The Marketing Arm Connects Top Prospects & Brands The Night Before the NFL Draft
On Wednesday night, The Marketing Arm hosted 20 of the top 32 projected first round NFL draft picks, including Josh Rosen, Josh Allen, Sam Darnold, Bradley Chubb, and Derwin James, at an innovative and exclusive event called CHOSEN.
In addition to providing these prospects with expertise around building their own brand and navigating the endorsement business – right as they are about to enter the world of professional sports – CHOSEN gave these players an introduction to top consumer brands.
“CHOSEN was truly a special event. I’ve never seen a platform that provided our rookies with that kind of access to brands in the NFL. Our clients had a blast,” said Austin Lyman, Director of Marketing, Athletes First, who represents Josh Rosen, Derwin James, Orlando Brown, and Cedrick Wilson, Jr.
“Because The Marketing Arm represents brands on over 1,500 celebrity deals per year, we felt it was important to provide choreographed connectivity between the top draft picks and at least 15 top brands,” said The Marketing Arm’s Founder and CEO Ray Clark. “Working with the agents, we wanted to offer some free advice and tips to these incoming rookies in areas where we have deep vertical experience advising brands, such as entertainment, social, music, design, events, content, etc.”
Players at CHOSEN rotated through a series of stations designed to get them thinking about ways they can own and maximize their personal brand through social media, music, and design. Plus, an on-camera test gave these rising stars a taste of what it’s like to be in front of the camera for TV commercials and branded content.
Throughout the entire event, players had the chance to meet with representatives from leading consumer brands to better understand what future endorsement partnerships might look like.
“Being able to connect our guys face-to-face with brands is an industry difference maker. TMA took that experience to the next level,” said Brad Cutler, President of Athlete Marketing, KCB Sports Marketing, who represents Connor Williams.
About 150 athletes, agents, corporate brands, and celebrities participated in CHOSEN, which took place on the rooftop of The Joule Hotel.
Check out the on-camera test video and a few more photos from the event below!