Happy Wednesday, and welcome back to the 19th weekly edition of Broken Marketing by Anvara, where we discuss marketing that breaks.

For those of you who are new here, we’re Nick and Andrei, the co-founders of Anvara. We’ve included you here because one way or another, we’re connected. We’re happy to have you as a part of the Anvara family.

Emirates doesn't have a sponsorship strategy - sponsorship IS their strategy. Since 1987, they've built the most comprehensive sports portfolio in corporate history: football, rugby, tennis, basketball, golf, cricket, sailing, cycling. If there's a ball, they sponsor it. If there's a referee, their logo's on it.

The portfolio is staggering… Arsenal FC since 2006 (22 years and counting). Rugby World Cup referees since 1987. All four tennis Grand Slams. The NBA. Real Madrid AND AC Milan. While brands like TCS bet everything on marathons or McLaren diversifies within F1, Emirates said "why choose?"

The math maths. Emirates needs wealthy passengers paying $8,000 for business class, not budget travelers. Where do rich people gather? Sports. Not just any sports - the RIGHT sports. Tennis Grand Slams. Golf tournaments. Formula 1 paddocks. They're fishing where the fish are.

It's a global connector selling prestige. Every sponsorship is a permission slip to operate in that market. Arsenal gets you London. Real Madrid gets you Spain. The NBA gets you the US. Broadly, they’re buying recognition and trust.

The strategy goes deeper. Emirates also sponsors referees- because they're in every shot. They sponsor both local (UAE Basketball) and global (NBA) basketball to tap both markets. They've been on Rugby World Cup refs' jerseys since the tournament began - that's 37 years of being at the center of every match.

Emirates also wraps its monster A380 planes in its partners' branding. A plane sits at Heathrow for 3 hours. That's 10,000+ people walking past an Arsenal billboard they can't ignore. Traditional billboards get 3 seconds of attention. Planes get hours. At 50 airports daily. And Emirates uses them to showcase their partnerships - reminding everyone of their dominance in sports and building trust at every moment.

This isn't scattershot spending. It's infrastructure. When you fly Emirates, watch sports, or even just see a plane with your favorite sports team on it at the airport, you're inside their ecosystem. 

Emirates built a global airline from a desert city nobody could find on a map 40 years ago. Sponsorships gave them legitimacy and presence. Their strategy built them an empire. And it worked - Dubai is now the world's crossroads. 

The WNBA is no longer the best-kept secret in sports sponsorship. In just two years, team sponsorship deals have jumped 52%, with brands pouring $76 million into the league in 2024. On average, teams now carry 44 sponsorships each. 

The biggest drivers? Finance brands. Companies like Ally, Gainbridge, and Robinhood accounted for nearly 40% of the financial category spend, with Ally alone representing 23% of all brand spend in the league. That’s either a brilliant first-mover advantage or one brand carrying the WNBA on its back. Either way, the bet is clear: finance sees women’s basketball as a growth market others are still sleeping on.

The Indiana Fever exemplifies the sponsorship gold rush. They’re the league leader with 92 deals - more than double the WNBA average - and also boast the most social followers. The Fever’s dominance shows that brands aren’t just chasing championships; they’re chasing attention.

And that attention is increasingly coming from rookies. Wings rookie Paige Bueckers racked up 4.9 million engagements on branded posts in the past 12 months, more than league veterans like Breanna Stewart or Kelsey Plum. In fact, over half of the top-10 players for social ROI are in their first or second year. For brands, virality is beating victory.

Social engagement matters more than championships. Sponsorship in the WNBA is becoming less about rings and more about reach, personality, and cultural relevance. With finance brands leading the charge and rookies redefining star power, this surge might just be the beginning of a new sponsorship era - one where the WNBA isn’t just catching up, but setting the pace.

If the NBA’s $1.6B boom shows the playbook is changing, the WNBA’s growth shows it’s shifting to finance brands, younger stars, and social engagement over championships. 

💄 Maybelline x WWE: Maybelline New York became WWE’s first-ever official cosmetics partner in July 2025, debuting at the all-women’s Premium Live Event, Evolution. The deal includes cosmetics branding, in-ring activations, co-branded digital content, and athlete styling segments across Raw, SmackDown, and NXT.

🏎️ Red Bull’s $300M F1 Power Play: Red Bull’s title sponsorship with Oracle is worth about $300 million over five years — one of the richest in F1 history. Williams Racing also secured its biggest-ever team partnership with Atlassian, marking a strong commercial resurgence for the team.

🤖 Google’s AI Overviews Shake Up SEO: Rolled out in May 2024, Google’s Gemini-powered AI Overviews now appear on nearly 20% of U.S. searches. Pew Research reports users show an AI Overview click far less on traditional results, driving steep traffic declines - Business Insider saw a 55% drop from April 2022 to April 2025. 

📈 CMOs Boost Sports Spend, Eye Bigger Wins: 40% of U.S. B2C CMOs plan to increase sports sponsorship budgets in 2025, with PGA, ATP, esports, and X Games leading gains. While ROI tracking remains tricky for many, most still see stronger brand equity - a sign the investment is paying off.

🍺 Bud Light x Peyton Manning Kick Off NFL: Bud Light’s new “Parachute” ad stars Peyton Manning and is paired with limited-edition team cans and tailgate giveaways to keep the brand front and center all season long.