Who needs Willy Wonka’s golden ticket when Pat McGrath is offering a diamond ring?

To announce the beauty brand’s latest lip- and nail-product collaboration, this time with mobile gaming giant Candy Crush Saga, Pat McGrath sent PR boxes to influencers including Alex Consani and Tefi Pessoa, promising new lipsticks and special edition, $10,000 diamond- and ruby-encrusted rings to celebrate. But in a branded twist, the rings seemed to have gone “missing” and instead were made available for customers to potentially find and keep for themselves when they ordered items from the collection.

The stunt was meant to not only increase the stakes and surprise of a product reveal, but also to gamify the customer experience, according to Luken Aragon, VP of marketing for Candy Crush at King.

“What we wanted to do was something that will surprise people and tell a story, something that will feel a bit bigger than makeup,” Aragon told us. “That twist made the campaign feel a bit more real, a bit closer to how we see…gaming in the real world.”

Read more here about what the partnership is aiming to accomplish.—JN

The first few months of the second Trump administration have been marked by anti-DEI efforts targeting corporate America and the government, and as the administration seeks to prevent trans athletes from competing in sports, athletic organizations are finding themselves in the crosshairs.

The WNBA is one of a few sports leagues standing firm. This year, the league is doubling down on its partnership with Voice in Sport, a platform that’s designed to keep girls and women involved in sports through services like content and athlete mentorships, and which shares stories in support of trans athletes and has highlighted how anti-trans legislation can negatively affect women’s sports.

Last year, the W and its Changemaker Collective, a group of brands that have pledged to partner with the league beyond financial investments, teamed up with Voice in Sport to provide virtual mentorship to 50,000 girls. The group is aiming to bring that number up to 100,000 this year with new services, athlete mentors, and brand integrations.

“The long-term support from brands, investors, and governing bodies is really how we’re going to power the women’s sports and youth sports ecosystem,” Stef Strack, founder and CEO of Voice in Sport, told Marketing Brew. “We’re at a really critical moment right now with the new administration, and so it’s really cool to look at a league like the W that’s leading the way with how you get brands to triple down on investing in women in sports.”

Continue reading about the program here.—AM

If we did a push-up every time someone said “engagement” at Marketing Brew’s The Sports Marketing Playbook: Mastering Fan Engagement and Experiences event in New York last Tuesday, we wouldn’t have any arm strength left to type this story.

At the event, marketers from brands and organizations including Apple, ESPN, the NFL, State Farm, Olipop, and Unrivaled came together to talk about all things sports marketing and fandom. Below are some of the biggest takeaways from the conversations that happened onstage.

Embrace the power of local: A holistic marketing plan that incorporates local touchpoints to reach fans is a central part of the marketing behind MLS Season Pass, a streaming service that is available on Apple TV as part of a partnership between the tech giant and Major League Soccer, Emeka Ofodile, global head of sports marketing at Apple, said onstage. To help engage local clubs and fans during MLS’s 30th anniversary season, Apple and MLS coordinated with the 30 MLS clubs to design specific Apple logos for each club.

“Apple can tell a story on a global level, but the clubs and the league are also trying to tell a story in-market that’s relevant to their fans,” Ofodile said.

Shelby Williams, head of integrated sports marketing at Amazon Web Services, took note of the varying viewing preferences of fans of the German soccer league Bundesliga, whose games can be watched on Prime Video. “Enabling localization of content: watching the game that we want, the plans that we want, and the way that we want to consume it” is a key priority, she said.

Continue reading here.—JS