Power Players: How Female Athletes Are Redefining Business and Brand Value

Summary

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AdTechGod Pod — Episode Summary

Episode Title: Power Players: How Female Athletes Are Redefining Business and Brand Value
Date: March 27, 2026
Host: AdTechGod
Guests:

• Cosette Chaput (CEO & Co-founder, Allis Alpha)
• Allyson Felix (Co-founder, Allis Alpha; Olympian)
• Wes Felix (Co-founder, Allis Alpha)
  Moderator: Zoe Ruderman (Chief Content Officer, Adweek)

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Episode Overview

This lively live episode recorded at the “Architecture Live” conference in New York City showcases a conversation with the founders of Allis Alpha—a pioneering agency for female athletes. The discussion, led by Zoe Ruderman, dives into how women athletes are transforming the business landscape, brand partnerships, and the entire concept of value in sports. The panelists analyze why women’s sports should no longer be framed as a “trend,” the unique power of women’s stories, challenges in traditional sports marketing, and what the industry must do to realize the full potential of women's sports leading up to the LA28 Olympic Games.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Genesis of Allis Alpha — Breaking the Mold

[02:05–04:14]

• Allyson Felix shares the personal journey that inspired Allis Alpha:
  • Her experience building her career inside and outside the field, notably after her high-profile maternity leave dispute with Nike.
  • Noted the lack of tailored, athlete-first representation for women in the industry:

    “A lot of other athletes were asking me… how have you been able to do things on the field, but also off the field...” — Allyson Felix [02:44]

  • Existing agencies tended to use a “one size fits all” model designed for men.
  • Need for a new, nuanced model supporting multidimensional female athletes.

2. Debunking the ‘Trend’ Myth: Women’s Sports as Real Business

[04:15–05:17]

• Cosette Chaput addresses misconceptions:
  • Despite strong ROI and growth, people still view women’s sports as a trend or charity rather than a formidable business.
  • Industry structures inadvertently reinforce the idea that women’s sports are secondary:

    “When you serve women from a department instead of an infrastructure built for them… it subtly reinforces that it’s not as big of a business as we all know it is.” — Cosette Chaput [04:59]

3. Why Women’s Sports Marketing (Still) Doesn’t Exist

[05:17–06:49]

• Wes Felix:
  • Challenges the notion of “women’s sports marketing” as a mere extension of male-centric models.
  • Example: Sponsorship at women’s games still targets male audiences (e.g., Michelob Ultra at WNBA games).
  • Argues for strategies that focus on the female consumer, predicting industry transformation when marketing authentically speaks to women:

    “When you can speak to a female consumer, women’s sports is going to fully transform.” — Wes Felix [06:37]

4. A Big Opportunity—and a Looming Bubble? The Road to LA28

[06:49–09:28]

• Panel agrees that LA28 (the LA Olympic games) is an inflection point.
• Wes voices concern about a “women’s sports bubble”:
  • Massive investments currently go only to top teams and leagues, mimicking men’s sports patterns—but at warp speed.
  • Highlights unsustainable economics:

    “There is no way that the structure can sustain if you’re talking to small startups for 15 grand.” — Wes Felix [08:46]

  • Brands must invest beyond the surface to build long-term infrastructure and opportunities.

5. The Power of 360° Storytelling and Authenticity

[10:00–12:27]

• Allyson Felix & Wes Felix:
  • Emphasize that women athletes drive deeper and more relatable storytelling—balancing elite competition, everyday life, and motherhood.
  • Real-world factor: Olympic athletes flying coach, juggling family and busy schedules.
  • Brand deals must reflect this authenticity:

    “That’s some of the rich storytelling that female athletes can give is they are actually using the products. They’re trying to figure out their life.” — Wes Felix [11:34]

6. What Brand Marketers Get Wrong—and Right

[12:29–14:53]

• Marketers often treat women’s sports as a late-breaking “trend,” applying templated, male-centric influencer campaigns.
• The best campaigns start with a clear brand story and involve athletes as true partners:

