Stop Losing Sponcon Ideas—Save and Scale

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

Raise your hand if you've ever heard a sports marketer say, "We need to meet fans where they spend their time." Yet, we often ignore this advice by selfishly including links in posts to drive traffic back to our platforms.

Last week, Rachel Karten shared a must-read piece in her Link in Bio newsletter about how legacy media's reliance on social media as a traffic driver is outdated and ineffective.

This is a lesson the sports industry also needs to hear. Too often, rights holders try to sell tickets or push sponsored sweepstakes by linking to entry pages in organic social posts.

Social platforms prioritize content that keeps users engaged on-platform, not posts with outbound links. If we want to truly meet fans where they are, we need to create content that feels native to each social platform.

A simple example: instead of posting a game preview on X with a link to your website, share platform-friendly content like this Chicago Bulls x FanDuel Sportsbook Pregame Preview graphic.

I highly recommend reading Rachel's piece and sharing it with your content, partnership, and marketing teams. It's a game-changer.

In Today’s Edition:

• From Slack To Sponsorship 💡

• Guinness Mic Goals 🎤

• Jon Jones’ Knockout Sponcon 🥊

🏊️ DEEP DIVE
Guide: How To Save And Scale Sponcon Inspiration

How often has this happened to you?

You or a colleague share a brilliant idea in the team’s Slack channel. Everyone agrees, “We need to do this!” But then... the conversation fizzles. Weeks later, you’re frantically searching for that idea using keywords you thought made sense.

You can’t find it. The idea is lost.

So, how can you track ideas effectively? How do you turn great concepts into monetizable opportunities? How do you scale them beyond your own department? Let’s break it down.

Organizing Your Inventory

Your content team should start with an inventory spreadsheet that includes three tabs:

• Sold Inventory

• Available Inventory

• Ideas in Review

Pair this with a visual "menu book" (a PowerPoint deck) with ready-to-copy slides for pitches. Give your partnership team access to both tools for seamless collaboration.

Each tab should have these columns:

1. Name(s) of the Idea: Include both generic (e.g., On This Day in History) and customized names for brands as you think of them (e.g., Run It Back for fitness or Travel Through Time for travel or watch brands).

2. Description – Explain the concept and why it works for the team, fans, and brands.

3. Example – Link to an inspiration or mockup.

4. Cadence – Specify frequency and total posts. For example, NBA Starting Five goes live 82 times per season across two channels (164 posts).

5. Channels – Where will the content live?

6. Brand Integration – Detail how brands will appear (e.g., logo placement, tagging, product integration).

7. Estimated Results – Align with the content’s KPIs: total impressions or views, and total engagements. This is a key piece in determining an asset’s price.

8. Costs – Track activation expenses (not client-facing). This will help ensure the price comes at the correct profit margin.

9. Notes – Include deadlines, legal constraints, or special considerations.

For more information on why all these details are necessary and how these documents should be managed across departments check out these past editions of the Newsletter:

• How To Write The Perfect Sponcon Pitch

• The Secret To Maximizing Digital Partnership Inventory

• 11 Key Pricing Factors For Social Media Sponcon

Sectioning Your Inventory

Organize inventory on each tab by cadence and platform:

• Game Day

• Every Win

• Weekly

• Monthly

• 2x Month

• 3x Month

• 4x Month

• Miscellaneous – For one-offs, custom content, or items that don’t fit the sections above (player birthdays, milestones, etc).

• Packages – While ideas can be sold a la carte, combine ideas for larger platforms.

• Tentpoles – Key events like Free Agency, Schedule Release, or the Draft.

• Website

• Email

• Mobile App

• Podcast

Pro Tip: Keep cadence flexible for weekly and monthly ideas. Instead of “2x Monthly,” contractually frame it as “12 times per season” to avoid issues like a team’s cold streak impacting delivery.

Adding New Ideas

Here’s a simple process to make sure your team’s best ideas don’t slip through the cracks.

Similar to Luka Dukich’s approach to brainstorming, the person who shares an idea is responsible for adding it to the inventory spreadsheet and preparing it for approval.

Step 1: Add the Inspiration

Immediately drop the inspiration link into the “Example” column of the “Ideas in Review” tab.

Pro Tip: Include an “Owner” column in the tab to track who is responsible for developing each idea. This helps the team lead follow up on progress.

Step 2: Fill in the Details

Complete all relevant columns in the spreadsheet. Block off up to an hour each week (e.g., Fridays) to ensure the spreadsheet stays updated.

Step 3: Share the Write-Up

Once the idea is fully fleshed out, email the write-up to the content team. This is essentially a copy-paste job at this stage. Make your case for why the idea should be added to the “Available Inventory” tab. Let the team know whether you’ll review it during your next meeting or collect email feedback based on timing.

