How can brands get the most out of sports stars?

The relationship between brands and sports stars has become more intertwined than ever before. Athlete endorsements have become an essential strategy for brands to create awareness, improve perception and ultimately drive sales. 

Players are no longer just players: they are brands in themselves. 

Particularly thanks to their increasing presence on social media, sports stars present a huge opportunity for brands to get in front of a global audience. Players are no longer just players: they are brands in themselves. 

This year’s Super Bowl saw some of the world’s leading athletes collaborate with brands attempting to leverage their superstar status. 

But creating captivating content with elite stars doesn’t come without its challenges. Typically, they often have hectic schedules and sometimes strict rules on travel, plus a load of unforeseen restrictions. So how can brands maximise their limited time with athletes to create the campaigns that are going to cut through? 

Stella Artois' 2025 Super Bowl spot centred around a cameo from British football legend David Beckham. 

Brands will often have extravagant ambitions for incorporating an athlete into a campaign, but – with such restrictions on meaningful time, issues with locations and physical activity allowed, they often have to work around the athlete rather than the other way around. 

Keeping the athletes engaged and excited about an idea is also important. 

It’s a unique situation – the brand is paying the athlete to be in the ad, yet it will be the athlete who dictates the terms for shoots, even deciding the timings and location.  

Thus, the brand has to build the creative around access and constantly have backup plans as things can shift quickly. Being flexible and adapting at a moment’s notice is key to making the shoot a success.  

The audience wants to see ‘behind the curtain’ into the athlete’s life.  

As a creative, it’s all about managing the relationship between the brand and the athlete to ensure they know what can be achieved. With all of the potential restrictions the client may not be aware of, it’s about getting the maximum out of the athlete in the minimum amount of time. 

Nike, The Secret Tournament, 2002, created by W+K/Amsterdam, directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Eric Cantona and Roberto Carlos.

Keeping the athletes excited about an idea is also important. One way of doing this is by creating a concept that sees our hero character in an unexpected environment that interests them. Everyone has seen Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes on the field. But the beauty of iconic sports ads, like the early 2000s Nike adverts, is seeing the stars in a unique or different setting, and if they can have fun, then success is in sight. 

There are always going to be certain limitations or non-negotiables when filming with professional athletes. 

A good example of this was Erling Haaland and Supercell coming together for global gaming smash Clash of Clans. Haaland loved playing the game, so already had an authentic passion for the product which came through. He’s not kicking a ball on the pitch, but ‘relaxing at home’. Not only does this keep the star engaged while filming as something a bit different, but it draws the audience in as they want to see ‘behind the curtain’ into the athlete’s life.  

Supercell’s Clash of Clans spot out of DAVID/New York featured Erling Haarland and his avatar.

There are always going to be certain limitations or non-negotiables when filming with professional athletes. 

When drafting and pitching creative, you have to consider that a lot of the time you won’t be able to ask a player to do something incredibly physical. You must have a plan B in case the athlete doesn’t want to do what’s been pre-agreed. This could be down to the athlete being injured the day before filming for example, or simply that they’ve had a last-minute change of heart.  

The time you have with the athlete is precious, so you have to be smart with how you use it. 

When we shot with Erling Haaland for Clash of Clans, we had limited time to capture what was required for motion, so had to adapt plans. For the animation portion of the final film, we only required VO and a ten-minute voice session, but knew we had to adjust for the live-action sequence to then allow time for stills as the schedule became compressed.  

To navigate the challenges around time and also to avoid physical activity, we used a choreography team with a body double to perform all of the physical activity on a separate shoot day. This meant that when we had Haaland for the second day on set, all we needed was a couple of face shots and one quick line. 

This made his participation as quick and easy as possible without affecting the final film.