  “They want to basically give you free consultant work as part of the endorsement because they know their audiences, which are actually fans, way better than any of us sitting in this room.” — Cosette Chaput [14:37]

7. Female Athletes as Influencers—Real ROI

[14:53–16:46]

• Female athletes may have fewer followers than traditional influencers, but their engagement and trust metrics are often far higher.
• Example from Allis Alpha’s Peloton instructor client:

  “Her engagement rate on Instagram varies between 10 and 12%... They will do anything she tells them to do, which is a responsibility she also takes very seriously.” — Cosette Chaput [15:48]

• Brands see better conversion and higher consumer trust with authentic, well-matched partnerships.

8. Still an Uphill Battle: Education & Opportunity

[16:46–17:34]

• Allis Alpha’s founders spend much of their time educating new-to-sports brands.

  • “Are you in education mode before you even get to pitch mode?” — Zoe Ruderman [16:56]

  • “96%.” — Cosette Chaput [16:56]

• Cassette: The “door is open but closing”—brands must move fast to stake their ground before LA28.

9. Industries Getting it Right (and Those Catching Up)

[18:04–19:01]

• Beauty brands (Sephora, Ulta, Merit) are leading adopters, authentically leveraging athlete credibility (e.g., makeup setting sprays marketed through athletes).
• Auto and finance brands lag, but are showing interest as authentic athlete stories become more visible.
  • Example: Nissan partnership with Allyson Felix using “car talks”—actual moments from her life [19:11].

10. Success Redefined & The Audacity of Women Athletes

[20:06–23:55]

• Success for Allis Alpha has grown from “can we sign talent?” to “can we move the entire industry?”
• Each panelist shares optimism for:
  • New leagues, the audacity and entrepreneurial energy of women athletes (Wes Felix [22:53])
  • Rich, multidimensional storytelling and athletes building their own platforms (Allyson Felix [22:24])
  • The rise of emerging women’s sports like volleyball (Cosette Chaput [21:36])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “When you serve women from a department instead of an infrastructure built for them, it subtly reinforces that it’s not as big of a business as we all know it is.” — Cosette Chaput [04:59]

• “You can’t take traditional sports marketing that was clearly built for men… and apply it to women’s sports.” — Wes Felix [05:26]

• “Women’s sports marketing doesn’t exist… It’s not focused on the female consumer.” — Wes Felix [06:37]

• “Her engagement rate on Instagram varies between 10 and 12%... and they will do anything that she tells them to do, which is a responsibility she also takes very seriously.” — Cosette Chaput [15:48]

• “The door is open, but it is closing… if you wait 6 months, 12 months, 18 months… you need to move now.” — Cosette Chaput [17:34]

• On what’s next:

  • “For us, it’s so much bigger than Always Alpha at this point.” — Zoe Ruderman [21:12]
  • “I am bullish on volleyball.” — Cosette Chaput [21:36]
  • “It’s the audacity of the women… They don’t have much to lose… and that gives me a lot of hope.” — Wes Felix [22:53]

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Timestamps for Key Topics

• Genesis of Always Alpha / Athlete representation — [02:05–04:14]
• Women’s sports called a ‘trend’ / Real business — [04:15–05:17]
• What’s wrong with women’s sports marketing? — [05:17–06:49]
• LA28 and risk of a “bubble” — [06:49–09:28]
• 360-degree storytelling & Authenticity — [10:00–12:27]
• Marketer missteps & working with athletes — [12:29–14:53]
• Female athletes vs. influencers (Engagement and ROI) — [14:53–16:46]
• Brand education required / urgency — [16:46–17:34]
• Brands doing it right (beauty, Ulta, Sephora) — [18:04–19:01]
• Auto/finance catching up; authentic partnerships — [19:11–20:06]
• Redefining success; optimism for future — [20:06–23:55]

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Closing Thoughts

The episode offers a frank, hopeful, and actionable look at the massive (yet still largely unrealized) opportunity in women’s sports for both athletes and brands. The guests urge brands not to wait for the Olympic spotlight, but to invest now—with authentic, 360-degree partnerships that reflect female athlete realities and reach female consumers on their terms.

