AT&T Activates NBA/WNBA Tie-Ups Via 5G Holovision Draft Spot With Patrick Williams & Diana Taurasi

This is another example of AT&T’s strategy of going beyond the traditional sponsorship approach during 2020 with a focus on working with companies and supporting players.

Indeed, when the WNBA initially debuted its inaugural ‘Changemakers’ partnership program in January – which sought to elevate women’s sport in general and the league in particular – no one could have known just how much Covid would change life in the coming months.

The initiative linked to a key set of corporate partnerships with AT&T, Nike and Deloitte and aimed to help finance the WNBA’s business transformation as it rebuilt its revenue models after the increased benefits and salary raises secured by the players’ union in a collective bargaining agreement struck at the beginning of 2020 (which including a 53% pay raise, maternity benefits and performance-based bonuses).

But just weeks after the launch, the plan was in flux as the pandemic struck and the basketball season was thrown into uncertainty.

The WNBA and AT&T pivoted to react with a fresh strategy – developed by WNBA chief operating officer Christy Hedgpeth and AT&T assistant vice president of sponsorships and experiential marketing Shiz Suzuki and other executives and broadcasters – which reimagined traditional sports marketing deals and emphasised shared social values to elevate female athletes.

“We had to get a little bit more creative about it on how we do things,” said Suzuki. “For us it was about, ‘How can we best support the women that are going to be in this ‘wubble’ [the WNBA’s counterpart of the NBA’s quarantined tournament bubble] for the next couple months?’”

These changes ranged from practical initiatives such as providing free HBO Max memberships and 5G phones for the players spending months in isolation and bubbles, to marketing move such as putting together a video message of support from big basketball names – including LeBron James – to help start the season.

This was followed by further activation strands such as #ShesConnected WNBA Training Sessions which saw TV host and journalist Danielle Robay share her favourite moments from 5+ hours of training she delivered with us for WNBA players earlier this year, helping players grow as leaders.

“Changemakers is really a collective of like-minded companies around this ability to recognize that women’s sports is so underdeveloped and there’s an amazing opportunity and every reason in the world to support it,” said Hedgpeth who added that the initiative is even more relevant in uncertain times than it was when it was launched.

“We believe that there’s still so much opportunity out there – especially in the current climate – to continue to build on that collective,” Hedgpeth explained. “It’s an opportunity to play a major role in taking this leap to a completely new place, one where [the league is] really, really thriving and healthy, into the future.”