The convergence of beauty and sports is having a moment.
While sports and fashion have long intersected — from five-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman’s enigmatic, gender-bending style through the ‘90s, to NBA players’ widely watched tunnel outfits — the synergy between athletes and beauty may be in its relative infancy, but consumers are starting to pay attention.
Granted, sports fans aren’t yet creating Instagram accounts documenting the beauty moves of their favorite athletes as they have begun to do with their fashion choices (see @leaguefits, @nbafashionfits), but they are watching the space, and companies like Bubble, Sephora, Kinlò and others are harnessing athletes as a way to reach these consumers — and seeing promising breakthroughs as a result.
Related Articles
Take oral care brand Moon, for example. Launched by Shaun Neff in 2019, Moon has two main ambassadors: former Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who signed on in December 2021, and Kendall Jenner, who backs Moon and has fronted the brand since its debut.
“Pre-Odell, [our consumer] was far more female than male, and it’s becoming more balanced every day; especially with Odell being known for his rad aesthetic, his dyed hair — bringing him onboard has brought in that high school, college, athletic male consumer to the brand,” said Neff of Moon, which sells at Ulta Beauty.
According to data from Tribe Dynamics, between November 2021 and January 2023, Jenner generated $7 million in earned media value — which assesses social media content and assigns it a monetary value based on engagement — across 69 posts, while Beckham Jr. generated a commensurate $936,700 EMV across 33 posts during the same period. (For reference, Jenner counts 276 million Instagram followers, while Beckham Jr. has 16.9 million).
Sephora has also entered the athlete arena: last year, the retailer inaugurated Olympic gold medalist sprinter, Kendall Ellis, to its yearlong Sephora Squad ambassadorship program, which has historically consisted of beauty influencers with varying following sizes, but is broadening its reach.
“The core of Sephora’s followers are those who are a little more beauty-invested, and so finding these partnerships in areas like sports and gaming, where these convergences are happening, creates an opportunity for us to reach these more casual beauty shoppers, who have maybe heard of Sephora but don’t yet think of us as their go-to destination for their beauty needs,” said Brent Mitchell, Sephora’s vice president of marketing, social and influencer.
As professional athletes are finding their footing in the beauty industry, so, too, are collegiate athletes, who often have highly engaged followings and thus offer ripe ground for ambassadorships. With the National Collegiate Athletic Association increasing its leniency in allowing college athletes to profit from the use of their name, image and likeness of late, brands are increasingly flocking to the group.
One such brand is Naomi Osaka’s sun care-focused Kinlò, which recruited five college athletes who play different sports for its #GlowOutside Instagram campaign in August with the aim of highlighting the brand’s mission of promoting sunscreen use among those with melanated skin.
“Partnering with student athletes allows us to be very targeted in reaching the communities it’s important for us to connect with; these athletes are very influential in their communities — which include their friends, their schools and their social media followings,” said Kinlò president Mia Mecham.
In an email to Beauty Inc, Osaka added that because one of her goals with Kinlò is to empower a rising generation of athletes, it was a no-brainer that the product should be fronted by people who are going to sweat and endure extreme conditions during use, rather than by traditional celebrity or famous-for-being-famous ambassadors.
Gen Z-focused skin care brand Bubble has a similar approach. In addition to its roster of actor ambassadors (like Madison Pettis and Samantha Logan), the brand partnered with Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernandez upon its launch, and has since inked deals with Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson, Denver Broncos running back Melvin Gordon 3rd and Texas State track star Sam Hurley.
“We love the idea of getting Bubble to represent everyone, and a lot of people can’t relate to a lot of celebrity faces,” said Shai Eisenman, founder and chief executive officer.
Eisenman reports that 40 percent of Bubble’s consumer base is male — a not-so-common stat for a skin care brand. This unique reach has been in part enabled by the brand’s athlete partnerships, which, beyond driving brand awareness, are fueling a larger demystification of self-care, specifically among cis-gendered, male consumers, who previously have not been spoken to by the movement.
“Not everyone understands how important it is to cleanse your skin in the morning or use SPF. By bringing in Justin’s voice, who isn’t necessarily the person some would expect to be an avid skin care user, we’re exposing the brand to a completely different community,” Eisenman said.
Tribe reports that Jefferson has generated $39,800 EMV for Bubble across four Instagram posts since January 2021 (to note, though, Jefferson’s partnership with the brand includes online and print ads, unlike with Bubble’s other athlete partnerships, which are strictly user-generated content-focused).
Athlete partnerships have strategic legs beyond the realm of social media or digital campaigns, too. In fact, when Beckham Jr. makes his highly anticipated announcement regarding which team he will sign to upon his return to the NFL next year following an injury-related break, Moon plans to host an in-person activation in his new team’s city.
“With all different talent, we care about in-person activations — it’s important to show up, be relatable, be in-person and shake hands,” said Neff.