Have you ever seen a brand miss an opportunity that seems so obvious you wonder if you are going crazy because they AREN’T executing it? Well, the WNBA is in the midst of letting one fall through their grasp that couldn’t be better even with an unlimited budget and a million years to plan. Follow me now…
Women’s Basketball is the Hottest It’s Ever Been
Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that this year’s NCAA Women’s Basketball tournament was the talk of the town. It was the highest rated women’s March Madness ever, with the final championship game cementing its place as the most-watched basketball game (men’s or women’s, college or pro) since 2019. This jump into the national consciousness was fueled by stellar performances from players such as Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, Kamilla Cardoso, Juju Watkins and Paige Bueckers. The NCAA got its moment in the spotlight, and many of these women declared for the WNBA draft, ready to bring their newfound fame and fans with them to the professional stage. But from the outside looking in, while the WNBA is receiving athletes prepared for the big time, the WNBA itself looks like it needs some more time to develop.
You Couldn’t Write a Better Story to Market With
You have intrigue with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese being highly sought recruits this year after going head to head for championships, putting up big stats, and even setting records. You have a championship caliber recruit in Kamilla Cardoso, a defensive powerhouse from South Carolina’s undefeated squad. You have highly marketable women who can be the foot in the door to untapped demographics. And the general public knows next to nothing about them or their journey from high-level collegiate athletes to the crucible of professional sports.
Since these players’ tournament runs or at least since they declared for the WNBA draft, the league should have embedded a camera team with them to document their lives and give fans an unprecedented look into these athletes’ journeys. Their visibility in the tournament could have easily bolstered this content strategy and seamlessly transitioned into draft coverage, signing day, preseason and the opening of the WNBA season. Instead, we get nothing but soundbites from press conferences & interviews, with threadbare context and story behind it.
You can’t expect fans to be attracted to the game and spend their money when the league doesn’t give them any personalities to connect with. We know the viewership bump from Caitlin Clark has spiked ticket prices and viewership for this season, but that is transitory without a visionary strategy to keep those eyeballs on the WNBA for the long run. But if you thought this was the only marketing misstep, there’s more…
The Paris Olympics are Coming!
Now that I’ve laid out the missed opportunity to build the framework for the easiest win in brand storytelling I’ve seen in long time, check out what else they are missing. The WNBA struggles with brand recognition, both as a brand & on a team-by-team basis. When stars are invisible, it’s hard to build anything sustainable.
But now to compound this, your star athletes will be on a global stage in a year where women’s basketball has the most visibility it has ever had. And you are not showing them off as a brand! The WNBA could have made a bigger push for brand deals (why are there no WNBA Barbies?!), further expansion into new media channels (shows & podcasts with new faces, etc.), and enhanced their owned channel content with more behind-the-scenes and day-in-the-life features. This could have boosted the profile of stars of the league just as they prepared to step onto the world stage! From there, the possibilities could have been endless, both domestically and internationally, capturing new customers from multiple demographics. And it would have been another opportunity that wouldn’t have needed to be solely supported by the WNBA, beholden to the constraints of the league marketing budgets, thanks to the coverage surrounding the Olympics. But instead we’ll probably get some perfunctory advertisements and stale “Watch Your WNBA Stars Represent Their Country” banner ads and that’s it. What could have been…
We (They?) Can Fix It
As we know (or you should if you follow/read my articles), content is king! The WNBA has a burgeoning social media presence but it needs more. It has some content in the vein we’ve talked about like M’VP: A Champ’s Diary, documenting A’ja Wilson’s experience becoming a 2x WNBA champion. But the vision needs to be bigger to make the league grow. It’s too late for the full college to pro content playbook I brainstormed earlier but here are some content & marketing ideas that could start right now:
- Docuseries showcasing players who’ve been selected to the Olympic team and how they balance playing their season and prepping for their Olympic duties.
- Hard Knocks-type series following select rookies and showing how they are handling the transition from college to the pros. Who wouldn’t want to know what its like to go from draft day to season opener in a month?
- Identifying more brand deals for the league and more guidance for players to lock in those deals on the individual level (Skims can’t be the only company that needs spokeswomen!)
- Getting the content that the WNBA creates into the social media atmosphere more and identifying more personalities. Fashion, food, lifestyle, there’s a breadth of interests and opportunities in the league to be identified, I’m sure of it! Finding those niches can give wide-open opportunities for growth.
The Future of the WNBA
It is an uphill battle for the WNBA. Women’s sports fight for every inch they gain in the national sports consciousness, despite being filled with world-class athletes. The WNBA has been gifted an amazing opportunity and appears to be squandering it. Those viewers drawn in by the March Madness hype won’t all stay past this season unless the league gives them a reason to invest their time and money. I hope I’m wrong and the WNBA unveils a killer long-term strategy to grow its fanbase. I was thrilled to finally stop hearing that no one wants to watch women play basketball. It has some content going in the right direction (shoutout to Off Top with Arielle Chambers) but we need more. The WNBA has a product that people want; it just has to show them. Go Liberty!