You’ve bought the sports partnership rights. Now make them culturally relevant

As marketers sign off their 2027 budgets, many are making large investments in partnership moments. For brands with a stake in FIFA, the Women’s World Cup in Brazil will be one of the biggest opportunities of the year.

It’s not often you’ll hear an ECD ask their creatives to pore over a rights agreement. I do.

Once the rights are agreed, that document becomes creative source material. A good partnerships creative will look beyond the obvious assets, find opportunities others might overlook and, sometimes, identify a new right worth asking for.

The partnership gives you access, but cultural relevance comes from finding the idea that only you and your partner can credibly create together.

Look beyond the obvious rights

Partnership agreements are jam-packed with terms and conditions, warranties, clauses and, most crucially, plenty of opportunities. 

When brands buy a sports partnership, they acquire far more than somewhere to place a logo. I can guarantee there is a nugget of creative gold in your rights deal. 

For example, this summer, for FIFA World Cup 2026, we created new sponsorship space for Rexona/Sure under the arm of the fourth official, alongside substitution board sponsorship. It put the brand directly into a moment where its product made contextual sense.

And sometimes the most interesting opportunity isn't even in the agreement. 

When working with Hellmann’s around UEFA EURO 2024, the brand wanted to put its barbecue range at the heart of the tournament. So we created a partnership right that had never existed before: “official barbecue partner”. We took the idea to UEFA, asked for the new right and made it happen.

Create something only the partnership makes possible

Look at your partnership idea and ask; “if either partner is taken away, does the idea collapse?” If the idea works just as well without either partner, it probably isn’t a partnership idea.

The strongest partnerships have relevance together that they wouldn't have apart. Each partner gives the other permission to enter a space, tell a story or create something they couldn't as credibly do alone.

Here We Flo’s partnership with Chelsea FC Women is a good example. Together they launched ‘We Don’t Bleed Blue. We Bleed. Period.’, with players taking to the pitch in deliberately period-stained shorts. Here We Flo brought its mission to challenge period stigma; Chelsea brought the language of ‘bleeding blue’, its players and the reality of periods in elite sport. Take either partner away and the creative idea loses its meaning.

Know your talent without knowing them

Signing big-ticket talent as part of your deal is an opportunity it itself, but only when used correctly. 

You need to know the talent without knowing them. Research their interests, mannerisms, personality, rituals and what they are known for. Find the nuances that make them who they are and build an idea from there.

Our aim is to create work the talent genuinely wants to share, rather than content that only appears because it sits in the contract. We’ve seen talent including Lando Norris and Kevin De Bruyne choose to amplify work beyond their contracted deliverables. When that happens, it can take the idea far beyond the reach of the rights holder alone, putting it in front of the talent’s own multimillion-strong audience.

Understand the partnership before you brief it

A strong creative brief is integral to great creative work. But before you get there, understand the rights you have, research the talent and get under the skin of the worlds your partnership gives you access to.

With Brazil 2027 fast approaching, brands should be doing that groundwork now. The better you understand the partnership, the better placed you are to find the idea that only you and your partner can credibly create together.

The most interesting partnership idea might not be in the contract yet.