Why This Process Works

This write-up approach is one I learned during my time at Golin. I brought many (maybe too many) ideas to my manager, Josh Rangel, and he would always have me write up the ideas.

Here’s why it’s so effective:

1. It clarifies your commitment to the idea. If you’re not motivated to finish the write-up, do you really believe in it?

2. It teaches you to advocate for your concepts. You’ll build the business case for why the idea works for your team, fans, and brand partners.

3. [Bonus] You stop flooding your team’s inboxes. No more sending underdeveloped ideas that waste everyone’s time.

No matter your seniority or industry, this skill is critical.

By fully fleshing out ideas, you make it easier for your team to provide feedback. Instead of turning every idea into a mini brainstorming session, you present a complete thought that requires tweaks—not a reinvention.

The Goal? One of three answers:

• Approved

• Rejected

• Approved with changes

Scaling Your Idea

Once your idea gets the green light, move it to the “Available Inventory” tab and share it with other departments.

Want to turn a great idea into a gold-standard partnership asset? The key is to expand beyond social media and even beyond digital channels. The more channels and touchpoints you include—O&O platforms, in-venue assets, TV, and beyond—the better the results for your partners and your team.

Once your idea is approved, take it to other departments to see where it can be scaled into a larger, multi-channel platform:

• Partnership: Could your idea include signage like tunnel walks or backboard displays?

• Marketing: Can it pair with other marketing channels (e.g. email, SMS, etc), ticket packages, or promo items?

• Broadcast: Could it extend to TV or Radio with QR codes, live reads, or promotions during broadcasts?

• Public Relations: Does it have the potential to generate earned media?

• Community Relations: Could it connect to a community initiative for additional impact?

Expanding your idea across departments makes partnerships feel more impactful and customized for brands. Plus, it drives organization-wide revenue, giving everyone more resources to bring ideas to life.

Pro Tip: Before pitching to a partner, check in with the legal team to confirm the idea can be executed as planned.

Internal Promotion

Once your idea gets the green light and moves to the available inventory, it’s time to share it with the partnership sales and activation teams. This step introduces the concept to them, allows for clarifying questions, and opens the door for customizations that could better fit potential brand partnerships.

Steps to Promote Internally:

1. Present the Concept: Walk the teams through your idea. Share how it could be tailored for specific brands.

2. Follow-Up Email: Send a detailed write-up of the idea, including:

   • Target Brands: Highlight current partners or brand categories you think could align.

   • Alternate Names: Reference alternate titles from your spreadsheet to inspire new angles for brand fit.

3. Tight Deadlines? If sponsorship is on a short timeline, parallel-path this step while approvals are in process. Let the partnership team know they can reach out to interested brands before formal pitching starts.

This process not only helps align teams but also keeps ideas moving efficiently. It ensures that everyone—from sales to activation—has the tools they need to position the idea to potential partners effectively.

Example Scenario

With the New York Yankees announcing Dave Sims as their new play-by-play voice on WFAN Sports Radio this week, let’s use the Announcer Cam to show what it looks like to put this process into practice.

Back in 2021, a Mariners TikTok (chills!) featuring Sims inspired me to add this concept to the Chicago White Sox’s available inventory. Here’s how I’d position the opportunity today:

Instead of “Announcer Cam,” I’d call it Wake Up Call—a name I’ve kept in mind since seeing a segment on ESPN’s Get Up nearly a year ago.

This rebrand positions the series perfectly for brands tied to breakfast, coffee, or sleep. For example, imagine the Mariners pitching Wendy’s, aligning the series with their push to get people excited about their (relatively new) breakfast menu.

Here’s what the pitch slide would look like.

Additional Considerations 

Before pitching this idea, consult with the broadcast team to clarify:

• Whether announcers require compensation for their participation.

• If the TV or radio station takes a revenue share.

These factors directly affect the profit margin and the in-market price.

Including a once-per-win cadence was important for how we’ll scale this into a larger platform (see below).

That said, if this series was the standalone digital asset for a baseball team’s partnership (especially one averaging 84 wins per season over the last 10 years), I would likely reduce the cadence to 54 times per season (roughly once per series) or create flexibility in distribution by saying something like, “Posted to at least two channels per win as decided by the Mariners social team (Options: Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, X, Snapchat).”

Scaling "Wake Up Call" for Maximum Impact

"Wake Up Call" is bigger than just the one social media series. It can be expanded with the following assets:

• Trigger Promotion: Fans earn a free Wendy’s breakfast item the morning after a win.

