Beauty‘s alliance with women’s sports is getting stronger.
“Why would we not want to be involved?” asked Jessica Stacey, senior vice president of external communications, experiential and marketing partnerships for Sephora, at the WWD Beauty Inc Catalysts conference last month in conversation with Kirby Porter, chief brand officer of Unrivaled, and Nikara Johns, social media director of Fairchild Media Group.
Sephora and Unrivaled, the new women’s basketball organization cofounded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, joined forces in January, at the start of the league’s inaugural season. For anyone in the audience who wasn’t aware of Unrivaled, Porter said: “There was 36 players. It featured six clubs, and it was a new style of play, three-on-three on a short and full court.”
Porter continued: “All the players had equity in the league. It introduced a new way to market players in women’s sports in general, and a huge part of that was our partnerships, in particular with Sephora.”
While there were many reasons the retailer decided to team up with Unrivaled, the players informed the union. “What we noticed over the past few years was that not only are they phenomenal athletes, but their self-expression and their personal style were things that we felt we could get behind from a storytelling standpoint, and at the same time, support what these amazing athletes are doing within the fan community,” Stacey said.
Kirby Porter, Jessica Stacey and Nikara Johns at The Catalysts.
With Unrivaled reinventing the rules on the court, Sephora was able to innovate off the court for this first season. Their out-of-the-box thinking resulted in viral activations, including a glam room for players, pre- and post-game, as well as a branded tunnel in the stadium, which is now officially the most photographed tunnel in women’s basketball.
“We didn’t want it to just be a logo slap,” Stacey said. “We sat down. We’re very intentional with Kirby and her team about us wanting to have a presence.”
When asked why Sephora was the right partner to tell the Unrivaled story, Porter said it “felt obvious” given the current conversations surrounding sports and beauty, not to mention the retailer’s position in the industry brought more eyes to the league. “We’ve been able to show up 360 through the partnership in a way that grows our brand awareness,” she added. “It’s so important to the league’s growth, it signals confidence in the market, both to investors, to other brands, and then, most importantly, to the fans.”
The fans are top of mind heading into season two, Porter said. She and Stacey are already brainstorming ideas for pop-ups and venue branding to actively engage the audience from tip-off to the final buzzer beat of every game. “We’re excited in terms of how we’re thinking about really outdoing ourselves this year, and how do we bring some of the things that were specific to players and to the fan experience to show up on social a bit different,” she continued.
It’s no secret Sephora’s bet big on the world of women’s sports this year, becoming the official beauty partner of the WNBA Golden State Valkyries, the Golden State dance team, and, of course, Unrivaled. As for why the beauty juggernaut is doubling down on the industry, Stacey said it’s a way for them to “support and invest in this incredibly important area of business,” and in doing so, the brand’s been able to uplift and empower the arena of female sports.