Why Olly chose the Golden State Valkyries for its first sports sponsorship

At the start of the WNBA season earlier this year, the Golden State Valkyries and the vitamin and supplement brand Olly were both new to the league. By the end of the regular season, both the team and one of its founding brand partners were breaking records.

The Valkyries made WNBA history as the only expansion team to reach the playoffs during their first season, and before they were eliminated by the No. 1 seeded Minnesota Lynx, they broke WNBA regular-season attendance records, selling out all 22 of their home games and bringing a total of 397,408 fans through Chase Center.

Meanwhile, Olly, which was founded in the Bay Area, smashed through some of its sponsorship goals midway through the season, according to Renee Fuller, Olly’s VP of marketing. While she’s yet to see the full-season results, Fuller said she’s already planning for year two of the partnership, which is Olly’s first in the sports space.

“We are very thoughtful and considerate, I would say, when it comes to partnerships,” Fuller told Marketing Brew. “Women’s sports teams are having a moment, so we want to make sure that we’re authentic and being a part of the cultural conversation. This was a better time than ever to lean in, and what better way than partnering with a Bay Area team?”

Give it a try

While Olly and the Valkyries announced their partnership in mid-May, it wasn’t until the back half of the season that the brand really started to activate the sponsorship with theme nights, sampling, in-venue signage, player partnerships, and a local linear media buy, Fuller said.

A theme night held on June 25, Mental Health Awareness Night, was particularly memorable, Fuller said, because it’s a topic of importance to both Olly and the Valkyries. During the Valkyries’ matchup against reigning WNBA champs the New York Liberty, Olly took over the arena with signs, an Olly-branded mock locker room, samples, and a PSA video that ran on the scoreboard featuring players and coaches encouraging fans to be open about their mental health.

For Back to School Night two weeks later, Olly gave co-branded Valkyries backpacks to the first 10,000 fans through the doors and put samples in the cup holders of every seat, giving away more than 40,000 samples total that night.

“People were even using those backpacks after the back-to-school night,” Fuller said. “To see that that momentum was still happening post back-to-school night was definitely encouraging and drove a positive sentiment.”

Fuller and her team set a goal of 26 million impressions from the partnership for the season, and they reached it by the midway point, she told us. The brand also recorded a 23-point increase in brand awareness among Valkyries fans, another important metric for Fuller. Beyond that, Olly reached more than 60,000 fans with samples, which Fuller said is helpful for building brand trust.

Kick it up a notch

The timing of the partnership was somewhat fortuitous: When Fuller and her team were planning for 2025, they decided to focus on building “brand equity, buzz, and engagement, specifically around women’s wellness and mental health” by way of partnerships, Fuller said.

Working with a WNBA team, then, was something of a no-brainer.

“We all went away, did our due diligence, we came back, and there was a centralized theme in the room, and it was the WNBA,” she said. “‘We were like, ‘Okay, this could definitely be an opportunity.’”

It was around that time that they learned the Valkyries were set to join the league, and playing out of Olly’s backyard in the Bay Area, no less. With both organizations focused on physical and mental well-being, “the partnership just made a lot of sense,” Fuller said.

Olly’s marketing team considered a potential soccer partnership, Fuller said, but early signs of excitement around the Valkyries, like breaking a season ticket deposit record for pro women’s sports teams and selling out of merch before they started playing, cemented the Valkyries as the right choice.

Fuller said that as her team prepares to start planning for next season, she expects to see further growth in awareness and impressions from the first season. Next year, the partnership could even include some work with Valkyries mascot Violet, Fuller added, at least if Violet is looking to replicate Ellie the Elephant’s brand deal success.

“What I appreciate about the Valkyries is that they have been a great, great partner throughout the inaugural season,” Fuller said. “If there were things we wanted to test for the first time, they were like, ‘Let’s do it, let’s disrupt, let’s be bold.’ I think there's even more runway to be able to do that next season.”