WIN | WIN Wednesday Newsletter: July 30, 2025

The Women’s Football Association partnered with edX to give their players access to courses to prepare for their post-playing career.

This Friday, Aug 1, the Mets are hosting a game that will double as the largest single day drive for stem cell donors…thanks to a chewing gum!

And, with NFL season just around the corner, we’re reminiscing on the Bills Mafia’s fundraising effort that started it all.

Low-hanging fruit: One of the easiest branded social impact plays is a “donation with purchase” partnership. For every Sprite sold, or even every time the ad’s shared on social, Sprite would donate a certain amount of the profit to The Jaylen Hurts Foundation. It’s a turnkey feel-good component that virtually runs itself, but has a brand halo for everyone.

Conversation-worthy: Hurts’ foundation does a lot with the school district of Philly, most recently donating $200,000 to help install A/Cs in older classrooms to make sure every student could have a safe and comfortable learning environment. With kids being some of the main consumers of soda (let’s not get into the nutrition discussion here, K?), imagine Sprite creating some kind of school programming underneath the Jaylen Hurts Foundation umbrella. Maybe it’s “Sprite Sprints,” a program that introduces kids to running as an entry point to more physical activity, especially since running is a huge part of football and other sports. Maybe it’s “Obey Your Thirst…For Learning,” and it’s a pop-culture focused initiative that boosts kids’ reading and math skills through activities they’re already interested in. There’s no time limit on these kinds of ideas, so even though the spot’s already dropped, Sprite could still pick-up on one of these opportunities and hit the ground running.

Go big or go home: Since Hurt’s foundation is focused on youth development, what if Sprite had figured out a way to get local Philly kids involved in the making of the commercial itself? This kind of major collab would have required a foundation partnership right from the start, and it likely would have led to a different storyline for the spot. But we get super excited thinking about some of the ways this could have come to life. Could they have worked with local high schools to bring-in students with an interest in film or TV to work on-set? Could they have have setup a few-week “film school” to teach kids about the craft, let them write their own scripts, and create their own spots for Sprite to share on social media? We could come up with ideas to engage kids in the concept of this all day, and by extension, create an impact that’ll last way longer than anyone will be talking about the commercial itself.

🌍 Nike and the Special Olympics have launched a three-year global partnership aimed at enhancing the sports experience for athletes with intellectual disabilities. The collaboration will focus on improving coaching education for Unified Sports, where athletes with and without disabilities play together.

🛒 Retail giant Walmart has signed a multi-year partnership with Major League Soccer and the Leagues Cup. While it’s a significant commercial deal, Walmart has emphasized its commitment to connecting with the diverse and growing soccer fanbase in North America through community-focused activations and by making the sport more accessible.

🏆 The Hartford, a longstanding insurance provider, recently became the title sponsor of the Move United Junior Nationals. This event is one of the largest and longest-standing adaptive sports competitions in the United States, drawing more than 400 athletes annually. The Hartford's support is crucial in providing opportunities for young athletes with physical disabilities to compete at a high level and build community.