For listeners: Women’s sports are not just on the rise—they’re reshaping how we think about influence, audience, and authentic engagement in the business of sport.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

crisp Celsius energy drink running 12 miles today. Grab a green juice, quick change and head to work. Meetings, Workshops One more Celsius. No slowing down, working late, but obviously still meeting the girls for a little dancing. Celsius Live Fitness. Go grab a cold refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate [e-mail] welcome

[C]

to the AdTech God Pod, your window into the world of advertising technology and the people behind it. I'm your host, AdTech God. Hey, this is AdTech God and you're listening to a live recording from our recent Architecture Live conference in New York City. I hope you enjoy the session. It's titled Power How Female Athletes Are Redefining Business and Brand Value. This one is interesting to me. It really talks about how the biggest opportunities for brands in 2026 is going to be women's sports, live sports, and really the impact that it plays across the industry overall. This is with Cosette Chaput. She is the CEO and co founder of Allis Alpha and Allison Felix, the co founder as well, and Wes Felix. This is moderated by Zoe Ruderman. She is the Chief Content Officer at adweek. I hope you enjoy the session and see you all soon.

[D]

Hey everyone, how's it going? Thank you for being here. Thank you team Always Alpha for being here. This is our third time on a stage together and I think my fourth time interviewing Alison. So very excited. All right, we're going to jump right in because we only have 20 minutes and there is a lot to discuss. We were just gossiping about the Winter Olympics. Have to catch us elsewhere if you want to hear what we are gossiping about. But I wanted to jump right in and ask you about the spark of the idea for Always Alpha. And Alison, I want to ask you how your background as an athlete, what you went through Specifically with Nike and maternity leave, how that informed this brand and this company.

[E]

Yeah, I got to.

[D]

Woo.

[E]

Okay, this one is definitely on. I got to a place in my career. Wes had represented me for a very long time, and I was getting towards the end, and a lot of other athletes were asking me, you know, about kind of essentially a blueprint and how have you been able to do things on the field, but also off the field, you know, building Seiche, our footwear company, and having impact, you know, outside of just running really fast. And I felt like, you know, with Wes representing me, we were able to create a really, like, a boutique experience where I had this amazing representation. But we were also able to get experts from different fields and really pull together a strategic way for me to. To execute goals that I had. And so I felt like I didn't really have a great answer of where to send other athletes and some of the larger agencies. I really felt I had been there, and I felt like there was just kind of a one size fits all model, and I just believe that that's not the case and especially for female athletes.

[D]

And was it one size fits all, mostly built around male athletes and just sort of being applied and rolled out to female athletes?

[E]

Yeah, it was, you know, I mean, those were the athletes who had the really large contracts, and it was kind of like, okay, you know, you're interested in tv, meet with the TV agents. And it was just the way that things were going, and I just felt like that wasn't gonna get it done.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

So I. It still drives me a little crazy when I hear people call women's sports a trend and cassette. I'm curious, like, do you still hear that in 2026?

[B]

Every day.

[D]

That's wild to me. And why is that? What are people not getting about this space?

[B]

There's still. Which again, is shocking, but there's still people who don't understand it's a business. And not only a business, but a real business with insane ROI that, you know, continues to compound and multiply. And it feels like every week, every month, there's new data that's showing that. And. And I will say, even in the.

[E]

We've always.

[B]

Alpha has been in. In existence less than 18 months. And I would say even in those 18 months, you know, there has been a shift, but it's slow. But yeah, it's. It's not a charity.

[D]

And.

[B]

But I think some of the industry infrastructure like Allison was talking about almost reinforces that, maybe even not intentionally, but when you make. When you serve women from a department instead of a infrastructure built for them. I think it subtly reinforces that it's not as big of a business as we all know it is.

