The WNBA’s Seattle Storm Has An Innovative Approach To Sports Sponsorships
The advancement of women’s sports relies deeply on both its sponsors and supporters. Both groups must work together to be part of the solution to implement growth. In 2008, season ticket holders Lisa Brummel, Ginny Gilder, and Dawn Trudeau came together to form Force 10 Hoops, LLC whose sole purpose was to purchase the WNBA’s Seattle Storm. These three women were determined to keep the WNBA, one of Seattle’s most valuable assets in the Pacific Northeast.
Well before the time of the #MeToo Movement, these three female entrepreneurs focused their support on a wide variety of social issues including Planned Parenthood as well as calling for the WNBA to be leaders in addressing issues associated with sexual harassment, assault, and domestic violence. Their innovative approach went well beyond winning championships.
Therefore, when the CEO and general manager Alisha Valavanis was looking for corporate partners, it was crucial that investors share the team’s core values of equity, diversity, and inclusion.
On April 9th the Storm announced its largest partnership to date — a 10-year marquee jersey badge sponsorship with Symetra Life Insurance Company — whose corporate headquarters is located in Bellevue, Washington. Symetra is a $49.3 billion national provider of life insurance, employee benefits, and annuities. Even with the connection to the Northwest, why would Symetra want to invest in women’s basketball?
“This was a natural fit for Symetra,” stated Margaret Meister, president, and CEO of Symetra Financial Corporation and president of its insurance subsidiaries.
“From a business perspective, we need to build our name recognition on a national level. But we want to cement that we are a Northwest company and appeal as an employer of choice for men and women. When we look at the Seattle Storm, it is a great institution and a successful sports team in our area. Who does not want to be a part of that?”
Additionally, and even more importantly, Symetra and the Storm recognized the fact that their values and business initiatives aligned. Symetra prides itself on its deep commitment to women’s rights. Their senior leadership team not only includes a large number of females, but the organization has also rolled out an initiative to seek equal pay for women, especially those in higher paying positions.
As for the Storm, “When you go to a Storm game, you can see it. It is a family event. It appeals to women and celebrates women,” stated Meister. “A central tenet for me that is important for Symetra’s success and important for the industry overall is making sure that we have diversity. Women in leadership, women whom we do business with, and making sure that we recognize women as the customers who are buying our products now and buying our products in the future.”
As the Seattle Storm begins it’s 20th season May 25th, Valavanis recognizes the growth seen under her tenure — profits skyrocketing more than 250% after a 60% increase in revenue — is built on those marquee partnerships that help provide both the WNBA and its athletes with a financial and economic model that delivers sustainability and growth opportunities.
“We are striving to lead from the front and be innovative, entrepreneurial in our approach to business. We are open to the intersection of business and sport and social change,” stated Valavanis.
“Margaret and her team are walking the walk. Externally they are aligning their brand to do something that demonstrates a shift that corporate America does value women’s professional sports as a platform for brand visibility. This is where were are trying to turn a corner, and show that big brands are interested in partnering with women’s professional sports and athletes.”
Big brands are still hesitant to invest in women’s sports mostly because they are not as confident when assessing the various sponsorship opportunities. Most look to traditional brand metrics, however doing so will only make companies that much more cautious. It is paramount for such brands to look at the overall opportunity. Female sports are much more accessible than their male counterparts and because of that more exciting and interesting content can be produced. Female sponsorship revolves around engagement rather than brand awareness which is why female sports can deliver.
“There’s still a lot of brands right now that are thinking about how many minutes they are going to get on the telly and ‘what’s my brand awareness going to be?’ Actually, that’s advertising, not sponsorship.”
“I would rather have 10 people be incredibly positive about my brand than 100 people just knowing about it, because that actually makes a difference. It’s about saying I know who you are and I know who you stand for. The general public actually care about this stuff, so if you want to change people’s opinions of your brand, get involved.”
