For the WNBA, 2024 was a record-setting year. The league had its most-watched regular season in 24 years — and its most-viewed regular season ever across ESPN platforms — and saw attendance increase 48% year-over-year. And on social media, the league had nearly 2 billion video views, more than quadruple the previous season.
The breakout success has largely been attributed to the sports prowess and star power of an incoming rookie class led by the likes of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Cameron Brink. Last year, the WNBA (known colloquially as “the W”) met the moment with a brand platform, “Welcome to the W,” that looked to welcome both new players and new viewers to the league.
“Last year was such an anomaly for any league to have gone through, and we had a lot of information,” said WNBA CMO Phil Cook. “Those insights really opened up the aperture for us to tell athletes stories beyond just a rookie class, and find ways to amplify some of the other stories.”
On Friday (May 16), as the WNBA begins the 2025 season, the league will tell more of those stories with a season-long campaign called “Viewer Discretion.” The tongue-in-cheek effort “warns” fans of what to expect from the league’s biggest stars. Along with a 30-second anthem, the campaign features five player-focused spots that will run on broadcast, online, social, streaming services and the WNBA app, plus additional ads reacting to the season’s storylines and developments.
First up: A commerical airing May 17 that showcases the dominance of 2024 MVP A’ja Wilson, widely considered the best player in the WNBA. The ad comes on the heels — no pun intended — of the long-overdue launch of her first signature Nike sneaker and a buzzy ad by Wieden+Kennedy Portland.
Wilson’s A’One sneaker reportedly sold out in five minutes and speaks to the increasing importance of women athletes, especially WNBA stars, as brand ambassadors. As marketers have looked to increase their investment in women’s sports, the WNBA has reaped the benefits, partnering with Ally Financial, Kim Kardashian’s Skims and Mattel’s Barbie.
Marketing Dive spoke with Cook, who joined the league in 2020 after nearly 25 years at Nike, about insights from a blockbuster 2024, the league’s relationship with brands and more.
The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
MARKETING DIVE: Tell me about the insights that drove the creation of “Viewer Discretion.”
PHIL COOK: The W is finally starting to carve out an identity for itself in the ecosystem of sport. The intent this year was to evolve the [“Welcome to the W”] campaign and continue to inspire and inform our WNBA audiences, new and old, around our athletes.
Last year, we had a singular message around the league and the style of play. This year we’re targeting our message around depicting the attributes that make some of our stars, stars. We’ll launch with A’Ja Wilson, we’ll come back with Caitlin Clark, and then Angel Reese, Napheesa Collier and Sabrina Ionescu. These five athletes will all have an individual 30-second ad that really illustrates their key attribute and what makes them great. Maybe the new fans aren’t as familiar with what makes these athletes great. It’s a fun way to tell that story.
What does the campaign say about where the WNBA is within public perception?
We’re complementing a lot of the work that the media are amplifying and illustrating. The media have started to really hone in on a lot more detail around the W, more than what historically used to be around scores and standings [and] covering what makes this game great: the level of competition, the rivalries that exist, the quality of play and the stories of the athletes as individuals.
We’re also seeing this reflected by the investment that our broadcast partners are putting in to tell these stories. There’s a lot more shoulder programming. The work that our global partners are doing is elevating these athletes through their brands as well.
How does the league look at brand partnerships and how you can amplify the league through marketing?
The issue that we suffered for so long in the WNBA was just lack of access. It was hard to be a fan of the WNBA. It’s one of the key pillars of our marketing, to continue to find ways to put our athletes in front of existing and new audiences. When you have new partners, they recognize the value and the distinction that the W has to drive their brand.
A brand like Skims that hasn’t historically been connected to the world of sports decides to jump in and recognize the value of using our athletes to tell their story. I think that’s illustrative of something that is really just at the early stages. A lot of these brands recognize the value and the ability of our athletes to carry their brand and tell a story in a way that no other athlete can.
When we as WNBA marketers look at the potential of storytelling through our athletes, it invites a new set of brands into the sport and invites a new level of investment that these brands are making, where otherwise, a couple of years ago, they would never consider it. But they now see the value in the influence that our athletes have on moving consumers.
How are you looking at Unrivaled as a complement to the WNBA?
It’s great to have some of our best players participating domestically in the off-season. It keeps our athletes top of mind. We’re all battling for time from our fans and I think Unrivaled did an amazing job of putting their game, that league and our athletes front and center in the sports ecosystem.
When I started five years ago, the league would go quite dormant following the finals, and there just weren’t moments to step up and celebrate and amplify. We would have to start all over again come late spring.
Now our athletes are top of mind. They are being marketed 12 months a year, and they’re being marketed not only within the basketball ecosystem, but across all cultural and sporting events. You’ll see our athletes pop up at every major sporting event. You’ll see them pop up at cultural events. The Met Gala was illustrative of the influence that our athletes have, and the weight that they carry, during some of the most culturally relevant moments in the calendar.