[D]

That's interesting, Wes. You said something back when we were at Cannes that really stuck with me. You said women's sports marketing doesn't exist.

[B]

Say more about that.

[D]

What do you mean?

[F]

Yeah, I stand by it. It doesn't exist. I think that it's. You can't take traditional sports marketing that was clearly built for men. And we have so many examples of how it was formed. I always use Michael Jordan as you know, I think that that kind of. That's when it scaled. That's when we really saw sports marketing. What Nike did with him, what the NBA did with him, what Gatorade, Hanes, the way all of these brands came around. But that's still the model that everyone uses. And I think it works really great for men. But I think the thing that the biggest piece of why I don't believe it exists yet is because it's not focused on the female consumer. So we're still assuming that the male consumer is the person who should be engaging in women's sports. And my favorite example of that is you watch a WNBA game and you see Michelob Ultra on the floor. And I don't know many women who drink Michelob Ultra, but I know a lot of women who drink. And I think when you see a brand on the floor, that. That's when I think we'll start realizing, like, okay, we're starting to actually speak to a female consumer. And I think that when. When you can speak to a female consumer, women's sports is going to. It's going to fully transform.

[D]

So I want to ask, like, when are we going to see a brand on the floor? But let's look ahead to LA28, because I know all of you have talked about how that's this watershed moment. It's sort of this inflection point. Do you think we're moving in the right direction? And we are going to see. I mean, I'm using it like, as representative of other things, but a rose brand on the floor or more brands that speak to women consumers and audiences?

[F]

Yeah, I'll do a quick hot take, but. And then you guys can answer for real.

[D]

Wes is always here for the hot take.

[F]

Here for the hot take. It's been too long of dealing with nonsense, but I think that I think we're moving the right direction. But I do think there's. There is a women's sports bubble that if we don't drastically correct things when 29 hits, I think that bubble is going to be a very, very real possibility that women's sports plunges in a huge way. And I think that's because right now the investment that's going into women's sports is all going to the top. Right now we're hearing about all of these new funds and there's so many hundreds of millions and billions of dollars. They're all going just to the very top of the pyramid. They're going to teams and leagues. And again, if you look at how male sports marketing was built, the billionaires didn't come until 50 years in. Now we've got, on women's side, the billionaires are coming very quickly and they're making real money. You know, it's, they can go buy a team for 200 million. I think even Angel City, I think when Bob Iger bought it last year, bought it for 200 something million. Its latest valuation I think last week was 315. So it's 18 months. It's 115 million real dollars. Like he could actually sell it for that. It's not. This isn't an AI investment where you're not going to be able to liquidate it. That's real money. And there's very, very few places you can get real money like that. But you need something to hold this structure up. So to think that the team can be worth $300 million and the team is operating at a tremendous loss and has no sponsors. With our footwear company Sash, we work with some of the WNBA teams. They come to us asking, would we be Interested? These are $15,000 deals that they're giving to a small, tiny startup and they're asking us for that money. There is no way that the structure can, can sustain if you're talking to small startups for 15 grand.

[D]

Yeah. When I interviewed Alexis Ohanian on our Brand Week stage, he mentioned an example like this and he said the math just isn't mathing. It doesn make any sense. So what do you all want to see differently by LA28? Like, what is your dream that you, you're at the games, people are watching. What's going to look different for, for the women there.

[E]

I think it's a full, the full ecosystem really. You know, I think it is the brands, you know, who are focused on women, you know, that we haven't seen in sports being major sponsors. I think it's women and being able to get outside of the traditional mold and tell their own stories as well create, whether it's their own companies have a. Have a true presence in being supported there. So, yeah, those are a couple of things.

[D]

And we talked a little bit about this, but this idea of 360 storytelling, and I think no shade to men, but I think women do a better job at this. So, Alison, I'm curious, like, how does that show up during the Olympics when sometimes people dip in for just a couple of weeks? We were joking about this. Everyone becomes an expert in, you know, whatever the sport is for those few days. How do you make sure that it's an authentic way of showing up and that you get that 360 storytelling?

