Two of the biggest media sensations on the sports circuit right now, 22 year-old Brittney Griner and 34 year-old Jason Collins, have become household names and LGBT heroes. Their popularity has extended beyond the court and both are looking at the sweet benefits of being marketable.
Brittany Griner and Nike have an endorsement deal, but Griner will be modeling clothes for men, not women. This is huge for sport marketing because the LGBT demographic is largely unclaimed and Nike is annoucing thier support for the LGBT community.
This article focuses a lot on how two gay athletes have become very marketable because of their connections with sport. It speaks about the positives of marketing athletes in order to drive sales. It also shows that it pays to take advantage of a situation like that of Bittney Griner and Jason Collins to reach another market that might not have before been interested.
This article talks about Brittney Griner and how nike is using her to market different kinds of products. Griner is the first openly gay woman that nike has sponsored. Girly clothes really wasn't her style so Nike is sponsoring her with mens clothes and Nike SB. This approach will broaden Nike mens products to women. I found this entire article interesting and this opens a different way of marketing for me.