Stop Making Partnership Hype Videos

8 fresh strategies that better engage fans

Author

Alex Kopilow
January 02, 2025

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

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ content team is on a heater lately! Their non-gameday content has been seriously impressive.

What’s the secret? Sharing moments only they can access. A standout example: their travel operations content, which is absolutely crushing it right now:

From a sponsorship perspective, this opens huge opportunities in travel, logistics, shipping, and moving categories. Best part? You don’t even need players’ time to pull it off.

As Pittsburgh Pirates Social Media Director Zachary Galia said so well this week: “You need to tell the stories that no one else can tell. This is the way to stand out in a sea of content sameness.”

Breaking through that content clutter can drive massive results—for the team and the sponsors who align with it.

In Today’s Edition:

  • Partnership Announcements Worth The Hype 📣

  • TGL’s Hole In One Creator Collab ⛳️

  • Bengals Bring The Spice 👃

Not a subscriber yet? Join over 2,000 sports industry professionals, from the NFL to the Premier League, who read Sponcon Sports weekly to learn about sponsored content strategy in sports.

🏊️ DEEP DIVE
How To Create Partnership Announcements Fans Actually Want

As we start the new year, can we leave partnership hype videos behind in 2024?

Let me be clear—I’m all for partnership announcements on social media. But hype videos embody much of what’s wrong with sponsored content and why it gets such a bad rap.

Why Partnership Hype Videos Don’t Work

Here are three core issues with partnership hype videos: poor performance, audience misalignment, and wasted resources.

1. Poor Performance

Let’s be honest: this type of content doesn’t perform.

Examples:

Note: This isn’t a knock on the quality of the work from these teams—most rights holders make this mistake. These just happened to be the most recent examples I saw.

The examples above come from teams with at least 3M followers, posting on Instagram—a platform known for strong engagement. Yet the results are underwhelming.

Even the Spurs' video: 4.7M views sounds great, but with a 0.25% engagement rate, it was likely boosted.

2. Audience Misalignment

Ask yourself two simple questions:

  • Who is this for?

  • Why should they care?

As a fan, when was the last time you shared a partnership hype video with friends or family?

Hype videos are essentially video press releases. They’re made for employees of the brand and rights holders, competitors, trade media, and industry peers—not your social media audience.

If you must create one, adjust the channel strategy to match that asset’s audience:

  • Share it via paid media.

  • Use it as a commercial or pre-roll ad.

  • Include it in press releases for digital and broadcast media.

  • Post it on LinkedIn.

But trust me, you can do much better (more on that later!).

3. Misuse of Resources

Why do these videos exist?

Brands want a piece of social content for their partnership announcement, often for reach they can’t achieve on their channels as well as the vanity of seeing their brand featured by the rights holder.

But if the content isn’t resonating with fans—your actual target audience—why spend time making it?

Content teams are already stretched thin. Asking them to create an asset that’s unlikely to perform is a waste of time and resources.

Even if the brand creates the video, posting it on your team’s feed via the collab tool ignores the reason fans follow you. (Spoiler: it’s not to see ads.)

A Better Way

The good news? There are smarter ways to announce partnerships on organic social media. Here are some of my favorites—save these for your next announcement.

1. Skip the Video

Mercedes F1 x WhatsApp: A clean, static graphic can do the job—no need for overproduced content.

That said, if you’re going the static image route, please put in more effort than side-by-side logos.

2. Use Unique Angles

Liverpool x AXA: Liverpool showed fans a day in the life at the AXA Training Center. The journey ended with a big reveal from outgoing manager JĂźrgen Klopp: AXA is renewing its partnership with the Reds for another five years.

McLaren x Optimum Nutrition: A shaker bottle POV caught attention while highlighting the new partnership.

Real Madrid C.F. x HP: Real Madrid kept fans hooked with a social-first edit, building anticipation as they unveiled why an HP logo was printed out and brought to the pitch.

3. Celebrate The Past Or Shared History

Liverpool x Carlsberg: A renewal announcement celebrated 42 years of partnership—the longest in Premier League history—through a creative tattoo-themed video and an ongoing content series.

Read the full breakdown here (see Sponsored Content of the Week).

Texas Tech x adidas x Patrick Mahomes: Patrick Mahomes recreated a viral moment from his past to announce the partnership, debuting it during a pregame arrival.

Read the full breakdown here (see Sponsored Content of the Week).

Stewart-Haas Racing x Sunny Delight: Stewart-Haas Racing celebrated the partnership announcement by reenacting a classic ‘90s SunnyD ad and followed up with a behind-the-scenes video.

Read the full breakdown here (see Sponsored Content of the Week).

4. Include More Voices

New York Yankees x Gillette: The Yankees took a creator-led approach with custom assets for all parties involved, and it paid off by expanding their reach.

Gillette brought together Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, members of the Gillette Barber Council, and the Savannah Bananas’ Jackson Olson for a barbershop chat. They talked about the upcoming season, game-day grooming routines, and got a fresh shave to kick off Spring Training.

Two standout elements? They tapped Olson, a Yankees fan, to lead the conversation, adding authenticity to the campaign. They maximized the shoot by creating custom assets for everyone involved: Rizzo (with @Gillette), Cortes (with @YankeesBeisbol), Olson, and even Willis, the Barber. Using the collab tool strategically helped the news reach entirely new audiences.

Wrexham AFC x United Airlines: The Red Dragons made their partnership announcement clever, memorable—and a bit cheeky—thanks to owner Ryan Reynolds.

Reynolds tweeted, “Yes. This. Is. Happening,” alongside an image that read “Wrexham United,” sparking fan buzz about a potential name change.

Just an hour later, he quote-tweeted the original post with a video featuring co-owner Rob McElhenney. In classic comedic fashion, they clarified: Wrexham and United Airlines were kicking off a partnership—including a front-of-shirt placement.

