For its creative campaign this upcoming season, the WNBA will put a focus on five of the league’s top stars with player-specific content and spots featured across multiple digital platforms.
With its new creative campaign, the WNBA is doubling down on its commitment of introducing fans to its most prolific players through five new 30-second spots titled “Viewer Discretion,” and several other player videos that will be released throughout the season. The digital content to be released was produced by Wieden+Kennedy, who worked on last year’s “Welcome to the W’ campaign.”
In creating these campaigns, WNBA CMO Phil Cook said the league wanted to break away from the norm of how leagues advertise and create “something that was ownable for our league” as part of a larger strategy to build the brand of the WNBA and be distinct.
For this season’s campaign, Cook said that the team behind it wanted to create a variety of ads to showcase different athletes, with, for the first time ever, more content to be released during the playoffs and 2025 WNBA Finals featuring the players participating in the postseason.
“Last year, we ran the same ad over and over again for five months. And as a marketer, as good as that ad was, I think it started to lose its impact near the end of the year,” Cook said. “So, we used that intel and insight to create a series of ads this year.”
The films and player-specific content will be featured during TV broadcasts, on social media, streaming services, as well as the WNBA app.
The five stars highlighted in the campaign include Aces C A’ja Wilson, Fever G Caitlin Clark, Sky F Angel Reese, Lynx F Napheesa Collier, and Liberty G Sabrina Ionescu. The first spot, featuring Wilson, is scheduled to be released on May 17 when the Aces face the Liberty.
Cook said the players chosen to be highlighted were selected based on the engagement levels they’ve seen from fans.
“These athletes are, as individuals or within their teams, some of the most consumed athletes in terms of broadcast,” he said. “When you see these games come up, they’re often the most watched games on broadcast. But within our own ecosystem, we also know that when we put content out against this athlete cohort, this is some of our most engaged content as well.”
Cook said the films will tell the story of the athletes in a fun and engaging manner to new fans, deepening their knowledge of the players and the league.