[E]

I think it has to start early. You know, we cannot. You can't wait until the games happen because it's just way too late. All the magic is in the buildup. And I think for female athletes specifically, I think we really take ownership of the story. And it's such a rich story story to tell. I think it's very relatable also because we're doing real things. You know, we're hopping on planes and we have kids and we're figuring it out.

[D]

Like, describing herself right now. She took her red eye to be here, so she didn't miss time with her kids. Yeah, but that's exactly it. It's relatable. And we've all talked about this before, but sometimes I think brand marketers come in, especially with male athletes, and it's just about, like, you're the, you know, the best at what you do. And there's no, again, no 360 storytelling. No one can relate to that. Like, I'm never going to be as good as Serena Williams as at what she does. But I can relate on a different level maybe to the motherhood or the balancing conversation.

[F]

Yeah, I think there's also, like, something we were talking about earlier is part of the relatability is Allison's flying overnight on a red eye on Delta commercial. Grateful there's a lounge so that she can get a bite to eat. And so then when you're looking at that relatability like it's real life, like, you're actually using the product. You know, when we did a deal with. With Delta for Allison, like, one of the biggest things was, okay, how many flight credits can we get? Like, because she has to buy flights. And this is not. I just jump on a plane and fly private. And now I'll, like, promote the brand. I think that's some of the, like, rich storytelling that female athletes can give is they are actually using the products. They're trying to figure out their life. And, you know, again, you can look at the top WNBA players, the names we all know that aren't even making $100,000 a year, that people can relate and connect to, that she's using a financial services platform that, like, it's not just selling it. She actually wants to use it too and is really grateful she gets to use it for free.

[E]

Yeah, right.

[F]

I think that storytelling is power.

[D]

So what are brand marketers getting wrong? I know, like, obviously you're working with a number of brands who are getting it right, but you know, to brand marketers who are in the audience who will be reading about this, like, what do they need to know? Who, like the people who are still saying this is a trend and, oh, God, we need to, you know, a few months before the Olympics in 28, we need to jump on this. What would you say to them right now?

[F]

Yeah, I think you can add to this, because I think what I would say is that you, you need to think about, like, what are you actually trying to do? Are you trying to engage with your customer, with an audience? Are you trying to keep your job by showing your manager, look at the engagement rate. There were. I got 600 billion impressions on this thing and it was worth, you know, 900 trillion. Like, there's these ridiculous stats that people are using that don't mean anything. And I think, sure, you can go to an influencer who has 8 million followers and say, look, she's an athlete. And you can look at her following and realize 98% of the people who follow her are men. So how did you just get a million dollar women's deodorant? Like, women don't follow her.

[D]

You know, I think you want them looking at the data and thinking about the conversion, because that, I know you have a lot of thoughts on this too.

[B]

Yeah, I'd say. And then building off that, what's the story you want to tell? Because I think one of one of women and specifically female athlete superpowers is their story. You every single athlete you meet. And when we say athlete, it's also coaches, it's also peloton instructors, it's broadcasters. You know, they're all these multifaceted, incredibly incredible women. And so instead of waiting last minute and then throwing a one size fits all templated influencer brief at them or what you've done with the men, really, you know, know what you want to do, know what story you want to tell, and then work with them to tell that story. Because that's why the campaigns we see that don't do well is because it was a template, like campaigns we see that really change and transform a business is because the athlete. And I've worked across the men's side and women's side. These female athletes, they want to work with you. They want to basically give you free consultant work as part of the endorsement because they know their audiences, which are actually fans, way better than any of us sitting in this room.

[D]

So let's talk a little bit about roi. I know we have some slides here because that. Walk us through this one. I know this. This one surprised me when I saw it.

