A panel discussion on how athletes and brands can change the world at the Cannes Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France, on Tuesday "focused more on what they should not be doing together, than on what they should," according to Joe Mandese of MARKETING DAILY. The panel, which included NFL CMO Dawn Hudson and NBA CMO Pam El as well as Translation Founder & CEO Steve Stoute, "examined some recent pitfalls." The panel "examined where professional athletes, their leagues and the brands they partner with were in misalignment, which produced less-than-desirable results." The most notorious of those, not surprisingly, "involved political endorsements," including Under Armour Founder, Chair & CEO Kevin Plank’s support for President Trump, which "generated social-media dissension" from two of the brand’s top endorsers: ballerina Misty Copeland and Warriors G Stephen Curry. Stoute said, "Under Armour still has not recovered from that debacle." Politics aside, both El and Hudson "indicated it is important that leagues not dictate their point of view to their endorsers or fans, but find better ways to integrate the brands their players represent into marketing the leagues." Hudson cited the NFL’s recent "My Cause, My Cleats" campaign. El said, "The athlete or the brand that drive that authenticity the most, will win. The league, the athletes and the brands have to do right all the time, or as much as they can. Or they will be called out by consumers if they don’t" (MEDIAPOST.com, 6/20).
LOST IN TRANSLATION: In N.Y., Emily Smith noted Stoute "slammed" model Kendall Jenner's Pepsi ad that showed her participating in an organized protest as "tone deaf." Stoute said that athletes can now be "more outspoken about their values and beliefs." He explained athletes are now "empowered to stand up for their beliefs." Stoute: "Now they can say, 'Although I am part of the NBA or the NFL I am also a brand myself, and social media and all the digital tools can allow me to articulate that brand', and that is a giant shift." Meanwhile, Hudson said of free agent QB Colin Kaepernick's protest, "There are many of our fans that took what he did as anti-American anti-military, and the NFL is a big military appreciation organization. But we actually came out and said we believe in freedom of speech ... so that was our first and foremost approach" (PAGESIX.com, 6/20).
