones that leave room for real moments to happen. MLB and Booking.com proved that when creators are given the freedom to tell one cohesive story — not a checklist of posts — the brand becomes part of the experience itself.

🔍️ SPONCONSPIRATION
Steal These Ideas

LEGO was back at it with another life-size masterpiece. This time, LEGO France teamed up with master builder Riccardo Zangelmi to build a 300,000-brick LEGO Racing Team Car for this year’s GP Explorer — a motorsport event created by French YouTuber Squeezie, where creators and streamers compete in real Formula 4 cars at Le Mans’ Bugatti Circuit.

McLaren’s brand partners have been very active celebrating the team’s consecutive Constructors’ titles. Smart move by Hilton to plan ahead and capture the back-to-back story before the the victory was sealed. Then in Austin, Mastercard delivered a priceless activation featuring the Constructors’ Trophy to celebrate the Papaya Army.

Red Bull isn’t just part of FC Red Bull Salzburg’s name and look, it’s infused into the club’s content too. Centre-back Joane Gadou took on a classic over-the-top Red Bull challenge, and the performance was, fittingly, through the roof.

Angel City FC cleverly featured Heineken on their shutout graphics, positioning it as “0.0 goals allowed” to tie in with the beer brand’s non-alcoholic line.

Speaking of clever integrations, Atlanta United FC smartly repositioned archival matchup footage as Recycled Moments to align with Novelis—the global leader in aluminum rolling and recycling. Perfect thematic fit.

The Philadelphia Eagles struck again with another branded surprise-and-delight moment. When the team saw a dad’s excitement after being surprised with tickets, they—and Wawa—took it up a notch with sideline passes, merch, and a call from his favorite player.

Bleacher Report and Frigidaire teamed up with Pete Alonso for a Cheesy or Not Cheesy Q&A. In the two minutes it took to cook a pizza using Frigidaire’s new Stone Baked Pizza Mode, Alonso answered a series of rapid-fire questions. The format is similar to Factor Meals’ great Two-Minute Drill concept featuring now–Packers wide receiver Matthew Golden.

🚨 ICYMI
What To Watch For

Crunch Time Superstition: Marketing Brew’s Alyssa Meyers dug into how Seattle Mariners broadcaster Rick Rizzs’s long-running superstition sparked Cheetos’ first sports team partnership. And it wasn’t the only superstition-fueled activation — the fan who caught Cal Raleigh’s 61st home run was flown to Seattle by Alaska Airlines for the deciding Game 5 against Detroit.

The Chat Is Back: Offball’s partnership with WhatsApp is back for the fall, featuring a new slate of athletes and personalities for in-app group chats across F1, the NBA, and the NFL.

Streaming Into Sports: Rachel Karten explores how Speed Goes Pro, featuring IShowSpeed and DICK’S Sporting Goods, highlights the growing opportunity for brands to authentically partner with streamers—and why livestreaming is becoming the next frontier of sports storytelling [via Link In Bio Newsletter].

Tap Into The Game: Manchester City, PUMA, and EA SPORTS FC teamed up on an NFC-enabled kit that lets fans tap the club crest to unlock exclusive in-game content and digital rewards. City also brought back its StickerBook Challenge on Roblox, giving fans a chance to win third-kit UGCs and free Official Cityzens memberships.

Tryouts Go Digital: Chelsea FC partnered with aiScout to let players try out for the men’s and women’s teams — all from their phones.

Feed Formula Found: A new benchmark study from Metricool and HypeAuditor revealed the best-performing Instagram formats across all account sizes [via Lia Haberman, ICYMI Newsletter].