Sport Style & Influence
Attracting visitors from across the globe, the annual NYCXDESIGN festival gives people the oppertunity to come together and celebrate the power of design, and its ability to shape and respond to the cultural moment.
After the success of last year’s event, we were delighted to host another panel discussion as part of this year’s festival here at our New York studio.
‘Sport, Style & Influence’, brought together a diverse range of voices from across the industry to consider what it takes to create sports brands that feel meaningful and relevant in 2025.
Moderated by our Principal, Richard Swain, our expert panel included, Erynn Hughes, Creative Strategist at Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), Kate Veronneau, Director of Women's Strategy at Zwift, Roman King, Creative Director at Major League Soccer (MLS) and Tucker Hughes, Senior Director of Strategy at Boardroom.
In a lively and wide-ranging conversation, we discussed ‘what makes an athlete a cultural icon today’, looked at the role of apparel and aesthetics in brand building, and asked, ‘what makes a good collaboration?’
Tailored engagement strategies reign supreme
The proliferation of platforms continues to give brands the ability to connect with multiple audiences simultaneously. Brands can choose whether to focus on targeting certain segments or try to play across all but need to be aware that each requires very different content types and strategies.
“The people sitting and watching an NFL broadcast are still going to watch that and see 1000 buffalo wild wings commercials and then there’s a next generation watching an NFL nickelodeon broadcast and following every athlete on Tik Tok who are seeing a whole different world.”
Tucker Hughes, Senior Director of Strategy, Boardroom
Fashion and wider culture are potent tools for fan engagement
Fashion and other aspects of wider culture offer unique ways of creating connections with new fans. Whether it’s Zwift leveraging a simple cycling cap to encourage new audiences to “Watch the Femme” or the MLS diving into the archives to tell new stories through 90s kits, brands are finding ways to bring in fans to their sport.
“There are many doors into the house of W. You could be entering through the front door of basketball, like most hoop heads. But you could also be coming into those side and back doors of culture, fashion, and social justice.”
Erynn Hughes, Creative Strategist, WNBA
When looking for partners, brands should look beyond elite pros
For any sport, working with the people around it (celebrities, creators etc.) offers a far richer media environment beyond just broadcasting and an easy way into fan engagement. These people are often more cost effective to work with and grab great headlines because of their strong personalities.
“There are so many riders in other sports so [I’d love to see] cross promotion in other sports. Reggie Miller is a big time cyclist, Lisa Leslie's is also a big time cyclist, Tobin Heath—they are all cyclists so why aren’t brands grabbing onto them and being like, “Here’s a kit, here’s a bike, come to the tour?”
Kate Veronneau, Director of Women's Strategy, Zwift
Athletes today expect greater authorship and ownership, and may use AI to get it
Athletes now want to be holistic brands from day one. In the future, many will want to take a lot more control over how they show up in the world—whether that be using their likeness to create more content, or launching brands they own and market themselves.
“My hypothesis is that we will work with athletes and AI to develop content. We want to build up the credibility and the likeness of the stars through content, but they don’t actually have the time to do it.”
Roman King, Creative Director, MLS
Don’t underestimate the power of 'older' and emerging sports
Less high-profile and emerging sports offer original and affordable ways of building authentic connections with audiences. Brands like Metalwood in golf and Satisfy in running are showing how to forge authentic connections with younger audiences outside of major U.S. sports. Who will be the brands early on pickleball?
“There’s a lot of very mature markets in sports, so whenever there is an emerging sport - especially with younger audiences - new brands start to build up around it."
Tucker Hughes, Senior Director of Strategy, Boardroom
Working with emerging athletes comes with a duty of care
Emerging stars offer great ways to tell incredible stories around shared values at a fraction of the cost but this strategy comes with responsibility to make sure they are cared for in the process. For example, when Zwift awards pro-contracts to the winners of their Zwift Academy they pair them with sport psychologists to ensure they feel supported.
“It’s an exciting thing for the winners career wise, but we had to consider the athletes' wellness given the massive jump that they were making. Being an athlete myself, I know what they do takes immense mental strength and recognising that is really important.”
Kate Veronneau, Director of Women’s Strategy, Zwift
It was a pleasure to be part of this year’s NYCXDESIGN, and it was great to see so many new and familiar faces on the night. We’ve already got a few ideas up our sleeves for next year’s festival, so keep an eye on our socials.
Thankyou to everyone who took part, Frontify for sponsoring the event and our media partner for the evening, Good Sport Magazine.
