Female professional sports have more eyes on them now than, arguably, ever. For brands in the personal care and beauty industry looking to expand their markets, the time has never been more right.

But why now?

The answer is twofold.

From Cigarettes to Sunscreen

Endorsement deals surrounding health, beauty and personal care have evolved significantly in the past 50 years.

In 1970, in an effort to make cigarettes more appealing to women, Marlboro sponsored the Women’s Tennis Association Tour Championships—renamed the Virginia Slims Championships—to promote its newest line of tobacco products. Using slogans like “It’s a woman thing” and “You’ve come a long way, baby,” the campaign was designed to persuade more women to smoke.

The landscape of endorsement deals for professional female athletes looked understandably different in past decades. Products now viewed as detrimental to one’s health and image were once major contributors in the realm of sponsorship deals involving athletes and brands in the beauty industry.

For over 25 years this sponsorship remained intact, eventually growing to include the appeal of esteemed tennis stars like Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova (left).

Understanding how sponsorships once looked and analyzing how they have changed in the past half-century helps predict how they will look in the future. What was once an industry dominated by tobacco products, is now supported by manufacturers of beauty, personal care and health products.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) outlawed sponsorships between athletes and tobacco companies in 2010, altering the landscape once again. In 1992, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported $192 million in total marketing expenditures on sports-related sponsorships. After the FDA issued the ban, the CDC reported that number fell to $0.

Caitlin Clark and Co. Elevate the WNBA

An average of 505,000 viewers tuned in to watch nationally-televised WNBA regular season games in 2023, the highest mark the league had seen in over five years. But in the meantime, college stars like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Cameron Brink, grabbed the spotlight in their chase for an NCAA Championship.

Their performances captivated a nation of insatiable viewers; their skills were undeniable, but more importantly for brands, their marketing potential quickly approached uncharted territory.

On April 15, Clark, Reese and Brink heard their names called at the 2024 WNBA Draft. The draft attracted over 2.45 million viewers— almost five times as many viewers as the previous season’s average game. In a few short months, the WNBA was transformed, headlined by a rookie class primed to take the sport to the next level.

It was a marketer’s dream.

Fast-moving consumer product brands rushed to sign these in-demand rookies. The time had come to take stock in these athletes, with companies clamoring to carve out a small piece of their rapidly-growing popularity. In college at the University of South Carolina, Brink signed an NIL deal with energy drink brand Celsius. Reese did the same at Louisiana State University with ZOA Energy. At Iowa, Clark inked the motherload of hydration, recovery and wellness brands: Gatorade.

Reese teamed with Procter & Gamble’s fem hygiene brand Tampax, releasing a campaign aimed to increase awareness and promote period and tampon education for Generation Z’s female population. In addition, she signed with P&G’s Mielle Organics, using her growing platform to promote the company’s makeup and additional beauty products.

Bringing the League to the Forefront

Each of these WNBA newcomers are highly-regarded by brands and fans, but they’re not the first players to generate interest around the league. With the buzz surrounding the WNBA, more attention has been brought to veteran players well into their professional careers. Draymond Green, professional NBA player with the Golden State Warriors and analyst, said on his podcast “The Draymond Green Show” that the league’s most marketable player isn’t a member of the 2024 rookie class at all.

It’s A’ja Wilson, he says, two-time league Most Valuable Player and champion with her Los Vegas Aces, with whom she has played for since entering the league in 2018. In her seven seasons, she has made five all-star appearances.

Considered one of, if not the best, player in the league, the 27-year-old joined Clark as a Gatorade ambassador in May. Around the same time, she and Nike announced a partnership that included a signature shoe for the Aces star.

Nike and Gatorade were just Wilson’s second and third sponsorship of her career, the first of which came two years ago.

Deals Left, Right & Center

In their first few months as professional WNBA athletes, brand deals in the personal care industry came easy and often. Brink was a central figure of a promotional event for Kim Kardashian’s Skims, a brand built on inclusivity and body positivity in women’s bodywear. 2024 marks the second year of a multi-year deal between Skims and the WNBA, which made the brand the official underwear partner for the league, and they promptly chose Brink to be one of just a handful of its ambassadors.

As the popularity for these sports increases, so does the younger generation’s desire to get involved with them. As the audience for the sport grows, so does a brand’s possible outreach. Partnering with these prolific players provides access to an immediate and quickly-growing pool of potential customers for its product. It’s something all brands must embrace.

The rationale behind these deals is this: women’s sports are hot commodities right now. Their marketing potential is sky high, despite limited, but growing, viewership. Players like Clark, Reese and Brink have millions of followers on social media, incentivizing companies to sponsor them.