[B]

Yes, this is one of my favorite favorite stats. Because when we talk about female athletes and sports marketing, there's also another billion dollar industry that's relevant, which is the influencer. And so when Wes is talking about creating women's sports marketing, there's all these brands who exclusively target women, need women to buy their product to, you know, turn a profit. And a lot of them have used influencers, but they've never used athletes. And so we love this stat, which is from our friends at Parity, that again, everything we're talking about, that female athletes actually can be more effective in the data than, than the influencers. So they may not have the vanity metrics, the millions and millions of followers, but when you look at the engagement rate, I say all the time, one of our peloton instructors, her engagement rate on Instagram varies between 10 and 12%.

[D]

Wow.

[B]

Which is insane. And she only heard of. Yeah, she has a couple hundred thousand followers, so it's not, you know, 20 million. But the women who follow her, you know, are taking her class every day, spending an hour, a very vulnerable hour, you know, with her every single day. And they will do anything that she tells them to do, which is a responsibility she also takes very seriously.

[D]

And then let's look at this, this next stat on ROI in women's sports.

[B]

Yeah. And you know, there's. When we're making these slides, there's thankfully now about 100, 200 we could pick. But you know, just going back to like, it's not charity, it's real business. These campaigns, especially when done right, with the right talent at the right time, they're converting. And not only, you know, in the bottom of the funnel, but if you, you know, start to look at the data at the top of the funnel of, you know, brand sentiment and what consumers want to see and what brands consumers are trusting the more and more you're in women's sports. You see that trust go up.

[D]

I'm going to go to this next slide, but I also want to talk about, like, how much when you. The always Alpha team is going in and talking to brands, are you in education mode before you even get to pitch mode?

[B]

96%.

[E]

Wow.

[D]

Across the categories?

[B]

Across most categories, yeah. I'd say, especially when we're talking to. And I'd say maybe 75% of brands we're talking to have never been in. Never been in sports before, which is by design. Those are the brands we want to come into sports. But, yeah, it's a lot of education, whether it's about, you know, big picture or just stories. And I know Wes tends to have hot takes here, too.

[D]

Well, this slide must blow their mind if they've never worked with women's sports before.

[B]

Yeah. Talk a little bit about this. The thing about this slide, too, is, you know, the. The door is open, but it is closing. And we were talking.

[D]

What do you mean by that?

[B]

That, you know, by LA28. Hopefully there's this watershed moment. It's this multiplier. And we're talking using LA28 specifically right now. If you're planning, if you're investing, if you're. That's going to be such a big moment. But if you wait 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, like, yes, in theory, there is a lot of investment and value to be made, but you need to move now because you need to have the time to properly do it.

[D]

Sure. So what are the brands? If you're willing to name names or the categories, who are getting it, who you go in, you feel like, all right, this was a fruitful conversation and it turns into something. And they're. They're the ones who are not saying this is a trend and they're not investing just to ch a box. Who's getting it right?

[B]

I would say we're starting to see a lot of makeup brands really take notice and start to get it right. Obviously, you know, Sephora coming into the WNBA was amazing. You know, Ulta now playing in sports. You know, Allison did. Did a partnership with Merit ahead of Paris. We're working on a partnership right now with a major makeup brand who is launching a new setting spray and genius. They're like, you know, who needs their makeup to set more than anyone? A competitive athlete who's competing at the highest level. So.

[D]

And by the way, if it works for a competitive athlete, every other woman will buy that product.

[B]

Yeah, correct. So we still have a long Way to go. But I would say I think a lot of beauty brands are starting to get it right.

[D]

What about sort of brands that are maybe not traditionally marketed towards women? Like, I'm curious about financial services, auto. Are they behind? Are they getting there?

