For the third time since last October, financial services company Robinhood has announced that it will put its logo on the jersey of an NBA team. On Tuesday, it added the Miami Heat to a promotional push that also includes the Memphis Grizzlies and Washington Wizards.
Robinhood’s trio of jersey partnerships in one league is a fresh take on an advertising method that is a relatively new phenomenon in the United States.
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Until 2017, no American sports league allowed any brand placement on in-game uniforms. Then, the NBA opened the door to the prime real estate to access spectators, following in the footsteps of a long-standing practice in international club soccer.
European soccer teams, however, rarely share the same jersey sponsors as others in their league. As a result, the jersey sponsorships become individualized, identifying an effort throughout the life of the partnership. Manchester City, for example, are currently the only Premier League team to promote Etihad Airways on the front of their kit.
Robinhood took a different approach in the NBA, becoming the first company with three jersey patches at once.
While holding multiple brand partnerships in a single European soccer league might be rare, some companies, such as Emirates and Red Bull, have successfully adorned the fronts of jerseys for prominent clubs in different leagues at the same time, according to Michael Goodbody, the Robinhood executive. president of marketing and communications.
Goodbody also said Washington, Memphis and Miami have particular characteristics that Robinhood thought were worth partnering with at the same time. “There is a clear business advantage in connecting with multiple fan bases because of the vast cultural differences between all three communities and cities,” Goodbody said in an email.
All three deals were facilitated by Klutch Sports Group, and a routine came together to execute them. Robinhood worked with Klutch even before making the Rich Paul-led company its “agency of record for partnerships in the sports and entertainment sectors” in March 2024.
Last year, Klutch helped Robinhood land its first NBA jersey patch with the Wizards through a separate deal with Monumental Sports, and in June Klutch helped Robinhood’s first investment in women’s sports when it reached patch deal with Washington Mystics of the WNBA. Robinhood coordinated with Washington, Monumental and Klutch in part because DC is where CEO Vlad Tenev grew up, and it presented an opportunity to strengthen its footprint in the nation’s capital.
Like how the Washington project worked, Robinhood turned to Memphis and Miami this summer.
For the Grizzlies, Goodbody said Robinhood felt “the organization was undervalued against other opportunities within the league” and appreciated its self-identification as a gritty city. “Pound for pound they have some of the most impressive social achievements in the league and that is a key component of any deal,” Goodbody said.
Miami, meanwhile, already possessed a large customer base for Robinhood that it wanted to build, with Klutch helping to negotiate the company’s third jersey chip deal.
Klutch was originally founded with a focus on representing athletes, but it has since looked for ways to diversify its portfolio of services. Managing brand-to-team marketing ventures was a fruitful niche for Clutch. Its first such success was announced in July 2021 – a brokered jersey patch deal between the Houston Rockets and fintech company Credit Karma Money.
It found an enthusiastic partner in Robinhood, which will test the merits of a high-volume jersey chip approach in the NBA market.
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