Roc Nation Sports is "packaging its players for group endorsement deals with brands looking for enhanced promotion," and its "first group package deal is with headphones, speakers and cables company Monster," according to Darren Heitner of FORBES. It provides Monster with a "diverse array of Roc Nation Sports rookie clients who play various sports and are able to market Monster products in different markets." The Monster campaign involves Jaguars RB Leonard Fournette and Steelers WR JuJu Smith Schuster, as well as Lakers G Josh Hart and Hornets F Dwayne Bacon. Roc Nation Sports' strategy is to "at least begin its group packaging product strictly with its classes of rookie clientele." However, Roc Nation Sports is "hopeful that at the end of the rookie season, the brand and athletes will work together to transition into new deals on their own." The agreements between the athletes and Monster are "structured as one-year deals, and depending on the traction Roc Nation Sports gains collectively through those athletes, it will look to either renew with those same athletes or insert new rookies into the relationship next year." Roc Nation Sports is "pitching the group packaging platform as one that will work regardless of a player's draft position." Bacon, a mid-second round NBA Draft pick, is "receiving the same 'partnership'" as Fournette, picked fourth in the NFL Draft, but "not necessarily the same amount of guaranteed money and product." Roc Nation President and Chief of Branding & Strategy Michael Yormark said that the agency will "receive the same commission from this new type of group deal as it would on deals it procures for individual athletes." Monster will "start seeing activation from the endorser athletes within the coming weeks" (
FORBES.com, 8/9).
