Who is our client?

Ready to Fight is a sports platform founded by Oleksandr Usyk's team that works like LinkedIn for athletes. It brings together fighters, coaches, managers, gyms and brands in one space. A separate function of the platform is ambassador programs that allow big brands to advertise through athletes in the format of sponsorship or partnership.

What was the request?

The main task was to find investors willing to support athletes before fights, as well as to involve brands in ambassador programs for long-term positioning through sports.

How did we fulfill the request?

After analyzing the sports sponsorship market, we identified 10 industries that most often support fighting events or actively work with the sports image. For each of them we created a separate personalized offer which included specific athletes, their achievements and possible formats of cooperation. Brand and partnership managers responsible for external collaborations were selected for communication. The outreach was conducted via LinkedIn with additional support via email which allowed us to expand our reach and ensure multi-channel contact.

What were the challenges we faced?

An important challenge was the specifics of the sport - boxing, which some brands consider too aggressive to associate with their reputation. In order not to waste resources on cold contacts, we tested campaigns for different industries and based on the feedback formed a list of niches where cooperation with combat sports is either explicitly prohibited or perceived negatively. These categories were excluded from the targeting which allowed us to focus resources on areas that were more open to cooperation.

Results of cooperation

Within 6 months, a list of 150 brands was collected that confirmed their interest in cooperation - both in the format of sponsoring individual fights and long-term ambassador programs with RTF athletes.