For some brands (think Gatorade or FanDuel), sports marketing is a natural fit. For others, perhaps not so much.

That was the case for women’s footwear brand Birdies, according to president and co-founder Marisa Sharkey. But when she and her team first heard about Angel City Football Club—one of the newest National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) expansion teams that already has been the subject of an HBO documentary series, plus a celebrity ownership group that includes Natalie Portman—they were immediately excited about potentially getting involved.

“Even though we weren’t looking for a sports sponsorship specifically, we just really liked the idea of supporting women through sports and the way that the team and the leadership themselves talked about it,” Sharkey told Marketing Brew. “We thought it would be very unique and unexpected for a brand like Birdies, that was relatively small at the time, to even think about sponsoring a sports team.”

The team didn’t have a roster or a stadium locked in at the time, Sharkey said, so there were “a lot of uncertainties involved” in the process. Now, about two years into the sponsorship, Birdies and ACFC have already gone beyond adding the brand’s logo to the team’s kits, including collaborating on a shoe and setting up an internship program.

Read our conversation about the brand’s first-ever sports sponsorship here.—AM

Did you know there are almost 50m influencers in the world? With so many different voices—with audiences ranging from millions to niche communities of just a few thousand people—brands and influencers can build extremely powerful relationships.

If you’re a marketer interested in running a social influencer campaign, check out this resource to learn the ins and outs of collaborating with creators and social influencers. Find out how to better connect with your target audiences and ensure the mutually beneficial success of your partnership.

Download your copy here.

Visa re-upped its sponsorship deal with the US Soccer Federation (USSF), continuing an agreement started in 2019 that guarantees at least 50% of the brand’s investment in the sport will be allocated to the US Women’s National Team and other women’s soccer initiatives.

The deal secures Visa’s spot as the exclusive payment services partner of both the men’s and women’s national teams through 2028, and represents the continuation of not only Visa’s efforts to improve gender equality in sports, but also similar efforts from other brands, media companies, and organizations this year.

• As part of its deal with the federation, Visa will keep its status as presenting partner of the SheBelieves Cup, an international women’s soccer tournament.
• The deal also led to the creation of the “SheBelieves MVP award grant” funded by Visa, which will give a $25,000 grant to a women-owned small business in the US on behalf of the fan-voted MVP, according to the USSF.

Visa isn’t the only brand in the financial services space that’s investing in women’s sports, soccer included. Ally Financial is a major NWSL sponsor, notably pledging to split its ad spend on men’s and women’s sports equally within five years, and has big plans for the World Cup. Mastercard, another NWSL partner, recently hosted a conference about women leadership in sports.

Read the full piece here.—AM

Each week, Marketing Brew recaps what people are talking about on social media, the trends that took over our feeds, and how marketers are responding.

Ice cream so good: Chronically online people have most likely heard the phrase “Gang gang…Ice cream so good.” The New York Times spoke with creator Pinkydoll, who uses those phrases on TikTok livestreams while doing things like popping single kernels of corn with a hair straightener, about how she became the meme of the week. With more than 500k followers, she told the Times that she makes up to $3,000 per stream. Ice cream so good it’s making us consider a career change. (If you’re confused about why this is a thing, here are some explainers.)

Thread-ening aura?: According to data.ai, Threads recently surpassed 150 million downloads. However, a report from Similarweb found that daily active users were down from 49 million on July 7 to nearly 24 million on July 14. Regardless, brands like American Eagle seem to be all aboard the Threads train.

Wait…what?: This isn’t the first time people have noticed Reformation’s interesting choice of copy. People online wondered what the brand could’ve meant when it wrote, “Not just Keanu Reeves” above a link to “Sexy, wrinkly linen” on its website. In response, someone tweeted about Rhode Skin’s…questionable choice of words in a handout that said, “We believe in one of everything really good.” This is starting to sound like “Ice cream so good.”

The filter isn’t looking bright: At a time of record-breaking heat, creator Benton McClintock is using the trending old filter on TikTok to poke fun at brand pop-ups and the future of influencing in a climate apocalypse. Can’t wait to one day pick up the newest water ration collab.—KH

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Welcome to the (first) party: Meta outlines ways to make use of first-party data in a recent report.

Let’s get it started: TikTok released a starter guide to help brands begin their advertising journeys on the platform.

Must be the money: Here’s a breakdown of how to put together a social media budget.

Stories we’re jealous of.

• Vox examined how social media and trying to have the “perfect vacation” have ruined travel in many ways. Even Rick Steves said so.
• The New York Times wrote about how Instagram account Sporty & Rich evolved into a retail brand that wants to be “a younger person’s version of Goop,” with buccal-fat facials and activewear being sold at its new store in Soho.
• New York Mag spoke with Robbie Brenner, the woman who brought Barbie out of production purgatory, making this summer’s release possible.