The lesson? You don’t need celebrity owners to make this kind of idea work. Wrexham broke through the noise by creatively tying Wrexham, United, and soccer into one clever message, then used relevant front office voices to help tell the story.

With the rise of employee-generated content in marketing, this approach could work just as well with an owner—or anyone on your team with a relevant social following.

5. Player Participation Is Not Required

Liverpool x Husqvarna: If a partner’s product or service doesn’t have a direct impact on players, don’t feel the need to force their involvement in a partnership announcement.

When Liverpool announced its partnership with Husqvarna, they used a comedic approach to show how their grounds team would use their newfound spare time by using the brand’s robot mowers.

6. Lead With Entertaining Content That Connects

Premier Lacrosse League x DUDE Wipes: The Premier Lacrosse League announced a partnership with DUDE Wipes by launching a content series called, Greatest Sh*t Talkers.

While the goal of the post was the announce the partnership, the strategy, from copy to creative, was focused on serving fans first to ensure the content captured the attention needed to deliver the business news to their audience successfully.

FC Bayern x Paulaner: Bayern turned their announcement into a playful challenge, asking players to compete in a beer-pouring contest. Fans stayed engaged to see who would win, with the copy delivering the business news.

Jomboy Media x Lasik.com and T-Mobile: Jomboy Media took a fan-first approach, seamlessly weaving partnerships into their content instead of making traditional announcements.

Check out the start of the Lasik.com-sponsored breakdown and the end of the T-Mobile-sponsored breakdown.

This subtle strategy works especially well for properties with fewer sponsors, where new partners naturally stand out. And the best part? Fans noticed. Just look at the comments on both videos—viewers celebrated the creativity and warmly welcomed the new partners.

7. Prioritize Timeliness (If You’re Able)

Manchester United x Snapdragon: By aligning its partnership announcement with the launch of Man U’s 2024-25 home kit, Qualcomm captured fan excitement and maximized visibility—all while leveraging club legend Eric Cantona for emotional impact.

Read the full breakdown here (see Sponsored Content of the Week).

8. Tap Into Brands’ Other Partnerships

Drake x Stake F1 Team: Sauber rebranded as Stake F1 Team for the 2024 Formula 1 season, replacing Alfa Romeo as their title sponsor. The twist? They let Drake break the news! Even if Drake was open to it, I appreciate how they kept his integration simple rather than blowing the budget with a highly-produced video.

Read the full breakdown here (see Sponsored Content of the Week).

The Takeaway

Fans don’t want hype—they want storytelling. Focus on creative approaches that inform and entertain.

Let’s make 2024 the year we put hype videos to rest and elevate partnership content.

🔍 SPONCONSPIRATION
Steal These Ideas

TGL partnered with Barstool’s Jersey Jerry for a Hole In One Challenge live stream, teeing off tonight at 7 PM ET. The timing couldn’t be better—it’s almost exactly one year since Jerry’s epic 37-hour hole-in-one chase on a simulator version of Pebble Beach’s iconic par-3 7th hole. This partnership is a hole-in-one for several reasons: It builds awareness for the new league ahead of its inaugural season, It weaves in storytelling around SoFi Center and its massive 64’ x 53’ screen, It taps into a creator who knows how to keep his audience engaged during a live stream.

This Memories Mural concept from Real Madrid and HP not only includes relevant product integration but also is strong framework for end-of-the-year, reflective content.

Not every sponsored mini-mic video needs to be a series to succeed. Take this clever one-off from the Cincinnati Bengals and Old Spice, where players were asked: “Who do you think needs this Old Spice Body Spray?”

Brisbane International’s Racquet Grip Challenge (featuring Novak Djokovic, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, and Mirra Andreeva) is a perfect media day concept. It’s quick, engaging, and a great opportunity for episodic content that requires minimal player time. Think about what other equipment prep could inspire similar content in your sport.

We explored the potential of player gifting as sponsored content last week, and Ohio State Football delivered. Their video featured QB Will Howard gifting 55-inch TVs from Element Electronics to his teammates. The reel generated 602K views and a 9.3% engagement rate.

I love how the San Antonio Spurs have players narrate their Road Game Diaries series, presented by Viva Aerobus. It’s a nice touch that adds personality and authenticity to the content.

🚨 ICYMI
What To Watch For

Dash Pass Cash: DoorDash is using its NBA partnership to reward DashPass members. Every time an NBA player drops 50 points, DoorDash drops $5 into their accounts [via Jeff Chen, Sports Business Ventures].

LED Boards Debut: The Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, NY, just became the first arena in North America to feature LED dasherboards. The new boards were used for the first time during the Utica Comets’ game on Saturday [via Ben Birnell, Rome Daily Sentinel].

Bringing The Heat: The Minnesota Vikings, through their Skol Science platform presented by 3M, are giving 40,000 fans 3M hand warmers at Sunday’s game. They're also donating some to community groups across Minnesota.

Fill Up My Cup: Speaking of great game day giveaways, Seattle Kraken fans at their January 2nd game will take home a Starbucks reusable cup—a premium giveaway they’ll actually use beyond the arena.

Artist In Residency: The Boston Celtics tipped off their first-ever Artist in Residency program, featuring local illustrator @moniqueaimee on their game poster. The program, presented by VistaPrint invites one local artist each season to create art for branding, marketing, and content projects for the Celtics.

Today I learned: The Chicago Bears host a Miller Lite keg toss challenge at home games—a fun setup with potential for earned social content or even as a media day activation featuring players.

🏃 BEFORE YOU GO
Submit Your Feedback

Thanks for reading Sponcon Sports! Have a question or a topic you’d like to be covered in the newsletter? Submit here.

Reply

or to participate.