Cash App is always on the lookout for rising stars in sports.
In January, the digital wallet service signed a deal reportedly worth more than $20 million per year to become a co-sponsor of Red Bull’s Formula 1 B team along with Visa. Also with Visa, it’s an official partner and the official prepaid debit card of the New York Jets. And it has pushed further into basketball, becoming the official payments partner of the Overtime Elite league earlier this year.
Up until this month, though, the payments app hadn’t touched pro women’s basketball. That all changed when the brand inked a deal with Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese, one of the brightest stars from this year’s shining WNBA rookie class, in a deal slated to last through the end of the year.
“There’s no shortage of talent in women’s basketball, and that’s become clear this year for sure, but I think with Angel specifically, we really feel like she’s redefining what it means to be a game-changer,” Cash App CMO Catherine Ferdon told Marketing Brew. “Angel is authentically and consistently pushing the boundaries between sports and culture, and that’s a place where Cash App shows up pretty naturally.”
Angel on your shoulder: Cash App is leveraging its partnership with Reese in several ways.
On Oct. 21, the brand debuted the “Angel Machine” at Chicago’s Fulton Market, an interactive game that let fans play for the chance to win several of Reese’s items, like her jersey, sneakers, and iconic crown from March Madness. A few days later, Cash App rolled out Reese-inspired debit cards and offered its cardholders discounts on Reese merch from her website.
The brand is also sponsoring Reese’s podcast, Unapologetically Angel, will feature her in its “That’s Money” brand campaign by the end of the year, and has plans to do exclusive prize drops on X in the coming months.
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Altogether, the campaign is meant to drive community engagement and positive brand sentiment, Ferdon said.
For Reese, Cash App is one of the latest in a list of brand partners like Reese’s; she’s been seeing sponsorship interest since her college days.
In the paint: Ferdon said Cash App is partnering with the Angel C. Reese Foundation to renovate a basketball court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Reese played for LSU and earned the nickname “Bayou Barbie.” The new court will open with a block party in December and may also be accompanied by a social media content collab with Reese, Ferdon said.
The brand has “seen some success with some court renovations” in the past, she said, like when it worked with the East Atlanta Kids Club to spruce up a court last year.
Big fans: While Reese represents Cash App’s first foray into the W, the brand does have some experience with the men’s game. In addition to its work with Overtime Elite, it has struck up player-specific partnerships for several years after signing Dallas Mavericks shooting guard Klay Thompson as its first basketball partner in 2022, Ferdon said.
From that point on, Cash App started increasing its sports investments, she said, which has led up to a “very sports-heavy” Q4 for the brand this year. There will be more sports-related activations and announcements to come in 2025 and 2026, she said.
As for Cash App’s relationship with women’s basketball and with Reese in particular, Ferdon said that “the door is open to future partnerships,” but that her team is still learning how to best activate in the space.
“We’re really just scratching the surface here,” she said. “We want to continue to lean into sports…With Angel, we’re really excited to see where this takes us, so I think the future is very bright and full of sports for Cash App.”