This post was created in partnership with DNA Vibe<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Fandom and culture have redefined what it means to win in marketing today. From social trends to influencer-led moments, brands have discovered that engagement, participation, and cultural relevance create a better experience than traditional reach or impressions.<\/p>\n During an ADWEEK House: The Big Game group chat co-hosted with DNA Vibe, industry leaders explored how community-driven campaigns can create lasting value around major sporting events and beyond.<\/p>\n Maria Del Rio, CMO at DNA Vibe, a leader in regenerative wearable technology, opened the discussion by sharing how the company recently launched SHINE<\/a>, a movement to help people and communities reach and sustain their highest potential.<\/p>\n Del Rio explained that the movement is about more than generating awareness; it\u2019s about generating trust and something that lasts. For DNA Vibe, the company has a two-part mission: to support better lives for athletes and to build a better community.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to make sure that there is a healthy community that is producing healthy people, healthy athletes,\u201d Del Rio said. \u201cIf you invest in people and if you do the right thing, the results will come. The trust will compound.\u201d<\/p>\n Jimmy Smith, founder of Ad Legends and chairman, CEO, and chief creative officer at Amusement Park Entertainment, shared that he was excited \u201cto get to express what I\u2019m about in the way I want to express it,\u201d through his work with SHINE.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWhen you talk about community, yes, there\u2019s a community in the neighborhood, which is obviously super important,\u201d Smith explained. \u201cBut there\u2019s a community with businesses.\u201d <\/p>\n Smith added that often brands don\u2019t understand the importance of positively impacting and uplifting the communities they want to connect with, and how that can affect the bottom line.<\/p>\n Leela Srinivasan, CEO at Parity, a sports partnerships platform, spoke about the company\u2019s partnership with DNA Vibe to bring women athletes into the conversation and help them lead the push out to the communities they serve.<\/p>\n Srinivasan said she encourages Parity\u2019s athletes to be authentic and true to themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we\u2019ve run the numbers, we see that among women\u2019s sports fans, they\u2019re almost 3X as likely to buy something because a woman athlete recommends it as they are any other kind of influencer,\u201d Srinivasan explained. \u201cAnd so there\u2019s definitely a great amount of influence these athletes have. But with great influence comes great responsibility, and you have to find the balance.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jason Sehorn, a former NFL player, spoke about the responsibility of athletes to \u201cwalk the walk\u201d because talk means nothing if they say one thing and do another.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the ultimate double-edged sword. So, the first side of the sword is that you have a platform. You should use that for good for something. The second part of that sword is you\u2019ve now spoken out, so you now have to carry yourself in a different manner, because you\u2019ve said that you act this way and you believe in this,\u201d Sehorn said.<\/p>\n Authenticity is key, agreed Gina Scott, VP of partner services with NFL Players Inc., the marketing and licensing subsidiary of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA). Players need to work in the community where they live and show the impact they are making locally.<\/p>\n \u201cWe tell players all the time, not everyone is going to have that global campaign, but there are three cities where you\u2019re going to be most marketable, and you can make your impact. Your hometown, where you play collegiately, and where you are playing currently,\u201d Scott said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t do anything else, serve the communities that you either resided in, went to college in, or are playing in now, because you have to show that you are giving back to your community.\u201d<\/p>\n Featured Conversation Leaders<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.adweek.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This post was created in partnership with DNA Vibe Key takeaways Community-centric sports campaigns can create long-term value. Athletes can serve as strong messengers and advocates for brands. Brands should vet athletes before partnering with them and encourage them to be authentic. Fandom and culture have redefined what it means to win in marketing today. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2277466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[441026,441027,441025],"class_list":["post-2277465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-adops-branded-content","tag-adweek-house","tag-sports-marketing-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Community-Is-the-New-Competitive-Edge-for-Sports-Marketing.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2277465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2277465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2277465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2277467,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2277465\/revisions\/2277467"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2277466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2277465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2277465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2277465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Key takeaways<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Uniting communities with a movement<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"(L-R)](\"https:\/\/static-www.adweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AWHBG_DNAVibe_GC_Srinivasan-Smith.jpg?w=1024\")
The influence and impact of brands on communities<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"(L-R)](\"https:\/\/static-www.adweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AWHBG_DNAVibe_GC_Lee-Scott.jpg?w=1024\")
Players\u2019 responsibility to use a platform authentically<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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