Deep Blue announces 4th annual Business of Women’s Sports Summit

Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment, the women’s sports marketing strategy firm born out of the agency Giant Spoon, is bringing back its Business of Women’s Sports Summit for the fourth year in a row.

This year’s event is set for April 14, with Geico as its presenting sponsor, Deep Blue founder and CEO Laura Correnti shared exclusively with Marketing Brew. The event, which sold out for the past two years, has evolved considerably from its first iteration, when Correnti was still figuring out if a firm dedicated specifically to women’s sports marketing deals was viable.

“What you’re going to see from the programming this year is [that] we’re not in the proof mode anymore,” Correnti said. “We're moving past that.”

While the sponsors, speakers, and agenda are still being finalized, Correnti said the general theme of this year’s summit will be focused on “future-proofing” the business of women’s sports as it matures.

Spaceship: For the first couple of years Deep Blue was in business, Correnti spent a lot of time educating and convincing marketers about the value of women’s sports, she said. Last year marked a pivot, where conversations centered more on improving strategies and scaling spend, she said.

Now, category exclusivities at the league and team levels are being quickly claimed, demand drives up CPMs, and, naturally, “the rocket-ship trajectory” of spending on women’s sports can’t continue forever, she said.

“People have continued to invest, but the clip at which they’re investing, at some point, there will be a leveling off,” Correnti said.

For that reason, Correnti said she wants this year’s summit to be forward-looking, providing the industry with ideas for investment opportunities that might currently be overlooked.

Sponsors: Geico, which has a major presence in men’s leagues like the NHL, is serving as the presenting sponsor of the summit for the first time this year. Execs from the company will participate in the programming, and Correnti said she expects discussions about how the brand is approaching women’s sports with different strategies from the ones they’ve used on the men’s side. Other sponsors include Invisalign and Gainbridge, both of which have active sponsorships in women’s pro leagues.

Speakers: Sports reporter Sarah Spain will return to the event, and Peloton instructor Kirsten Ferguson will also be back to serve as the event’s host. Other confirmed speakers include women’s basketball Hall of Famers Swin Cash and Sue Bird, former USWNT goalie Ashlyn Harris, and retired track and field Olympian Allyson Felix, as well as athletes represented by Felix’s women’s sports talent management firm, Always Alpha.

“It will be stacked,” Correnti said.

The summit is set to take place in New York City the day after the WNBA draft is scheduled (and assuming that event goes on as planned, given the ongoing negotiations between the league and the players’ association).

It’s possible that some news will break during the conference. In previous years, Correnti noted, Alexis Ohanian used the event to announce his women’s track and field competition, Athlos; Deep Blue and iHeart introduced their Women’s Sports Audio Network; and Gotham FC and CarMax confirmed a partnership renewal. In the last two years, the event has generated over 1.4 billion earned media impressions, she added.

Sales: What’s a day-long event without a little bit of networking? Correnti is taking advantage of this year’s bigger venue, Chelsea Industrial, to set up a “women’s sports cafe” designed specifically for that purpose, she said.

“One of the big things that we’ve gotten feedback on is that, because we have so many attendees flying in across the country and from global destinations, people want more time to make it rain and make deals happen,” she said. “I’m really excited to continue what we’ve built, improve on and push on the conversations, and also give people space to have their own.”