[E]

Yeah, I feel like they have been a bit behind, but I think it does come back to being able to see that there are such rich stories there and back to the female athlete, like actually authentically using these things. I think the opportunity is huge. And so it does. It's the education piece that cassette is talking about and breaking it down to them. This is how you can show up. And whether. We did have a deal with Nissan a couple years ago and I was doing car talks where I was talking very vulnerably in the car about different things that were going on in my life. And that's something that I would have been doing anyways, you know, in a different setting. But being able to show up in that way is an example to them. So again, I think sometimes we have to come up with the ideas and say, this is how this authentically can work and put it there for them.

[D]

So always Alpha is about to turn a year and a half. How has your definition of success changed from when you launch to now? Or is it the same?

[F]

No, it's. It's definitely changed. I think that at the beginning success was can we sign talent and can we actually build a real business? And I think now it's okay. We know that that's. That we can do that. And now it's looking and saying, how do we really, like, truly move women's sports forward? How can we start getting really aggressive and specifically, like, for the three of us, instead of being so focused on helping our clients get deals, now we've got a really incredible team that can really lean into that and we can focus a bit more on how can we help to educate brands and let them know there is a unbelievable opportunity that is so much less expensive than you think. And the return on it is unlike anything that, that you're going to be able to find anywhere else right now. And so, yeah, in a lot of

[D]

ways it's so much bigger than always Alpha at this point. Well, I want to wrap up by asking each of you to tell me what makes you feel hopeful and optimistic in this space, especially as we look ahead to LA28. Cosette, I'll start with you.

[B]

I would say it might be biased, but our clients. And give us a name.

[D]

Who are you most excited about? Or maybe not most but who are you very excited about right now?

[B]

I am. I'm bullish on volleyball. I'm really excited about volleyball right now. I think what love is doing, what the leagues are doing. I think LA28 is going to be such a watershed moment for so many sports. But indoor volleyball and beach volleyball, you know, it's been overlooked. And we recently started working with the head coach of Nebraska volleyball, who's built an amazing program. You know, they're playing in the football stadium in front of 100,000 fans, so getting the chance to work with her, we also, Kelsey Robinson, who was the MVP of Love, one of the founding athletes there, and she's now six weeks away from giving birth to her first child. And seeing her navigate being at the top of her sport and also now becoming a mother reminds me of someone on this stage.

[D]

Very 360 storytelling. Alison, how about you? What makes you feel optimistic?

[E]

The storytelling that's happening with athletes. I'm looking at Angel Reese's podcast. I'm looking at the fashion, the tunnel walks. I'm looking at the focus beyond sports. I feel like there's a lot of conversation about what these women are doing outside of the field of play. And that's really exciting because I think that there's so much potential there. And, yeah, that has me.

[D]

Yeah, I would watch a whole show on the tunnel walks. I want, like, fashion with you. Yeah. Wes, how about you?

[F]

I would say it's the audacity of the women. Who are these athletes that we're talking about? I think that, you know, this. This very interesting thing has happened, and the athletes are so audacious. They don't have much to lose, you know, and so you're looking at new leagues, like in basketball popping up. It's really hard for you to tell an athlete, hey, you need to stay in the W. We're going to pay you $84,000 a year. They're not. They don't need to stay in the W. And may have the audacity to say, like, no, I'm going to go over to this other league. I don't need you. And I think that you could never have that in the NBA or the NFL.

[D]

Yeah, great point.

[F]

We saw a little bit of it with live in the PGA, but again, you're talking about $600 million to get the athlete to go. Like, now we're talking about, no, they're going to walk away from the W because there's a $200,000 difference. And that's the opportunity, I think, for brands itself the audacity that gives me a lot of.

[D]

Well, thank you all so much. As always, this has been really inspiring and wonderful and we'll be following along and seeing everything you do. Thanks everyone for being here.

[F]

Thank you.

[C]

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the AdTech Godpod, a podcast for the people about the people. Stay connected with me for more insights, trends and interviews in the realm of ad tech. Don't miss out on the latest updates, so follow me on X Instagram and connect with me on on LinkedIn. Don't forget ETG Slack community has insights, networking opportunities and jobs. Keep the conversation going and stay at the forefront of adtech innovation.