As women’s sports skyrockets in viewership and popularity, major brands see new opportunities to reach consumers — especially women. For a prime example, look no further than Fenty’s partnership with the New York Liberty.
In May, Rihanna’s multibillion-dollar brand inked its first beauty and skin sports contract with the WNBA’s reigning champions.
“There’s not one monolithic view of what a female athlete looks like and there’s not one monolithic view of what beauty and beautiful looks like,” Sukiana Chancy, vice president of brand strategy for Fenty Skin and Fenty Hair, told NBC News. “That is the perfect intersection, really, of the marriage of these two brands, Fenty Beauty and New York Liberty.”
Brands are noticing the WNBA’s impressive numbers. Last year, the league delivered its most watched regular season in 24 years. Regular season broadcasts saw a 170% increase in viewership compared to 2023. The WNBA also posted its highest attendance in 22 years.
The 2024 finals between the Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx averaged 1.6 million viewers, making it the most-watched championship round in 25 years and a 115% increase from 2023.
“It all really goes back to investment, general investment, from brands who want to step up and have value alignment with us,” Keia Clarke, CEO of the New York Liberty, told NBC News. “I think there’s a different level of visibility for women’s sports right now, and especially in basketball.”
Fenty’s partnership is the latest between a major brand and a women’s professional sports team. Other deals include CoverGirl as the official sponsor of the Chicago Sky and Sephora’s investment in the WNBA’s newest expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries. In 2020, Glossier became the WNBA’s first beauty partner and remains a key sponsor for the league today.
“I think it’s pretty cool now that both sides are kind of meeting in the middle,” said Isabelle Harrison, a forward for the New York Liberty. “I finally found a perfect space for me to represent all of who I am, not just being an athlete, not just being a beauty junkie. So Fenty, with this partnership with the Liberty, it’s truly brought both of my worlds together.”
Harrison said she’s noticed that her team and league mates are embracing the new marketing opportunities. One example is Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese, who signed with Mielle Organics, a Black-owned hair care brand. She’s part of a new generation of sports influencers who blend performance, personality and personal style.
Meanwhile, brands like Essie and Pinterest are making their first sports sponsorships with the WNBA — not the men’s leagues.
“There’s something special about the uniqueness of redefining what a sports sponsorship looks like in the name of women, in the name of sports, in the name of culture,” said Clarke.
She recalled the day the players came in for their head shots and other media for the season, and saw how excited they got when they saw the Fenty makeup artists and products for the shoot.
“There was a familiarity that made them feel special and made them feel seen,” Clarke said.
The tunnel moment has become a staple throughout professional sports — WNBA, NFL and NBA players have been using their arrivals as catwalks to showcase their style. Harrison counts getting ready for her tunnel moment as part of her game day prep.
She said women have reached out to her not about basketball, but about her skin care routine, and in turn they have become basketball fans.
“I’m not just a basketball player. I’m a beauty girl, I’m a health girl, I’m a girl’s girl,” she said. “Partnerships like this with Fenty, it just shows that you can invest and you can show that we hold value, and we’re always going to make return on our value. We’ve shown that. We’ve proven that every year. So I hope most other companies catch up to what Fenty is doing, because it’s huge.”
The Liberty-Fenty partnership has spurred new, creative ways to promote the team and the brand, like the “Gloss Bomb cam” — an activation similar to a “kiss cam” that puts Fenty lip gloss on fans on the jumbotron at games.
Chancy realized the true power and impact of the partnership when she attended opening night of the Liberty’s season at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. She said she momentarily forgot she was there for the brand and was just a fan. But when the “Gloss Bomb cam” came on, she saw the crowd go wild.
“It was such a validating moment, that this is the right partnership, and that we’re engaging with the community in a way that they want to be engaged with. And it also highlighted that maybe this was a gap in the audience.”
“Historically, you haven’t gone to a WNBA game and had a beauty brand saying, ‘Show us your beauty routine! Show us your lip gloss!’ So it was just so fun to see that people really wanted to engage in that way. They really went wild, including myself, because it was just so fun.”
In addition to the Gloss Bomb cam, Fenty will also lean into the fan experience with in-arena promotions featuring exclusive products. It will start with a bespoke lip gloss with Liberty packaging that is sold exclusively at the team store inside the Barclays Center. The Fenty logo is featured on the players’ warmup and shooting shirts.
Even Ellie the Elephant, the popular Liberty mascot, is getting in on the action by doing a “what’s in her bag” video to incorporate Fenty into her outfits.
“We will absolutely incorporate, and have been incorporating,” Clarke said. “You know what beauty and skin care means to an elephant.”