It is not unusual for brands to sponsor entire teams, or even the league itself, either. In fact, it is becoming more and more common. Last year, NYX Professional Makeup became the New York Liberty’s first cosmetic sponsor in team history—and it just re-upped for another year, as reported by Happi. On the West Coast, Urban Decay partnered with Brink’s Los Angeles Sparks, further laying down roots between the WNBA and companies in the personal care and beauty industry.

A year ago, WNBA teamed with Mielle — presumably springboarding off the success of its campaign with Reese two months prior — in what is another multi-year sponsorship with a brand in the personal care and beauty industry, alongside Skims.

In Atlanta, the Dream welcomed Honey Pot as an official sponsor, inviting its players to use the company’s wide array of feminine care and hygiene products.

Just this month Hairitage inked a deal with the Dallas Wings.

Glossier is perhaps the longest-running sponsor of this league, becoming the first of many brands the WNBA calls its official beauty sponsors. In March, the two renewed a partnership that originally began in 2020, bringing its line of skincare, makeup, bodycare and fragrance to the forefront of the WNBA’s marketing expansion.

Whether it is with an individual player, an organization or the league itself, brands recognize the growing popularity and marketability of professional women’s sports. The WNBA may be the most prominent, but not the only, example.

Let’s examine the second half of this equation to further understand why 2024 is the year of professional women’s sports.

Worldwide Impact

The Olympics take place every four years. Athletes worldwide give it their all for a chance at gold, silver and bronze medals. Whether Winter or Summer, the Olympics is the only sporting event that creates legends in a two-week span. From a marketing standpoint, what could possibly be a better reason to recruit these athletes to be brand ambassadors?

They compete once every four years. That alone is enough motivation to ensure their intensive training is not put to waste. That alone is an opportunity big enough for marketers to get more eyes on their products. What makes the games possibly even more lucrative is the audience.

A study conducted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) found more than 2.0 billion people tuned in to watch the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

With the Summer Olympics getting underway right now, the IOC expects the same, if not more, viewership in Paris. In addition, more than 500,000 spectators are expected to attend in person. The IOC has dubbed these games as “the biggest event ever organized in France.”

When the Olympic torch is extinguished on August 11, nearly one-quarter of the global population will have tuned in to watch gymnastics, track & field, swimming and more. The scarcity in which the Olympic Games occur sets it apart from almost every other sporting event. Combine the fanfare, illustrious history and profound displays of athletic excellence, athletes who compete in the Olympics are, without a doubt, some of the most marketable around.

Matching Values & Brands

Anastasia Pagonis is a 20-year-old swimmer with the US Paralympic Team. She landed endorsement deals with brands like Gillette and ELF Beauty as a result of her performance in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where she won gold in the 400M freestyle and bronze in the 200M medley.

Pagonis and Gillette are closely linked by the fact that swimmers use razors to shave their bodies in an effort to reduce drag in the water. As Gillette noted in a press release, without a razor, swimmers cannot perform their, “ritual of growing out their body hair ahead of competition, before shaving everything off to ensure maximum performance in the pool.” That release heralded Gillette’s sponsorship of the Games.

But athletes use much more than razors and shaving cream to prepare for competition. Sydney McLaughlin, a renowned sprinter and hurdler with the US Olympic Team, signed with Neutrogena last year.

Training takes a toll on sprinters like McLaughlin, and every other athlete who toils under the sun. UV rays damage and dry skin. Protecting against skin damage is a big priority for sprinters competing at the highest level.

Neutrogena recognizes that. The Kenvue brand signed McLaughlin not entirely for her prestige—although her two gold medals at Tokyo in 2020 surely help—but more so for the fact that her values align with the values of the brand recruiting her for ambassadorship. By the time McLaughlin turns 25 in August, she’ll surely have more medals, and Neutrogena and its products set the foundation to help her get there.

High-profile CPG giants, P&G included, have bet big for this year’s games in Paris.

And outside of the Olympics and basketball, there are other opportunities. ELF, for example, has been tapping into the fan base of motor sports, including Indy 500 Driver Katherine Legge.

Answering the Call

An opportunity is ringing out to brands these days. Be it within the borders of the US, as Clark and the WNBA continue to sweep across national headlines, or across the ocean in Paris, where the world’s most esteemed athletes look to take gold before the summer’s end, there is still time to seize the moment.

Brands looking for the perfect ambassador to represent their products should recognize the enduring value professional women’s athletes have on social media and across all consumer demographics around the world.

Consumers want to support their new favorite players and the media is responding. Networks have begun to greenlight shows, podcasts and other forms of media devoted solely to coverage around them. savvy beauty and personal care brands already recognize the power of female athletes.

Zach Carter is a graduate student at Quinnipiac University, where he is currently studying to earn a master’s degree in journalism. As a member of Quinnipiac’s accelerated dual-degree program, Carter graduated in May 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in Spanish in three years and will be working toward a master’s degree in his fourth. He currently works as an editorial assistant with TheStreet’s Retirement Daily. This is his second story for Happi.com.