• Morning Newsletter: Wendy’s sponsors a new morning newsletter featuring a postgame recap, trigger promotion link (above the fold), embedded announcer cam post, and a preview of the next game.

• Daily Podcast: If your organization has a daily podcast that drops in the morning, like the Milwaukee Bucks’ Bucks In Six, it’s a perfect opportunity for a presenting sponsorship. Incorporate ad reads promoting Wendy’s breakfast or the trigger promotion to drive awareness and engagement. This asset should be included in the newsletter.

• Branded Booth: For larger investments, integrate Wendy’s branding into the broadcast booth or headsets and remove the social logo lockup. If that branding was included, I would remove the logo lockup from the social video series.

• Good Morning Posts: Sponsored posts wishing fans a good morning after wins (e.g., Dallas Stars x 7-Eleven: Waking Up With a Win).

• Morning Pre-Sales: Wendy’s Rewards members get early access to ticket and merchandise drops the morning of the activation.

• Early Game Offers/Watch Parties: For early start times (e.g., NFL teams playing in Europe), Wendy’s hosts official watch parties or offers free coffee (with purchase) to fuel game day.

The Takeaway

Brilliant ideas often get lost in the shuffle, but a structured system can ensure they become actionable and scalable opportunities.

By organizing concepts into a detailed inventory and using collaborative tools, you make it easier for your team to pitch, monetize, and expand ideas across departments.

The key? Fully fleshed-out write-ups and clear communication to align everyone involved. This approach not only saves time but also transforms creativity into measurable success.

🔍 SPONCONSPIRATION
Steal These Ideas

This Premier League sponcon has me thinking—Guinness should make branded microphones a staple of their sports sponsorships. Bonus points for the creative touch of using an animated Guinness glass to track the time left in the challenge.

Mohamed Salah, Alisson Becker, and Andy Robertson joined Kelly Cates for Liverpool FC’s latest Reds Roundtable, presented by Standard Chartered. The branding on top of the table, especially from the overhead camera angle, is smart. Plus, this long-form series churns out incredible clips—like this post pulling in nearly 8M views.

The New York Rangers dropped their first collab with New York or Nowhere. I love how Chase cardholders get early access to shop and an exclusive canvas pennant with purchases made using their Chase card.

If you’ve got an airline partner, bookmark this: The Minnesota Vikings and Delta Air Lines nailed it with this series name—definitely one to keep in your back pocket.

Reigning UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones teamed up with Ketone-IQ for a chiropractor-inspired concept that’s both clever and hilarious. The result? Over 6M views and 524K engagements, including an insane 171K shares.

Ally Bank linked up with Las Vegas Aces teammates Liz Kitley and Kate Martin for Save or Splurge. This episode performed so well, that I had to stop scrolling down Instagram to find a Reel with more views.

Unrivaled Basketball has launched a YouTube vlog, Building Unrivaled, presented by Ally Bank - the league’s founding partner. The series documents the journey of building Unrivaled as it gears up for its inaugural season this January.

Hennessy and LeBron James unveiled a limited-edition bottle celebrating his legendary NBA career and boundary-breaking journey, paired with a fitting launch video showcasing a Henne-Rita dribbled, not stirred.

🚨 ICYMI
What To Watch For

Pharma Takes Flight: Pfizer and the Drone Racing League are hosting a global AI coding competition, challenging participants to autonomously track a virtual drone in a simulated race. The top coder wins a trip for two to the DRL U.S. Air Force Miami Invitational in February 2025 [h/t Melanie Wallner].

Peak Performance Unveiled: The Mercedes F1 team launched a six-part explainer series revealing the functional fluids that power their F1 cars. The first episode dives into how their Power Unit and PETRONAS Primax fuel work together for peak performance [h/t Ali Stokes].

Bayern On Board: FC Bayern fans can now stay connected to their team with the official app available in select Audi models. The app offers live updates, news, and highlights optimized for in-car use.

AFL Fixture Release: Ryan Ellul, CEO and Co-Founder of Sport Design Australia, breaks down the key stats and trends from the Australian Football League’s 2024-2025 fixture release.

2025 Digital Trends: IMG released its seventh annual digital trends report, analyzing the biggest digital shifts for the upcoming year.

JuJu Funko-Lab: Funko partnered with JuJu Watkins, their first active college athlete. Fans who pre-order the Pop could score one of 25 signed versions.

Reese Cashes In: Cash App partnered with WNBA star Angel Reese for its first women’s basketball campaign, blending sports and culture through activations like a Reese-themed debit card and community-focused events. This is a great example of a mutually beneficial partnership where a brand can help an athlete bring their ideas to life [by Alyssa Meyers, Marketing Brew].