Sports and the passion generated by fandom around athletes, leagues and teams is fueling media, culture and marketing live never before. That was the focus of the Variety Sports Culture Happy Hour presented by Uber Advertising, hosted June 17 during the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France.
The session offered perspectives on the growth of sports-related opportunities from the perspective of two top athletes — Olympic gold medal winners Jordan Chiles and Tara Davis-Woodhall — and top executives from the NBA, Uber Advertising and American Express.
The 30-minute panel, moderated by Cynthia Littleton, Variety co-editor in chief, also touched on how panelists grapple with strategic business decisions, authentic partnerships and using social media as a tool to connect with audiences outside of their respective sports.
Track and field superstar Davis-Woodhall, who won the gold medal for women’s long jump at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, surprised the crowd by noting how precious little airtime is devoted on sports networks to track and field — despite the growth in the number of outlets chasing sports deals. She and her husband, fellow track star Hunter Woodhall, invest in their own camera crews to capture their performances to distribution later via YouTube and social media.
“It’s really hard to find clips of track and field. So we have to bring our videographers to come film and actually make my and Hunter’s jumps and running a little bit more sexy. So it can be appealing to the naked eye for someone who’s not a track fan,” Davis-Woodhall said. “We have to go a little bit deeper into our social media to make it an actual brand.”
Chiles, who won a gold medal for gymnastics last year, noted that her commitment to gymnastics has helped prepare her for the world of being a celebrity and striking partnerships with brands.
“As an athlete, no matter where we are, no matter what we’re trying to do within our lives, everybody has to see that we strive and thrive for greater each and every single day,” Chiles said. “That’s why I like working with certain brands because it’s like they understand that. They understand, you know, that I wake up in the morning at 4:00 a.m. just to go do a workout at six, I wake up in the morning to go do a cold plunge.
“Knowing that I have this opportunity that I can say yes to things, I can say no to things, but understanding that each brand, each partnership, whether it’s long-term, long-term, short-term, is that they understand who I am,” Chiles said. “They understand that authenticity that I get to bring to help them make sure that their brand looks good. If I’m looking good, then I want the brand to look good as well.”
Davis-Woodhall added: “You have to work hard to win. That’s been where the path has taken me through social media and how I’ve signed and worked with brands. Are these brands gonna help me achieve my goal, which is to be the Olympic gold medalist? Is this brand going to be value to me as a person and a human being at the end of the day?”
Woodhall-Davis also addressed the downsides of social media — the tidal wave of criticism and worse that comes pouring out of anonymous commentators. Both Olympians discussed strategies for tuning out the noise and maintaining their own mental health.
“We’re putting ourselves out there and, honestly, it fuels the hell outta me when someone says I can’t do something,” Woodhall-Davis said. “My Facebook is very polished, my Instagram is good, then TikTok is unhinged.”
Chiles concurred. “You go on my social media, you’re gonna know I’m a dog mom. You’re gonna know that I love fashion,” she said. “I don’t want you just to think of me as Jordan Chiles, a two-time Olympian who did this, that and the other in gymnastics. I would like for you to understand that I like watching other sports. I would like for you to understand that Uber Eats is literally the only app I have on my phone.”
To that point, earlier in the conversation, Georgie Jeffreys, Uber’s head of marketing for the U.S. and Canada, stated flatly the importance of sports and related fandom to achieving marketing goals.
“If you don’t have a sports strategy in the industries that we’re in — food delivery and mobility — you don’t really have a marketing strategy,” Jeffreys said. “The reason why sport is so important for us is because the traditional fan base for sport is really changing and evolving. And a lot of that is because of things like [Netflix’s Formula 1 docu series] ‘Drive to Survive’ and the way these social relationships are building between fans and the athletes themselves. We think a lot about how do we treat fans as fans, not as buyers and not as consumers. And we really build and tailor our creative and marketing strategies around that.”
Jess Ling, American Express executive VP of global brand advertising, echoed Jeffreys’ sentiment as it helps guide the credit card giant’s marketing expenditures. American Express, which is marking its 175th year in business, has been a visible player in major sports for decades.
“We are not just a credit card company. We are a membership company,” Ling said. “So when we think about how we structure what membership looks like — that’s travel, dining, sports, entertainment. And so where we really leaned in is where can we continue to co-create experiences that elevate access for card members? Right now what we’ve been really, really focused on is how do you build differentiation through music and entertainment in a way that gives card members either early access to tickets, exclusive merchandise and really pulls them in to the experience of that artist.”
Henault said the NBA is gearing up for a big 2025-26 season as the league’s new media rights deals take effect. More NBA games are going to be on old-school broadcast platforms as well as getting cutting-edge streaming treatment on Peacock and Amazon than ever before.
“We’re a massive lifestyle brand so we can insert ourselves culturally in all types of conversations. And our fans are fans of music, fashion, gaming, et cetera. So we’re able to insert ourselves and then bring our brand partners along for the ride as well,” Henault explained. “So when we make decisions around what investments we make, we really think hard about can we add to the fan experience. Can we not just make a media moment? Can we add meaning to what it means to be an NBA fan? How do we really take the idea and experience of being a fan and together with those partnerships elevate them?”
(Pictured top: Uber Advertising’s Georgie Jeffreys, Tara Davis-Woodhall, NBA’s Tammy Henault, Jordan Chiles and American Express’ Jess Ling)
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